NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Atlantic and Gulf Coasts Recreation Area Survey

THE HISTORY OF THE SEACOAST

A noted American historian, writing his famous treatise on the remarkable influence of the frontier on the life of the American Nation, suggested that an observer, standing at Cumberland Gap, would have witnessed civilization marching westward, in single file: first came the buffalo following the worn trail to the salt spring, then the Indian, followed at intervals by the fur trader and hunter, the pioneer farmer and the cattle raiser--and, the frontier had passed by.

In the same dramatic manner, the earlier pageant of the discovery, exploration and colonization of America could have been observed from vantage points along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. For while this shoreline today represents the eastern boundary of the United States, to Europe of Columbus' day it was the western rim of the Atlantic Ocean whose sandy shores, capes and rocky headlands represented the first frontier to be encountered in the New World.

The conquering of this first great American frontier was an arduous adventure. Europe was at a high stage of civilization; the New World was a barbarous wilderness. Only the strong could gain a foothold on the formidable shore and survive. After the discovery, nearly a century elapsed before permanent colonies were established on the Atlantic coast. This long interval was one of unceasing activity by powerful European nations seeking to exploit the resources of the new land. The era was one of vast consequence to the future course of American history and one in which the Atlantic and Gulf coasts were witness to magnificently impressive episodes.

Consider the blazing hot Gulf coast in the summer of 1542, when the wretched survivors of De Soto's once mighty expedition of armorclad conquistadores drifted just offshore. After three years of agonizing hardship exploring the southern United States, a fleet of rude boats had been constructed without tools, on which the party floated down the Mississippi and headed for Mexico.

Somewhere along the Texas coast, this desperate band landed and, heartened by favorable winds, "very devoutly formed a procession for the return of thanks", proceeded along the beach, and supplicated the Almighty for deliverance. Taking to their boats again, they reached Mexico safely.

Or, consider the desolate beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks in 1586, where half-starved members of the first English colony in America, established by Sir Walter Raleigh, patrolled the beach, hoping to signal a chance vessel. A ship appeared, and then to their unbelieving eyes more sails followed until a mighty fleet of 23 vessels hove to--an armada commanded by the legendary Elizabethan sea dog Sir Francis Drake, whose vessels, well laden with booty, were homeward bound after singeing the Spanish beard in the Caribbean. Gathering up the discouraged colonists, Drake set sail for England.

Unfortunately for the historian and archeologist, little evidence remains in the shifting beach sands of most such scenes. The temporary and continually changing character of the shoreline may be partially responsible for the inability of scholars thus far to solve one of history's most baffling and intriguing puzzles. What is the location of Vinland--reached by Leif Ericson and his successors during the Norse voyages of exploration about the year 1,000 A.D? Despite claims for numerous relics and rune stones, positive identification, has not yet been possible. Most historians now accept, the Icelandic sagas which describe the voyages to Vinland, but geographical references are so vague that serious claims have been made for locations from Labrador to Florida. Somewhere along the coast, the key may yet be uncovered.

But whether the Norsemen (who probably reached the coast of North America), or Columbus (who did not), are given credit for the "discovery" of America, there were an estimated 125,000 Indians living along the Atlantic seaboard in 1500, whose ancestors had "discovered" the land in the dim past. One can imagine that previous to Columbus, as the European mariner stood upon a pier, gazing westward across the uncharted sea, puzzling over the rumors of islands beyond, the silent savage was seated upon a dune, staring impassively eastward, wondering too what lay beyond the horizon. Upon the beaches of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts the old and new civilizations were to meet.

The Indians thousands of years ago were lovers of the seashore, which they visited frequently chiefly because it was an excellent source of many varieties of seafood. Remains of aboriginal shore dinners--which featured oysters on the half shell--are frequently encountered today, scattered along the coastline from Main to Mexico. These shell middens, some many acres in size, are refuse heaps which also contain invaluable artifacts, discarded tools and weapons and broken pottery, which aid the archeologist in recreating the prehistoric life of the Indian.

Some of the earliest and most sustained associations between Indians and Europeans along the coast accompanied the establishment of the fishing industry. Immediately after 1492, and some say before, English, French and Portuguese fishing vessels appeared off the Newfoundland and New England coasts. A half century before the Mayflower sailed there were 350 fishing vessels crossing the Atlantic each year and carrying back apparently inexhaustible supplies of fish to feed Catholic Europe. On the sandy beaches and offshore islands of New England fishermen landed to trade with the natives for furs, to obtain fresh water, and to dry and salt their catch, and an Indian dumfounded the Plymouth settlers by greeting them in English, which he had learned from the fishermen.

