Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi... my name's Denis and like many of you, i've read "Snakes and Snake Hunting" (many times, actually). It's my favorite book... I refer to it as my "bible".

Anyway, for quite a number of years I have been on a hunt to find the town of Crossley, the subject of the chapter "Crossley Pines and Corns". Carl mentions in the book (written in the 1950's) that Crossley is all but gone, save for a few remnants of foundations that used to be the buildings of the clay mining company. Well, I found Crossley and i'm happy to report there's more than just a few rocks left (though not a lot more).

For one thing, Crossley if a nature preserve now. The original trail throught the town is still intact and has signs placed along it telling bits of history about Crossley. Another thing still there are some of the original loading platforms used way back when Carl and his friends hunted there. Best of all, there are still snakes there...

I'm going to post some pics I took of my journey that day. Any snakes were of course photographed and photographed only! I hope you enjoy and possibly relive some memories of a book you've most likely read and truly enjoyed. I know I did... many times!

Happy Herping...

Denis

Here's a few more pics. The third one is the trail Carl used to take to Davenport Branch, which is still alive and well.

Check out the old loading platforms found in the woods. (I wanted to take the bench home... lol)

And here's the proof that snakes still visit Crossley. This guy was almost a full 6 feet long and quite friendly.... he seemed happy to have his picture taken!

Just wanted to add this: Carl told a particular story where his friend Harry saw a snake go into a hole near Crossly, on the trail near Davenport Branch. Carl had to return to camp at Crossley for a digging tool and to find his way back he had to literally could the telephone poles back to the snake nest. The telephone poles in the third pic are the same poles he counted and that is the trail he walked to catch the snake. (It turned out to be a Pine snake).

Great job Denis. I've read his books many many times. It is great to be able to trace Karls steps and then see some of the snakes that he caught there. Great looking pine too! I have had the priveldge of doing the same thing in the Okeetee. I even met Mr Bennett there...one of the guys Karl use to collect with.

Dan

Thanks Dan... after years of visiting this site, it's nice to finally be able to contribute something. I spent 2 weeks last spring in Okeetee Country (I stayed at the Forest Hotel in Ridgeland and hunted between there and Hardeeville). I love it down there. Quite a few years ago I was in the area and met someone from the Okeetee hunt club, but he just said "get the hell off our land... lol!

I did post photos of last years trip on my MySpace page. If you'd like to check them out, I think you'll find them here:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=173267276&albumId=630013

(I am new to posting photos on the net, so forgive me for any errors... in case the link doesn't work).

Most of my visits to the Okeetee were in the early 70's...though I have driven through it many times since. Back then, I-95 was not complete...and it could take one 5 minutes of waiting for traffic before you could cross 17 from one side to the other! Many of the snake collectors became more of a nuisance then the locals felt that the snakes were, so they banned the collectors. I visited Sandy Hill and Duck Pond and it was covered with beer cans and garbage. I can't say that I blame them for not letting herpers on the property anymore. Again, Denis I enjoyed your post very much.

Dan

Oh yea, I concur. I lived in Charleston in 1981-82 and the time I was thrown off the property was before that... probably 78 or 79. I completely understand that it was the collectors that ruined it. I heard they would trash the Okeetee property, leaving garbage strewn everywhere... and these same people got angry about being banned. If i'm mad at anyone about it (and i'm really not mad... more sad), it's the collectors. The guy who threw me out was nice to me actually and gave me the address of a Burt Schiflett, whom I couldn write for a permit, but unless I was associated with a Zoo or Museum, he said i'd never get it.

Here's a funny little story... back around 1985 or 86, I went on a snake trip with my brother. One night while road cruising the Okeetee area (roadcruising is allowed... the roads are public they told me at the first encounter), my brother and I found a dirt road with an open fence gate and went in to see what it was. Before long we realized we were IN the Okeetee Preserve (they forgot to lock a gate). Once we realized where we were, we turned to get the hell out of there... but got lost. We must have spent 2 hours trying to find an exit that was open... none were, and we couldn't find the one we came in. We would frequently come across these small buildings or trailers (when we had to pass one, we'd shut our lights and try and drive in the pitch dark). Lemme tell ya... we were SCARED. I thought we'd get caught and locked up.

Finally we found a fence that while locked, had a small clearance that our 4 wheel drive jeep was able to climb abd exit the property. Man on man, that was a really tense 2 hours... and my one time ON Okeetee property.

By the way... those pics on MySpace of the Duck Pond Pavillion is, I believe, not the one Kauffeld used to visit. This one I fould back in the mid 70's on my first trip to the south, but it's closer to Coosawhatchie that it is to Ridgeland or Hardeeville. I sincerely doubt that's Sandy Hill the pavillion I visit is on.

