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Volume 22 • Issue 7
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April 3, 2026
The Secret Life of the Diamondback Terrapin BY AUTUM BLANCHARD | For The Island Connection Often, you’ll catch only a glimpse of their small heads just breaking the water’s surface. At first glance, they may seem understated, but if you look closer, they’re quietly striking. Their shells are etched with soft, diamond-shaped patterns, and their skin is grey and dotted in black. Beneath their subtle beauty lies something even more remarkable: these turtles are built for balance. Specialized glands near their eyes help flush excess salt, sometimes leaving them looking as though they’re quietly crying. Life in the marsh requires adaptability, and diamondback terrapins deliver. They forage along muddy creek banks and oyster beds, feeding on snails, small crabs and clams. In doing so, they help keep marsh ecosystems in balance, linking their survival directly to the health of these coastal habitats. That connection is becoming more important than ever. Living shoreline projects, like the Conservancy of the Sea Islands’ manufactured wire reef (MWR) installation at Mingo Point and the Kiawah River Bridge, are helping rebuild the very habitats diamondback terrapins depend on. By
Photo by Pamela Cohen
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f you’ve ever stood at the edge of a salt marsh watching the tide slip through winding creeks, you’ve been closer than you think to one of its most fascinating residents. You just probably didn’t see it. Meet the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), a turtle that lives in the “in-between” where saltwater meets freshwater and where the land meets the sea. In fact, it’s the only turtle in North America that spends nearly its entire life in brackish water, making it a true specialist of the marsh.
stabilizing eroding shorelines and creating new oyster reef structure, these efforts do more than protect land; they restore feeding grounds. For diamondback terrapins, that means more places to find food, shelter and thrive just beneath the surface. But their lives don’t stay hidden year-round. On warm summer days, females make a risky journey out of the marsh, often crossing roads and open land to lay eggs in sandy soils. It’s a short trip, but a dangerous one, and many never make it back. And that’s part of a bigger story. Despite their resilience, diamondback terrapins are considered vulnerable. Habitat loss, rising seas and one particularly surprising threat – abandoned crab traps – have all taken a toll on this special reptile. These traps can unintentionally drown terrapins, creating a cycle that continues if left unchecked. Still, there’s hope. Simple solutions like bycatch reduction devices on crab traps, reporting abandoned gear and protecting nesting areas are already making a difference. And projects that restore shorelines are quietly helping, too. Because the truth is, the marsh doesn’t just belong to the birds or the dolphins. It also belongs to the quiet, patterned turtle just beneath the surface, who is steady, resilient and perfectly at home in the space between worlds.
Should Seabrook Have a Larger Town Hall? BY THERESA STRATFORD | For The Island Connection
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new council member and a newly named committee will take on a project focusing on possibly increasing the size of Seabrook Island’s current Town Hall building. Council Member Thomas Hund, chair of the Community Facilities and Infrastructure Committee, spoke about the ideas at the February 24 town council meeting. “We’re well aware that there’s a big need here at Town Hall for space. It’s where we do business with vendors and contractors, and the space affects how the employees work,” he said. He mentioned that the committee discussed ways to move the project forward, including whether that would require an RFP process, a consultant or conducting the research internally. “Where we are now is that we are looking at this new project and trying to figure out if it’s going to require a phased scenario, as well,” he added. They are considering programming spaces for the Town Hall, how those would be used and the size. They are also considering site requirements
and whether a different site would be beneficial. The committee is looking into possibly having a third-party consultant and a design professional help them with the plans. “We need to ensure we are asking the right questions and compiling the right space needs. We want to define what we need first,” Hund said. The committee hopes to undergo an informal selection process for a consultant. “That would be the first phase,” he said. The second phase would be committing to a site and using those physical requirements to come up with a conceptual design. “We want to be proactive because we know that getting space is extremely important right now.” Increasing the size of Town Hall would make a positive impact, according to Hund, who also said that they need to be prepared for what is going to change with the town in the future. Seabrook’s current town hall structure is located at 2001 Seabrook Island Road. It was constructed in 2001 and measures a little over 4,400
square feet. The design includes space for public meetings and offices for administrative staff. At the March 24 Seabrook Island Town Council meeting, Hund announced that no action had been taken since the February meeting, except for starting the conversation about this project.
Seabrook Island Town Hall