Things To See & Do At Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge

Visitor Contact Station & Special Events

The small Harris Neck Visitor Contact Station offers interactive exhibits exploring the wildlife, history and ecology of the National Wildlife Refuge.

Trail guides to the refuge are available from the contact station, or from the refuge website. Binoculars, bird books and children’s activity booklets are also available to borrow. Restrooms are provided on site.

Regular hours are 10am-2pm, Wednesday and Friday. Additional hours are added seasonally. Call 912-832-4608 for more information.

Occasional special programs, usually focused on the refuge’s wildlife, are hosted at Harris Neck. Visit the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex’s Facebook page for details of upcoming events at Harris Neck and other area refuges.

Wildlife Drive

Harris Neck’s 4-mile wildlife drive offers a way to enjoy the landscape and wildlife of the refuge from the comfort of your vehicle.

Beginning at the Visitor Station, the drive proceeds to a wildlife observation point at Woody Pond, where nesting wood storks and other birds can be viewed in season. It then passes through a wooded area bordering the salt marsh, before crossing the old air strip, its paved expanse being slowly reclaimed by nature. Another wildlife observation point overlooks Snipe Pond.

The drive then continues through scenic areas of mixed live oak, palmetto and pine forest, with an optional loop visiting Thomas Landing, on the South Newport River (site of the former Lorillard Estate), before exiting onto Harris Neck Road, a little way up the road from the refuge’s main entrance.

Wildlife observation points and other stopping points along the way, some located a short walk from the road, offer closer views of the refuge’s birdlife, alligators, scenic ponds and more. A series of interpretive panels along the drive provide information about the refuge’s history and wildlife.

The wildlife drive is also open to hiking and biking. Harris Neck’s several other hiking and biking trails, ranging in length from 0.6 miles to 3 miles, are accessible from the wildlife drive.

Hiking & Biking

Harris Neck offers more than 15 miles of trails for hiking and biking. In addition to the 4-mile wildlife drive, discussed above, there are 6 additional marked trails and several secondary, unmarked trails open for walkers and cyclists. See the refuge trail guide

Bluebill Pond Loop (1.1 miles), nearest to the Visitor Contact Station, passes around the border of Bluebill Pond and the lower end of Woody Pond, both ideal for viewing nesting birds on the refuge’s freshwater ponds. West Woody Pond Trail, nearby (0.6 miles one way) passes through pine woodlands.

The Airfield Perimeter Loop (3 miles) travels the border of the old army airfield, and is ideal for cycling. The Goose Pond Loop (1.4 miles) is accessible from it, visiting Goose and Greenhead Ponds and their birds and wildlife. A historical trail (0.5 miles one way) connects with Thomas Landing, on the river, via ruins of the Lorillard Estate gardens; nearby Bunting Loop (0.6 miles) passes through habitat that provides a summer home to the elusive painted bunting.

Additional unmarked trails pass through beautiful stretches of live oak, palmetto and pine forest, with one trail leading to historic Gould’s Cemetery, where you can see old graves of the African-American community who used to farm Harris Neck and its vicinity.

Wildlife Watching

Harris Neck’s diverse ecosystems (freshwater ponds, salt marsh, forested wetland, open fields, and hardwood-pine forest) offer abundant wildlife watching opportunities, and the refuge is popular with birders, nature enthusiasts and photographers as well as families with children.

Harris Neck is one of the best places to birdwatch on the Georgia coast, with around 350 species spotted on the refuge, and around 80 species nesting there. In particular, this is a good place to see large colonies of wood storks.

Wood storks, herons and egrets nest in the refuge’s marshes in summer. The endangered wood stork begins nesting (in the upper branches of the refuge’s swamp trees) in March to late May, with the chicks fledging in July to August. Summer is also a time when you can spot painted buntings. They are most likely to be seen in the refuge’s scrub habitats, and at the edges of areas of palmetto or forested hammocks.

In the late fall and winter, large populations of migrating ducks can be seen on the freshwater ponds and in the marsh. Many other migrating birds can also be seen, including birds of prey and songbirds.

Alligators are a common sight near the refuge’s ponds, where they like to bask on warm afternoons. You can also see turtles, frogs and mink near ponds and the river, and armadillos throughout the refuge. Snakes (some venomous) are also present.

Fishing

The tidal waters surrounding Harris Neck are open year-round for saltwater fishing and crabbing, from the fishing pier at the refuge entrance or on the water. The public Barbour River Boat Landing is open from 4am to midnight daily (suitable for small boats only; road access is separate from the refuge proper).