Burt Shiflett is the dumba*% that called the cops and had me and my friends arrested and thrown into jail for what I call "breaking and walking". Made the local papers and I hear from the locals that they were trying to make an example to try to dissuade others from trespass on the okeetee. In the past they would just drive nearby and yell at you to get off the property(unless you were permitted), but never carried it to the extent Shiflett did. fortunately the cops saw we were good people and seemed to have had as low an opinion of Mr. Shiflett as we did, and they were nothing but nice , cordial and helpful to us for our entire stay at the "Ridgeland Arms". as an aside, while I was sitting cuffed in the car with Brad(one of my fellow jailbirds) we saw a snake crossing the road not 20 feet in front of us.

Wow... sorry to hear Burt was such a ball buster to you. That's ironic about seeing the snake crossing the road in front of you, while sitting in the cop car. I was only stopped once and the guys were actually very nice even though they chased me. They said I could write Burt and ask for permission to hunt on thier land, but they said the chances of him saying yes were a million to one against! Nowadays when I visit the area, I stay off any property with an Okeetee Preserve sign.

Loved your recounting finding Crossley. I hunted the barrens in the early to late 70s and found crossley using Karls book as a guideline. It was most rewarding as there was a good number of Pines in that area and not a few Kings as well. As for Okeetee in the early 70s I was there too. although it was true that they hated the overwhelming numbers of collectors that visited(and more by droves each and every year), it is also true that they policed the area pretty darned well, and that they still issued permits if you took the time and trouble to go to the main house and ask permission to explore the grounds. Back then of course they still practiced southern hospitality. Now they would just as soon throw you in jail (as happened to me, my friends and my then fiance back in 1993or4). And also back then there were still fair numbers of snakes you could still find, including diamondbacks.

Great Post!!!!!!
Thanks for posting:

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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

Wow, i'm really glad someone out there actually appreciates these pics!!! (I wasn't sure anyone would remember Crossley). You're very welcome, indeed!

One of the best posts of the year...as an old guy who also grew up reading Kauffeld these posts really bring back some good memories. On my site I even have one of Carl's passages quoted in my Okeetee Corn section. Thanks

Scott John Reptiles

Oh, and how well I remember that quote! I must have read it 30 or 40 times. I also loved your corns.... true Okeetees, absolutely gorgeous!!! Keep up the great work, my friend... these animals need to be kept pure Okeetee corns. I spent 2 weeks all around Okeetee last april JUST to get a true Okeetee... and even though I caught over 100 snakes in that time, I only saw one Okeetee Corn and it had just been hit by a car. Absolutely heartbreaking. There's a pic of it on my MySpace site... easily the most beautiful snake i've seen in the wild.

Oh yea... I must have come across 20 greenish Ratsnakes and 40 or 50 Copperheads all over the Okeetee area, but just that one single corn. Unbelievable!!!

There is a poster called venomous snakes of the carolinas, the photo of the eastern diamondback was taken in situ in the okeetee by some friends from which I received some of my okeetee corn stock from. I beleive the poster is sold through the nc herp society.

Thanks Denis. Have always been a fan of Kauffeld. My late father knew him when Kauffeld worked @ Staten Island and my Dad worked with Conant @ the Philly zoo. I have my own great memories hunting the Jasper Co. area of SC. My best would have to be one spring in the late 70's on Good Hope Plantation. Myself, along with J. Berraducci were walking the ridge that runs along an old RR bed in "Gregory's Neck". I came upon 2 windfall oak trees. There sitting in between the exposed root systems from both trees layed a large female C. adamanteus. Perfect picture and perfect memory of what that area is blessed with. Yes I did collect this animal and she gave me 14 beautiful "Okeetee EDB's" that august. I kept a pair of the neonates and returned the rest along with mommy the following spring in the same area. That area was magical. The same year and subsequent years it produced Canebrakes, Copperheads, Corns, Kings, and the last Southern Heterodon I've seen in the wild. All thanks to Mr. Harry Cooler, who for years gave me permission to access the property.
Bob

strange. what religion are you. my national audobahn field guide to north american reptiles and amphibians is my BIBLE, LOL!

my national audobahn field guide to north american reptiles and amphibians is my BIBLE, LOL!

But.... but, I mean, c'mon.... Conants book is wayyy superior!!! Honestly, they're all great books, but I just have the best time reading Kauffelds books. Obviously, it's because of the excitement of reliving the hunt, even when it's someone else's. Kauffeld had such a way with words that he was able to describe events so thoroughly that it almost feels as though you've actually experienced the hunt yourself. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

In the meantime, whatever religion you adhere to, have lots of fun in the field!!! The time is almost here (isn't the coming of Spring an awesome time for us herpers?)

We CAN all get along! Great post! Kauffeld left us all clues in his great writeing to follow just like in National Treasure... But Conant left us the info on what we find!