Of all the varied company of mariners who explored the coast and beaches of the New World, probably none gave it more careful scrutiny than that venturesome group of navigators who, for more than 300 years, sought the elusive Northwest Passage. Begun by Columbus, the quest for a water route through North America was pressed on despite cruel disappointments. Not until 1800 did the search become purely one for geographical knowledge.

Some of the great names of American history were pioneers in the age of exploration--Drake and Hawkins, Champlain and Ponce de Leon, Hudson and the Cabots. Seeking fishing grounds and colony sites, gold and the Northwest Passage to the fabulous wealth of the spice islands, they sailed tiny vessels along the vast coastline and laid claim to new lands for their sovereigns.

After the explorers, in the procession of civilization coming out of European ports, were the colonists. Long before the success at Jamestown, settlements, recorded and unrecorded, were attempted at many places along the Atlantic coast--the French in South Carolina and Florida, the English in Maine and North Carolina, the Spanish in Florida and Georgia, among others. Reaching the forbidding headlands of New England or the more hospitable southern strands was an arduous voyage in tiny ships, but the real problem was to stay and prosper. Half the Pilgrims perished the first winter, not an unusual toll.

Men, women and children, farmers, artisans, gentry, these first emigrants came to find or escape many things, as millions have done since that time. The first settlements were on the coast, clustering around a sheltered harbor, for the sea was the vital lifeline. The early colonists came to the beach for food, as had the Indians, and perhaps for pleasure. But colonies were inevitably dependent upon agriculture and the tide of civilization soon swept inland, leaving behind only those who chose to make their living from the sea.

A later breed of pioneers, whose knavery somehow gained for them a surprisingly high place among American folk heroes, were the pirates. In truth, legions of pirates--Blackbeard, Dixie Bull, Captain Kidd and Jean Laffitte among them--operating from hideaways along the coast plundered thousands of ships. The U. S. Navy was created in part to protect American vessels from their attacks. But the tales of pirate gold hidden among the sand dunes (Parchment maps are occasionally available direct from the hand of a dying Spaniard.) are recorded more frequently by Chamber of Commerce guide books than by historical publications.

After the country was settled and the Nation created, much of the coastline's history dealt with keeping unwanted visitors away. Great brick forts were constructed along the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts to protect the country from enemy attack by sea. Most of these forts saw their only action during the Civil War, when many were bombarded and captured. Although numerous brick and concrete fortifications have since been built to protect important harbors and ports along the coast, all are now outdated by new weapons and most are crumbling relics, covered by drifting sand, of an epoch which has passed. Guided missile bases and radar towers are the modern bastions of the coastline.

Undoubtedly the most enduring phase of seashore history has been its role in maritime operations. Dangerous promontories and outlying shoals are strewn with the wreckage of countless ships. The toll of sailing vessels, helpless before the pounding Atlantic gales, was almost unbelievable. During a six-year period one ship a week went aground on the North Carolina coast with as many as 14 foundering in one day. The Cape Hatteras area alone accounted for several hundred victims.

Shipwrecks long ago provided a living for the colorful "mooncussers" who salvaged wreckage and cargo from doomed vessels. The true beach dwellers and beachcombers of today are the men who man the Coast Guard stations and lighthouses on isolated beaches and remote islands. Introduction of steam, and of radio and radar, has almost eliminated marine disasters and few of the present coast guardsmen have brought a surfboat loaded with survivors through the raging breakers or made fast a breeches buoy to a ship stranded on the offshore bar.

But up and down the coast, storms continue to uncover broken sections of vessels long buried in the sand. These gaunt skeletons mutely symbolize the history of the coast, for on such ships men came from the Old World to the New and explored a great continent and made it their home. The men and their ships, who fulfilled a great destiny, are gone. And yet, the memory-provoking sight of such wreckage on a lonely beach, with the surf rolling endlessly upon the sand, helps recapture for the musing spectator the half-forgotten procession of figures and episodes of history which the coastline has witnessed.

