1943 Map of Minim Island

About this map

Rice Hope Plantation and Annandale Plantation anchor the northern edge of this coastal landscape where the North Santee River and South Santee River diverge toward the Atlantic. The intricate network of tidal waterways, including the Intracoastal Waterway and the Estherville Minim Creek Canal, reveals the complex hydrological management typical of South Carolina’s Lowcountry. In the 1940s, the boundary between Georgetown and Charleston counties ran directly through the vast Santee Swamp, a terrain dominated by numerous named landmasses like Minim Island and Murphy Island. The presence of Rice Hope Ch and Bethel Ch near the plantations highlights the established social structures of these rural riverfront communities. This survey, based on 1942 aerial photography, captures the region just as the southern reaches of the Francis Marion National Forest were being formally defined against the marshes of North Santee Bay.