"Kauffeld left us all clues in his great writing to follow just like in National Treasure"

Wow, that's great and oh so true! Like I said, i've been looking for Crossley for many years based on the clues Kauffeld left. Turns out I actually stumbled upon Crossley many years back, but there was NOTHING there, so I could never be sure. Last year I just decided I "had" to be on the right track and went back to where I found nothing, but this time I found what I posted.

I have also spent countless hours in Dutchess County, NY, in the semi-famous Kauffeld triangle (Dover to Wingdale to Kent). I think I found the Catrock Den, though there is nothing reptilian living up there anymore. But as you say, following his clues is similiar to the movie National Treasure (though I like to imagine myself more like Indiana Jones searching for the lost Ark of the Covenant... lol).

Ya know, now that you got me thinking... I imagine I enjoy the search for these areas almost as much as the search for snakes. When I found Crossley, it was nearly as exciting as when I found the Pine Snake that day... in fact perhaps even more so simply because i've found so many Pines in NJ. (now, had it been a Corn snake I saw, that would have edged out the finding of the Crossley itself.... never saw a Corn in NJ).

Denis, if you liked the way he wrote the stories(I loved them too) you should have hear him tell the stories(along with lots of dirty stories). That man could tell a tale(inbetween puffs-he also liked to smoke). And you should have seen the collection of snakes he amassed in the staten island zoo at its heyday in the early 70s-they had every species of rattler as well as some gorgeous pines and corns and more.

Although I never had the chance to see him in person, people who have have told me he loved telling stories of snake hunts, and was very good at it. I never made it to the SI Zoo until after he was gone from it, but the collection, even in the early 80's when i went, was still evry impressive. Unfortunately he did smoke a lot and it is what killed him at a fairly early age (I think he was 63 when he died of emphasema and heart failure). I wish I had been able to sit around that circle even once and listen to him in person, but thankfully we still have his books. Thanks for writing...

...for a great post!! I'm gonna get out and herp next week and this was very inspiring and just what I needed.
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Diego

Well, Thanks you, Diego... that was very kind! Good luck and let us all know how you do next week. Awesome that the time is here!!! I'm already making plans for my trip to S. Carolina!

Denis

Denis, Thanks for those pics. They really give a herper the urge to throw a hook in the back of his car and get outside. I'm a Jersyite, and spend lots of time down in the Barrens.
If you know where to look, you can see the roadside mailbox labeled "Pittman", and yes they are Asa Pittman's descendants from the books.
I've always wanted to go up the long sandy driveway and say hi, but never screwed up the courage.
Again, thanks for the photos.

Vinny

Ya know Vinny... back in the late 70's (probably 78 or around there) I was on a trip in the Pine Barrens and my friend took me to Upton to see where Asa Pittman used to live. I was about 20 years old and Asas house was still there. I vividly remember a black wooden dog about 20" long with the name Pittman on it in front of the house. My friend had a lot of nerve and proceeded to knock on the door. As it turned out, this wasn't the first time he did that. He'd met the lone occupant several times before.

Well, Mrs. Pittman, Asas widow, came to the door and my friend, who'd met her before, said "Hi Mrs. Pittman". I thought he was insane to do this, but she was actually excited to see us. She came out and spent a good 20-30 minutes telling us about Asa and the old days. She would point here and there and say things like "Asa used to find corn snakes under the RR ties right over there", or "Asa found a Pine snake right under that tree one morning". She was extrememly cordial and courteous to us. She was quite old (i'm guessing in her 70's) and not as sharp, i'm sure, as she used to be (or she probably would have chased us strange kids away), but she was full of life and she really seemed to appreciate the company.

I heard sometime later that her children, who lived very close by, did not appreciate strangers coming to visit, and so my friend stopped dropping by after that... although I doubt that made Mrs. Pittman happy. She loved visitors and talking about Asa. She certainly seemed incredibly proud of him.

Years later, I guess 5 or 6 years later, I went by just to see if she was still there (I didn't intend to knock or anything) and the house was a pile of burnt wood. I heard later that she had passed away before that and the house later burned down... though when I saw it that day, it was obvious it had burned down just recently.

Well, and here's the point of my story: the only thing I saw in the piles of burnt debris that wasn't destroyed was the black wooden dog with the family name on it. It was just sitting on top of the main pile of debris. I couldn't resist taking it home with me and I had it hanging in my room for many many years. I treasured it, but it disappeared a few years later and I never saw it again. To me, it was like owning Judy Garlands glass slippers from the Wizard of Oz... and if the individual who took it ever decides to return it, I shall immediately post pictures of it for everyone to see. (i'm pretty sure of who took it as only one other person I knew actually admired it as much as I).

I'm really glad you liked the pics... nice to know I inspired people to get out into the field. I can't wait to get out there either. Hope to see you in the Pines someday!!!