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West Ashley Parklands

The 1,832 acres of parklands that surround Long Savanna were established in 2009 by Charleston County and the Parks and Recreation Commission as a way to enhance and protect the Ashley River Historic Corridor by creating an outer Greenbelt on the urban growth boundary.

Bulow 
County Park

Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission acquired over 1628 acres from the Cuthbert Family to establish the largest park within the CCPRC system. This park includes open marshlands overlooking beautiful Rantowles Creek, valuable cultural resources, ancient rice fields, and historic phosphate mining areas with old growth timber.

Charleston
City Park

Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission acquired over 1,600 acres from the Cuthbert Family to establish the largest park within the CCPRC system. This park includes open marshlands overlooking beautiful Rantowles Creek, valuable cultural resources.

THE FARMING PERIOD

Bradley Ownership (1872 – 1948)

William L. Bradley was a businessman from Connecticut and was the owner of the Bradley Fertilizer  Company which would become the “Largest Fertilizer Works in the World.” Bradley acquired the property in the late 1870s due to its vast deposits of phosphate. The mining operation became known as the “Bulow  Mines.”
1823-1872

THE FARMING PERIOD

Bulow Ownership (1823 – 1872)

John Joachim Bulow’s first acquisition of land in St. Andrews Parish was the Drayton family’s Long Savanna tract which “lay generally northeast of Rantowles Creek…and was bisected by Bear Swamp Road.”John Bulow and his son Thomas used the property to raise livestock and grow crops before it was sold to Charles O. Witte in 1862.
1872-1948

THE MINING PERIOD

Bradley Ownership (1872 – 1948)

William L. Bradley was a businessman from Connecticut and was the owner of the Bradley Fertilizer  Company which would become the “Largest Fertilizer Works in the World.” Bradley acquired the property in the late 1870s due to its vast deposits of phosphate. The mining operation became known as the “Bulow  Mines.”
1948-present

THE STEWARDSHIP PERIOD

Cuthbert Period (1948 – present)

C. P. Cuthbert, Grandfather to Rhett Cuthbert Campbell, purchased the property in 1948 from Bradley Realty Corporation of Massachusetts. C. P. Cuthbert was of Scottish descent whose great ancestors were the Barons of Castle Hill at Inverness, Scotland and who, in 1737, immigrated to America. 

C. P. Cuthbert loved the outdoors and in his early career was a timber cruiser for West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. Upon acquiring the Long Savanna property, Cuthbert quit his job and began using the property to raise cattle and hunt. 

In 1985, the property was inherited by Rhett Cuthbert Campbell who began developing a plan to convert the vast majority of the property into public open space by partnering with Long Savannah Land Company, Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission, Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust and the City of Charleston in 2006. Today, 80% of the property is preserved in perpetuity as public open space.

1700’s - 1823
DRAYTON 
OWNERSHIP
(MID 1700’S-1823)
bulow 
OWNERSHIP
(1823-1872)
bradley
OWNERSHIP
(1872-1948)
cuthbert
period
(1948-present)