Southern 8ths Farm

March 22nd, 2025
10:00am to 4:30pm [+ overnight & March 23rd]

Overnight camping permitted. Night surveys planned with March 23rd continuation.

This will be a joint field trip between the Carolina Butterfly Society and SCAN. The trip leader for both groups will be Tom Austin, alongside staff from Southern 8ths Farm. Southern 8ths Farm staff will escort us throughout the property.

Southern 8ths Farm is a private conservation property and the home of the Carolina Wildlands Foundation. Southern 8ths Farm is located on the SC/NC border, primarily in Chesterfield County, SC with a portion of the property extending into Anson County, NC. The property sits on Thompson Creek in an ecoregional and geological boundary straddling the fall line just above the Sandhills. This unique geology has birthed a rich diversity of native plant communities. Carolina Wildlands Foundation has done extensive work to restore prairie habitat across the property.

Learn More about Southern 8ths Farm and Carolina Wildlands Foundation:
https://www.so8ths.com/nature/

Video about Thompson Create and the geology of the region:
https://vimeo.com/1002041941

The Carolina Butterfly Society is working with Southern 8ths Farm to help them create an introductory field guide on their butterfly diversity for their outreach and education programs. Meaning, the butterfly folks will be placing a keen emphasis on adding news species to the site’s biodiversity list. So, it’s up to SCAN to rack up a great biodiversity list for everything else for the day! Carolina Wildlands Foundation is counting on us.

This SCAN trip will extend into the night of March 22nd with night surveys for herps and insects. So, bring your headlamps and blacklights! We’ll continue into Sunday March 23rd as well. (There is a new satellite site to Southern 8ths Farm we may be able to survey on Sunday as well.)

There are restrooms on site. On-site camping is permitted. There are 10 RV pads available on site with power hook-ups (no wastewater) and the ability for on-site camping. There are two guest rooms available at Southern 8ths Farm, which can be rented for $149/night. (Contact Southern 8ths Farm directly to reserve.) The nearest hotels are 20-30mi away in Cheraw SC, Rockingham NC, and Monroe NC.

Participants will need to sign a waiver with Carolina Wildlands Foundation in order to participate.

DIRECTIONS:
305 Lucious Davis Rd, Chesterfield, SC (34.795945, -80.153197)

FROM I-20 at the I-26 intersection
1. Drive 27.6mi East on I-20.
2. Take exit 92 onto US-601 North.
3. Drive down US-601 for 7.8mi and continue straight onto US-1 through downtown Camden.
4. Drive 29mi on US-1, then turn left onto SC-145.
5. Drive 11.8mi on SC-145, then turn left onto SC-109.
6. Drive 8.2mi on SC-109, then take a right onto Main St in Ruby.
7. Immediately (in about 500ft) take the next left onto Wexford St.
8. Drive 4.5mi on Wexford St, then turn left onto Lucious Davis Rd.
9. Southern 8ths Farm will be on the left in about 1,500ft, continue to the learning center at the rear of the property.