NAEP-SC is excited to introduce our next Explore-SC Series event at the Dill Sanctuary in Charleston. Please join us for an ecology tour at the Charleston Museum's Dill Sanctuary, a 580-acre wildlife refuge with significant natural, archaeological, and historic features. The tour will last approximately 1 hour and will focus on the ecology of the sanctuary with a specific focus on the bird life and nesting that takes place there.
First and foremost, a wildlife preserve, the Dill Sanctuary is home to a vast array of birdlife. A 6-acre wildlife pond with three nesting islands attracts numerous wading birds, including threatened wood storks, while maintained fields, surrounded by woodland, provide habitat for songbirds, wild turkeys and raptors. Human habitation at the Dill Sanctuary has been documented in the archaeological record to 8,000 years ago, and it was the site of three plantations during the colonial and antebellum periods, which used enslaved labor to produce primarily food crops for the Charleston market. The property also contains two African American cemeteries, the last resting place of enslaved people and their descendants, and four earthen Confederate fortifications that were part of the Civil War defenses of Charleston. Significant historical, archaeological and ornithological research has been conducted at the Dill Sanctuary over nearly four decades.
https://www.charlestonmuseum.org/exhibits/permanent/50/dill-sanctuary
Bug spray and sunscreen are recommended as well as wearing long pants and closed toe shoes as you may go through some areas with high grass.
Bathrooms are available on site, but they are primitive, and there is no place to fill water bottles, so make sure you bring water with you.
This event is open to anyone (members + non-members) and the cost is $22/person. This tour is during wood stork nesting season, so don't miss this great opportunity.
You must register by April 10, so we can provide a head count. Tour sizes will be limited with a minimum of 10 people.
TIME & LOCATION
Friday, April 17, 2026
3:00 pm-4:30 p.m.
1163 Riverland Drive
Charleston, SC 29412