THE NATIVE LIFE OF THE SEASHORE

Up to the end of the fifteenth century, A. D., the plant and animal life along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was essentially unmodified by any activities of man. The Indians used whatever they needed for food and the other necessities of their way of living but the did not use enough of any kind of either plant or animal to change materially the appearance or composition of any of the plant-animal, or biotic, communities. The more advanced Indians carried on certain agricultural practices on limited areas inland from the coast but practically everywhere along the coast all of the plants and all of the animals, as well as the Indians, were native to the communities in which they lived. There were no exotics.

What were the biotic communities along the coast like at that time? The most abundant plants in the waters adjacent to the seashore were brown and red algae, commonly called seaweeds. The largest of the seaweeds are brown algae, but the most intricately branched and the most beautiful are red algae. Along the entire coast there are probably more than 50 different kinds of brown algae and more than 200 different kinds of red algae that are large enough to be called seaweeds. Most of these algae grow attached to rocks or to other objects, sometimes to other algae. Therefore, they are not seen along sandy beaches except when they are broken loose and cast up on the beach by waves, but they are abundant along rocky coasts.

Aside from the algae, one of the most abundant plants from North Carolina northward was eelgrass, a member of the pondweed family. This was also one of the most important of the marine plants because it served as food and shelter for numerous animals including many migratory waterfowl.

The waters were also teeming with animal life. There were several kinds of whales, dolphins and porpoises that were common along the coast and there were harbor seals from North Carolina northward. There were probably more than 200 different kinds of fishes and at least forty of them were known to be edible. Most of these fishes had a rather wide range of distribution but few of them were found all the way from Canada to Mexico. The herring, for example, is a northern species which is seldom seen south of Delaware Bay while Spanish mackerel, and snook are southern species which are seldom seen north of Cape Cod. There were also lobsters from Chesapeake Bay north, blue crabs from Long Island south, and myriads of shellfishes everywhere.

As one left the open water and proceeded toward the land he might, in the fifteenth century as now, have encountered one of the two types of biotic communities that occur where the salt water is very shallow at low tide but deeper at high tide. These are the saltmarsh community and the mangrove swamp community. The mangrove swamp community is limited to the coasts of the southern peninsula of Florida but the saltmarsh community occurs at various places from Maine to Texas. Saltmarshes are most extensive from western Florida to Texas and from New Jersey to Georgia. Louisiana has more than any other State. Along the entire coast from Maine to Texas there are between 5-1/2 and 6 million acres of saltmarsh and more than half of this is in Louisiana. The dominant plants in the saltmarsh community are cordgrass and black rush together with saltgrass, bulrush, and several showy flowering plants such as saltmarsh aster and seaside goldenrod. The community is inhabited by such birds as redwing blackbird, herons, marsh wren, and various shorebirds, and is visited regularly, in season, by large numbers of migratory waterfowl. It is inhabited also by mussels, snails and fiddler crabs and is visited by several fishes. Meadow mice and muskrats sometimes inhabit the saltmarsh the year round and occasional visitors include such mammals as otter, mink, raccoon and opossum.

Mangrove swamps occur along the coasts of Florida southward from St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast and from Cedar Keys on the Gulf coast. They occur where the water is a few inches to two feet deep at average high tide. They increase in area southward and reach their greatest development on the southwest coast in the Ten Thousand Islands region. The most characteristic plants in them are the red mangrove which is recognized by its numerous prop-roots extending downward from the lower branches like stilts; the black mangrove which produces an abundance of odd, pencil-like roots sticking up right out of the mud; and the white mangrove which produces fewer and smaller upright roots than the black mangrove and is more readily recognized by its fleshy, elliptical leaves and small ribbed fruits.

In the fifteenth century one would have found the beaches looking about as they do now so far as native life is concerned. There is no biotic community on the beach proper and the only living things seen, aside from plants or animals that may have been washed up by waves, are likely to be a few scampering sand crabs and several kinds of shore birds. Back of the beach, however, there is a very characteristic biotic community, called the sand-dune community. It sometimes occupies only the first row of dunes but often it covers several rows.

From North Carolina southward and also on the Gulf coast the sea oat is the dominant plant and it is often accompanied by beach croton and beach morning-glory, while from Virginia northward the sea oat is replaced by beachgrass and often large areas of low dunes are blanketed by beach heath. There are, of course, various other plants that occur in this community but those mentioned are the ones that are most commonly seen. Animal life is not abundant in this community. It is limited largely to such species as sand crabs, dune fiddler crabs, saltmarsh cicadas, and beach tiger beetles, but there are usually also a few small rodents and a few nesting birds. The nearness to the ocean that plants are able to grow depends upon the amount of salt spray that they can endure. Some can endure much more than others. Those that can endure the greatest amount of salt spray are found growing in the sand dune biotic community. Those that cannot endure so much must stay a little farther away from the ocean.

