Plants

An arial image of a salt marsh and narrow line of forest. — A 2005 aerial image showing the southeastern corner of Cockspur Island, featuring salt marsh bisected by a narrow maritime forest.
NPS Photo

Cockspur and McQueens Islands are surrounded by vast salt marshes, interspersed by rivers and tidal estuaries. Cockspur Island encompasses approximately 600 acres of mudflats, marshes and limited high ground. In order to build Fort Pulaski, a ditch and dike system was constructed to lower the water table. This changed the island from marshlands with very limited dry ground to a island suitable for construction.

Fort Pulaski was placed in reserve in the 1870s by the army. It was not demolished but it was also not maintained. This included the ditch and dike system that kept the island dry. The land reverted to its natural state after a series of hurricanes. Cockspur Island became a marsh again.

Cockspur Island has grown since the fort's construction. Dredge spoil from the bottom of the Savannah River was deposited on the western side of the island. Salt marsh flats were turned to solid ground. This greatly changed what species of plants would take root on the island.

Fort Pulaski National Monument was founded in 1924. By that time, the ditch and dike system no longer functioned. The moat and canal that supplied it with water silted up. The water table rose to just below the surface. In the 1930s, the Civil Conservation Corps restored the ditch and dike system as it was during the Civil War.

Today, Cockspur Island has grasslands, maritime forests, sand beaches and marshes, leading to a wide variety of plant life. Palmettos dot the island. Marsh grass dominates the southern side of the island. The northeastern corner now has an artificial sand beach. Maritime forests can be found in several areas of the island.

Below are just a small fraction of the plants you can find on Cockspur Island.