Hobcaw Barony is a non-profit wildlife refuge, aka Belle
Baruch Foundation. Made as a royal land grant in 1718, it was eventually
subdivided into 14 individual plantations. It became the winter residence of
Wall Street millionaire and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch. Mr. Baruch's
daughter, Belle, purchased all of the barony over a period of several years and
at her death a foundation was created to use the land for the "purposes of
teaching and/or research in forestry, marine biology, and the care and
propagation of wildlife, flora and fauna" in the state of South Carolina. The
property , composed of low country pine and maritime forest, and tidal
marshlands, juts out into and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and Winyah
Bay. Access to the Barony's 17500 acres is by guided tour only, and I have
visited it several times to kayak and bird-watch. I wish the Foundation would
sponsor a plein air painters or photographers day; they don't, but I do have
several great photos I've taken on the tours I have attended.
(
Below photo of fire lookout tower)
Given
its immense acreage, and its geographical isolation, the marshlands here have a
surreal quality about them. The sky is huge and other than the handful of
people in my party there is almost no evidence of human. I always feel small.
It feels comforting to be reminded that nature has her own agenda and in many
ways it is much more sublime than the plans of man. I tried to capture that
emotion this week with a couple of paintings of the marsh at Hobcaw. I
included a human element in both just to give perspective to the scene, but in
both cases, I tried to emphasize the grandeur of the place with its immense
skies and endless empty horizons.
Below: Boat landing
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