Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge is a protected barrier-island landscape on the Georgia coast, accessible only by boat and managed within the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. Its history includes sale from the Navy Department in 1800 for valuable live oak timber, use as the Southern Atlantic Quarantine Station from 1880 to 1910, designation in 1924 as a preserve and breeding ground for native wildlife and migratory birds, and redesignation in 1940 as a national wildlife refuge. The island combines dunes, marshes, maritime forest, freshwater areas, and beach, providing vital wintering habitat for migratory birds and protection for threatened and endangered species.