page_title: Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge / History
caption_attribution_description: July 17, 2012 - Blackbeard Island, GA. Sunset over the edge of Blackbeard's boneyard beach. Credit: USFWS/Molly Martin
context_page_description: The Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 5,618 acre National Wildlife Refuge located in McIntosh county in Georgia. The refuge was established to provide a nature and forest preserve for aesthetic and conservation purposes.
  The refuge is one of seven refuges administered by the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in Savannah, Georgia. The complex has a combined staff of 31 with the fiscal year 2005 budget of $3,582,000.
context_section_description: The name of the island comes from Edward Teach, the infamous pirate Blackbeard. There is a legend that part of his treasure is buried on the island. There has never been a single doubloon found, though. The last hunt took place in the 1880s on the north end of the island. There have been no further authorized attempts since.
  The land which is currently Blackbeard Island originally came from the Navy Department in 1800 in a public auction as a source of live oak timber for ship building. The island was then placed under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Biological Survey to be maintained as a preserve and breeding ground for native wildlife and migratory birds in 1924. A presidential proclamation in 1940 changed its designation from Blackbeard Island Reservation to Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge.
caption: Sunset over the edge of Blackbeard's boneyard beach.
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