In most places along the coast a visitor in the fifteenth century would have found three distinct zones of vegetation, that is, three distinct biotic communities. There were the sand-dune community, the shrub community, and the forest community. The shrub community formed a zone between the other two and might be entirely on old dunes. From Virginia northward it was composed largely of bayberry with the addition of beach plum and bear oak from Delaware northward. From North Carolina southward to northern Florida and along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico it was composed largely of wax myrtle, yaupon, and red cedar. And on both the eastern and western coasts of peninsular Florida it was composed largely of sea-grape, saw palmetto, and yucca.

The plants of the shrub community, and sometimes those of the forest community, looked as though they had been artificially trimmed to produce a smooth, upward slant away from the ocean. This was due to the repeated killing of the terminal buds on the side toward the ocean by the salt spray and the continued growth of the buds on the more protected, landward sides of the plants.

In the fifteenth century there were well-developed forests nearly everywhere along the coast. Toward the north, the coastal forests did not differ very much from those farther inland. In Maine the trees were largely evergreen--spruce, fir, white pine and hemlock. Farther south the evergreen trees were replaced by several kinds of oaks and a few other trees. On Cape Cod and the neighboring islands, for example, the forest consisted largely of oak and beech.

From North Carolina southward to northern Florida and from western Florida to Texas the typical coastal forest was dominated by live oak and accompanied by such trees as red bay, hop-hornbeam, holly, red mulberry, laurel oak and, in many places, cabbage palmetto and southern magnolia. Along the eastern and western coasts of Florida the near-coastal forest varied from place to place and did not differ greatly from forests farther inland.

In both the shrub and the forest communities there was an abundance of animal life. Deer, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and rabbits were nearly everywhere. There were also many kinds of nesting birds and such animals as frogs, toads, snakes, and myriads of insects.

In all of the biotic or plant-animal communities there were hundreds of kinds of living things in addition to the few that have been mentioned. There were many kinds of flowering plants, and there were molds, mushrooms, spiders, earthworms, and bacteria. Each kind of organism had its part to play in the drama of life that was carried on in each community. Birds fed upon insects; insects helped pollinate flowers; plants furnished food for mammals and birds; bacteria brought about the decay of the dead bodies of plants and animals.

The total result of the numerous activities of all the organisms in the community resulted in a harmonious, cooperative balance among the plants and animals that is often spoken of as the balance of nature. It is by the study of such harmonious, well-balanced, natural communities that the biologists learn better ways to grow cultivated plants and domestic animals, and better ways for man to live a happy, healthy and useful life.

What has happened to these nearly perfect biotic communities since the fifteenth century? When Europeans arrived they immediately began to exploit the natural resources. It was the natural thing for them to do and no one should blame them for doing it. The forests and the animal life seemed inexhaustible and there was no apparent reason why they should not be used. Forest trees were cut down to obtain lumber for building houses and boats. Wild animals were shot to obtain meat. Whales were killed to obtain blubber.

At first very little impression was made on the total amount of the natural resources. But as the numbers of men increased, the time eventually came when certain species of plants and animals were used up faster than they were being produced. In the waters adjacent to the coast, the greatest change brought about by man has been a very marked decrease in the numbers of whales and in a very few species of fish such as shad and Atlantic salmon.

An important change that was not due to man's activities occurred in 1931 and 1932 when nearly all the eelgrass disappeared from our coastal waters. This was due, apparently, to a rather mysterious plant disease. It brought about a great decrease in the numbers of brant and other waterfowls which depended upon eelgrass for food. Eelgrass is slowly returning at some places, along the coast and it may be that at some future time it will be as abundant as it formerly was.

There was not much that man wanted in either the sand dune community or in the shrub community and these communities were not much disturbed except when man built houses or other buildings in places that were occupied by these biotic communities. In such cases, however, the native life invariably is completely destroyed and so many places along our coast have been developed for human use that the areas where the sand dune and shrub communities are relatively undisturbed are exceedingly limited.

The original forests have been cut down almost everywhere along the coast. In many places there is no forest left at all. In other places the primitive forest has been replaced by a different type of forest. On Cape Cod, for example, the original oak-beech forest has been replaced by a pitch pine forest and in various places farther south the original live oak forest has been replaced by loblolly and longleaf pine.