You will need a Georgia fishing license and Saltwater Information Program permit to fish. More about fishing at Harris Neck and fishing in the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex.

Local saltwater fish species include flounder, red and black drum, whiting, spotted sea trout, sheepshead and mullet.

Fishing is prohibited in all of the refuge’s several freshwater ponds.

Hunting

Two hunts are conducted at Harris Neck each year in late summer and fall: an archery hunt for deer and feral hogs and a firearm hunt, also for deer and feral hogs. See upcoming hunt dates

You will need a Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex Annual Hunt Permit, available for $25, to participate in either of these hunts. More about hunting at Harris Neck

History of Harris Neck

Pre-Colonial Era

Before Europeans came to what is now Georgia, the lands that became Harris Neck were settled by American Indians. The last people to inhabit this part of the southern Georgia coast were the Guale, who fished and hunted in the creeks and forests, and traded up and down the coast.

Spanish colonists arrived in the 16th century, setting up a missionary in an effort to convert the indigenous people. Later, the British colonised the area, forcing the Guale people away.

Plantation Era

Daniel Demetre established a plantation, Bethany, on the present Harris Neck in the early years of the Georgia colony. The neck of land acquired the name Harris from the son of Demetre’s wife Ann, William Thomas Harris, the plantation passing from Demetre to his stepson upon Demetre’s death.

By the early 19th century, Bethany Plantation, whose enslaved workers produced a mix of cotton, livestock and lumber, had been bought by another family, the Thomases. Now named Peru Plantation, the land was used primarily for growing the highly desirable Sea Island cotton for which the lowcountry was famed.

After Freedom

After the Civil War, the plantation fell into disuse. The land was subdivided and sold, many of the parcels bought by the newly freed people. These small-scale African-American farmers and fishers, many of them of the coastal Gullah-Geechee creole culture, formed their own community on and around Harris Neck.

They established a house of worship, the First African Baptist Church, in the 1880s, along with a burial place, Gould Cemetery, which is still in active use. It is located in the far southeast of the current Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, next to the Barbour River Boat Landing.

In the late 1880s, part of the old plantation was purchased from the Thomases by Pierre Lorillard, a descendant of an old tobacco family, who built a mansion near present day Thomas Landing, with formal gardens and a dock.

The 20th Century

More development of Harris Neck continued in the early 20th century, an oyster cannery and an emergency airstrip for planes flying between Jacksonville and Richmond constructed in the 1920s and 1930s.

Once the United States entered the Second World War, it needed new military facilities. In 1942, the government acquired 1200 acres of Harris Neck, much of it owned by the area’s Black farmers, by compulsory purchase, forcing them off the land.

Runways and buildings were quickly installed, the airfield used for training gunners for US fighter planes and as a base from which to spot enemy submarines.

The air base was abandoned by the military in 1944. Instead of being returned to its original owners, the land was transferred to McIntosh County, with the intention that it be used as an airport. Some years later, after a series of controversies over the management of the land by County officials, the Federal government reclaimed the tract.

The government turned Harris Neck into one of its new series of National Wildlife Refuges, designating it a nature reserve in 1962.

Visitor Info

For additional information, call 912-832-4608 or visit the official website.

Address 5000 Wildlife Drive NE, Townsend, GA. See on map

Hours The refuge is open daily, sunrise to sunset. The Visitor Contact Station is open on Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am-2pm and additional times seasonally. The refuge is closed to the public for two annual hunts in late summer and fall.

Some areas of the refuge may be closed off at certain times of the year to protect nesting birds and other wildlife. Please obey all posted signage. Further information about temporary closures is available at the refuge website.

Admission Admission is free.

Pets Pets are not allowed on the refuge unless they are entirely confined within your vehicle for the full duration of your visit. Service animals are welcome.

Safety Please beware of venomous snakes, alligators, stinging insects, poison ivy and other hazardous wildlife and plantlife while visiting the refuge, especially in the areas off trails and at the edges of ponds in the case of alligators.

Insect repellent and sunscreen are strongly advised, especially in spring and summer.

More Things To Do In Coastal Georgia

– Georgia beaches
– Blackbeard and Sapelo Island tours
– Skidaway Island State Park
– Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge
– Kayaking in St Simons Island
– Savannah events
– Lowcountry food festivals in spring and summer and fall
– St Simons Island events
– Jekyll Island events
– Brunswick events