Life's Odyssey

Birds flutter and butterflies pass silently over a granite face smiling up toward the heavens. Deer move underneath the trees and the elusive bobcat peers through the dense shrubbery. Sights, sounds, and then--quiet--is the reward for the nature lover or casual visitor. Columbia County has committed twenty percent of its green space for conservation so that everyone can experience the joy of nature. One of those places is Heggie’s Rock.

Heggie’s Rock consists of 140 acres of granite outcrop that rise some one hundred feet overlooking areas of dense forest, other outcrops, wetlands, and streams. The granite outcrop is home to endangered plants and insects that exist nowhere else. Of all the outcrops in Georgia, Heggie’s Rock is considered “the most important in the Piedmont.”

The geological anomaly received its name from a Scottish settler named Archibald Heggie. Sometime during the period of the Revolutionary War, Heggie operated a grist mill on Little Kiokee Creek.

The land, along with other surrounding property, came about in the form of a grant from King George III of England to Captain William Walton, who willed the property in increments to his children. Jane Walton is listed as being given 1,700 acres of “The Guardian Tract” in the area of Heggie’s Rock.

During the early years of the county, picnics and social gatherings were commonplace on warm, sunny days at Heggie’s Rock. Families, children, and newly courting couples would spend the day eating wild turkey, ham, or chicken with a piece of good old fashioned homemade bread. Even then the people of Columbia County saw the beauty there--along with the peace it brought. Historical sources state the following about Heggie’s Rock:

“…Popular resort in the good old times at the base of a gentle slope upon which sits the Heggie homestead still in good repair…Upon a certain part of this rock, in the olden times, our citizens, old and young, big and little, Christian and worlding, were not to want to congregate, to while away a pleasant day in the innocent amusements and festivities…with now and then a tip of the light fantastic…couples seated on the green moss, under the shadow of the trees…”

Land compromising the protected area has been purchased by the Nature Conservancy. Other notable suppliers are The Georgia Wetland Trust Fund, Georgia’s Greenspace Program, Martin Marietta Aggregates and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as private land donations.

Endangered plants such as the tiny pool sprite and the mat-forming quillwart make this outcrop their home. On the rock there are shallow pools known as “dish gardens” with only one of them housing the rare quillwart. There are very few of these plants inhabiting areas of Georgia.

There are not many granite outcrops left in Georgia with the botanical diversity that is held within Heggie’s Rock. Many outcrops have been destroyed by dumping, neglect, and the intrusion of non native plants such as Japanese Honeysuckle and Chinese Wisteria.

Several problems arise with habitat destruction on outcrops. Public information and education are some of the best tools in controlling the outcome. Quarrying, recreational use, trashing dumping, and shading tree growth contribute to declining endangered plant populations.  But now, with new conservation efforts, these affects will finally be a problem of the past.