Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge in coastal South Carolina protects 4,053 acres of islands, marshes, forests, and ponds between the mainland and Hilton Head Island. Established in 1975, it preserves both wildlife habitat and a long record of human use, from prehistoric occupation through French and Spanish visits, early 18th-century settlement, and the Pinckney family plantation. Under the Pinckneys, the islands were reshaped for Sea Island cotton and worked by hundreds of enslaved people until the Civil War brought Union occupation, liberation, and fighting. Later managed as a private hunting preserve, the land became a national wildlife refuge known for rich bird life and other coastal species.