In 1925, New Yorker Gayer Dominick bought Bulls Island as a private hunting preserve; 11 years later he gave it to Cape Romain refuge for seabirds and shorebirds

For 229 years, ownership of Bulls Island, a wild barrier island off the coast of South Carolina that is now part of Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, passed through 36 different private hands, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which records that the island had 36 private owners from 1696 to 1936. The island and surrounding refuge now support more than 290 recorded bird species, with FWS documentation listing over 293 bird species in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. Then a wealthy New York banker bought it, built a mansion on it, and eventually turned it over to the federal government for good, setting the stage for a major shorebird refuge on the East Coast.

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