Dungannon Plantation Heritage Reserve Trail

Check with the park for updates on reopening. Dungannon Heritage Preserve is a great hike for a novice with a variety of views to take in. You start off in a forest of the low-country that turns into a trail that borders a beautiful rice paddy that had turned to swamp. The hike culminates to a 300 foot boardwalk to where you can view a rookery of the endangered wood stork. You can also hike around the swamp and find a smaller boardwalk that isn't on the map for a different angle of the swamp. Please be aware that during the months February - September, the boardwalk may be closed due to the mating and nesting season of the endangered Wood Stork. When the Wood Stork is in the area nesting you can hear them from a 1/4 mile away. There are many small trails and fire breaks to where you can explore off of the main path and in doing so you will find remnants of a older times. Just off of the main trail you can find a solo grave of Mr. Matthew Sanford (1869), derelict vehicles and signs of old moonshine stills scattered about. Wildlife abounds here and in the spring / summer months you can expect to see a large variety of woodland and swampland life from Turtles, to alligators, to snakes, to deer, to squirrels, to foxes, a variety of fowl life, and orchids growing in the wild. Pet's must be leashed and please keep a watch on smaller children as there are poisonous snakes and the occasional American Alligator as you near the swamp.