In only a few limited areas are there remnants of forests which, although more or less modified, can still be recognized as parts of the primitive, native forests. Examples of these can be found on parts of Roque Island, Maine, in the Sunken Forest on Fire Island, New York, in the Bird Refuge at Stone Harbor, New Jersey, on Smith Island, North Carolina, and Cumberland Island, Georgia, and on some of the Florida keys.

The animal life of the shrub and forest communities has suffered along with the plant life. In some cases this has resulted from too many animals being killed by man. More often, however, it has resulted from the destruction of the plant life. Animals cannot live without plants. Therefore, when a forest or a shrub community is destroyed the animals that normally inhabit those communities have no place to live and they must either move to another locality or die.

In addition to the destruction of native plants and animals by man another factor that has contaminated many of the native communities has been the introduction of exotic plants and animals. Some of these introductions have been intentional while others have been entirely unintentional. Many of the exotic species have become naturalized and are mingled with the native species to such an extent that the biotic communities can no longer be said to be in a wholly natural condition.

One of the most unfortunate introductions was that of the Japanese honeysuckle which has been extensively planted and encouraged by people who do not realize the value of uncontaminated native vegetation. This exotic honeysuckle is now common in forest borders all the way from Massachusetts to Texas. It is very difficult to eradicate and, since it rapidly overwhelms and strangles many kinds of native plants, it seriously changes the character of the forest border.

Many different kinds of weeds have been introduced unintentionally and some exotic animals have gained entrance in the same manner. The most troublesome exotic animals along the coast, however, have been domestic animals such as goats and hogs which have "gone wild". They often do a great deal of damage to the native vegetation.

The few remaining examples of natural, or even seminatural, biotic communities along the seacoast should be zealously preserved and protected from further modification. Biologists should have an opportunity to study these particular types of biotic communities that occur nowhere except along the seashore, for no one is able to say that, at some time in the future, such studies might not result in discoveries of great benefit to the human race.

Entirely aside from the opportunities for scientific research, it is exceedingly important to the future of education to have examples of all of the different types of biotic communities available for nature study classes, conservation groups, and anyone else who may wish to study, photograph, or otherwise enjoy the activities of native plants and animals in their natural homes.

The esthetic values of the native biotic communities also should not be overlooked. Much of the beauty of the coastal areas is due to the plants that grow upon them and since the plants that grow naturally in the native biotic communities are better adapted than any others for the rather difficult growing conditions in our seaside habitats, the plant life is well worthy of protection and preservation for its esthetic values alone.

What can be done at this late hour to save some of our native plant and animal life along the seacoast? The most important thing to remember in this connection is that nature is a very efficient conservationist. If a biotic community can be protected from human vandalism and from domestic animals, and if no plants or animals are taken out or put into it, nature will take good care of it, as a general rule. If it is already in a natural condition, nature will keep it that way if given a chance. If it is only seminatural it still is unnecessary to do anything except protect it and leave it alone. Nature will gradually bring it back to a natural condition. It may take a long time to do it, the length of time depending upon how much it had been disturbed, but it will continually become more valuable as the years go by.

However, in order that nature may take care of a biotic community, it is necessary that permanent protection of the area be guaranteed. Usually a private owner cannot give such a guarantee. It is important, therefore, that the best of our remaining natural or seminatural biotic communities be owned by the State, the Federal Government, or some other agency that can guarantee permanent protection. As soon as an area containing natural or seminatural biotic communities is obtained, by such an agency, a trained biologist should be asked to advise which parts are best suited for permanent protection. Steps should then be taken to guarantee that the selected parts will be protected for all time. The remaining parts of the area can then be used for recreation or any other worthy purpose.

EXISTING FEDERAL AND STATE SEASHORE RECREATION AREAS OF THE ATLANTIC AND GULF COASTS

To summarize, approximately 265 miles of seashore (excluding bays, coves and harbors) are in Federal and State ownership. There are 2 national parks, 1 national seashore recreation area, 4 national wildlife refuges (counting only those refuges which contain ocean beaches), and 36 State parks--a total of 43 areas in 14 States.

The 54 areas selected, out of the 126 studied, have a combined total of approximately 640 miles of shoreline. If placed in public ownership, they would increase the amount of publicly owned seashore to nearly 25% of the Atlantic and Gulf coastline.

National Wildlife Refuges
Atlantic and Gulf Coasts