Carolina Bays

The Carolina Bays are eliptical geologic depressions in the sand of the coastal plain. Like giant paw prints stamped here and there, they have been the subject of scientific curiosity - and controversy - since they were first discovered in the Eighteenth Century. Some small, some big, there are approximately a half million of them along the coast from New Jersey to Florida. The thickest concentration of bays are in North and South Carolina.

While called bays they are not ocean inlets or the like. They are called bays because they are usually surrounded by a variety of bay trees (e.g. sweet bays, loblolly bays and red bays). Almost perfectly oval, they seem to be as individual as curious. Most no longer hold water but those that do support a broad variety of plants, amphibians and birds, some of which are unique to the bays.

Carolina Bays that are now protected (most have been drained and filled to accommodate our growing population) can be found in some of our Carolina State Parks.

• Jones Lake State Park - Elizabethtown NC
• Lake Waccamaw State Park - Whiteville NC
• Singletary Lake State Park - White Lake NC
• Woods Bay State Park - Olanta SC

  Bibliography of Research Papers concerning the Carolina Bays

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