Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay

Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay
Bamberg County, SC
MEET AT: Bamberg County Public Library
3156 E Railroad Ave, Bamberg, SC 29003
GPS Coordinates: 33.297878, -81.032549We will carpool to the Bay.
Saturday, August 22, 2026 | 10:30am – 4:00pm

Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay is a 52-acre nature preserve in Bamberg County in the northern reaches of the ACE Basin.The property has been privately-owned by the South Carolina Native Plant Society since 2003. The land was originally donated to and protected by The Nature Conservancy in the 1990s and is named in memory of Lisa Matthews, whose family donated the property for perpetual conservation. The property’s central feature is an intact Carolina Bay that holds a thriving population of the federally endangered Canby’s Dropwort Oxypolis canbyi. Thanks to the careful stewardship and regular management of SCNPS volunteers and the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the Canby’s Dropwort population has increased by nearly a thousand-fold! Further information about Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay, including some technical details on its ecology and habitat restoration, can be found on the SC Native Plant Society website.

Since Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay is privately owned and home to a federally endangered plant, its location is deliberately not being shared in this newsletter to prevent it leaking to the wider public. All attendees will need to sign a liability release waiver with SCNPS. This waiver is attached to the newsletter. Please bring your signed waiver with you. We will have blank waivers for the day of. Further, do not share the location of the property publicly. Photos of Canby’s Dropwort are not to be posted online to iNaturalist with location data public. (It is highly recommended that you obscure your location for any and all photos uploaded to iNaturalist for the day.) Keeping the location private protects this imperiled plant species from poaching and vandals.

Parking is very limited on the property, so we will meet in Bamberg in the Bamberg County Public Library’s parking lot. We will carpool and convoy from the Library to the Bay. Please be prepared to carpool with someone else, or to transport other SCAN members.

MEET AT THE BAMBERG COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY – 33.297878, -81.032549
TO RSVP, PLEASE EMAIL TOM AUSTIN – scnaturalists76@gmail.com

There are no restrooms on site. There are restrooms in the Library at our meeting location. (Library open from 10am to 2pm.) There are no formal trails on the property, but there is a perimeter firebreak, some interior fire breaks, an open savanna, and bounding roads that can be walked and explored. Vegetation may be thick. Snake boots and long pants are recommended for tromping. Please prepare for intense August heat, high humidity, and biting insects. There are no shade structures on the property. We will be in the sun all day. Bring plenty of water, your lunch, and everything you need for the day with you when you carpool.