The Edisto River is the longest completely undammed / unleveed blackwater river in North America, flowing 206 meandering miles from its source in Saluda County, to its Atlantic Ocean mouth at Edisto Beach, SC. It rises in two main tributaries (North Fork & South Fork) from springs under the Sand Hills region of West Central South Carolina, just to the south of the Piedmont fall line, and is the longest and largest river system completely contained by the borders of South Carolina. The only major city / town any part of the Edisto system flows through is Orangeburg, location of the world famous Edisto Gardens (on the North Fork). The river system, being blackwater throughout its entire length, flows through highly intermittent bottom swampland. Thus, during excessive rainy season, the river will leave its main channel, with its flow basin increasing to over a mile or more of total width. The lower Edisto basin forms a crucial part of the 11,815-acre ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge, a coastal learning center that encompases its bottomlands confluence with the Ashepoo and Combahee river basins.

More Information: ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge (http://acebasin.fws.gov/), Friends of the Edisto (nonprofit) (http://www.edistofriends.org/)