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Givhans Ferry State Park is the perfect place to take a float down the serene Edisto River, the longest free-flowing blackwater stream in North America.
On the dry side, Givhans Ferry boasts a well-regarded mountain bike trail, shady campgrounds and well-kept, rustic cabins that offer a peaceful stay in the rural Lowcountry woods and an easy drive to historic Charleston.
Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Great Depression, the park is part of the 56-mile long Edisto River Canoe and Kayak Trail, and is at the end of a popular 21-mile downstream paddle from Colleton State Park.
A natural retreat, Givhans Ferry State Park is also known for its limestone river bluff and sinkholes, some six to eight feet deep.
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 Ridgeville |
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Tall cypress trees that enchant the eye. A Civil War-era mill pond that abounds with wildlife. And a nature trail waiting to be explored.
N.R. Goodale State Park near Camden is home to these attractions and hidden surprises, such as a 3-mile cypress canoe trail that takes paddlers quickly back into a world they didn’t know existed so near to town.
A longtime community favorite, Goodale also offers shoreline fishing, canoe rentals, picnicking and hiking.
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 Camden |
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The boat ramps at Hamilton Branch have reopened, and water levels continue to rise. We also have a new courtesy dock for our visitors to use at our boat ramp. Contact the park for more information.
Boaters and other outdoors enthusiasts can’t go wrong at Hamilton Branch State Recreation Area.
Occupying a peninsula on 70,000-acre Strom Thurmond Lake in the heart of South Carolina’s western piedmont, the park displays the peaceful beauty of the Savannah River valley.
All but two of the park’s spacious campsites are directly on the lake and Hamilton Branch’s shoreline makes it an ideal fishing spot. Ramps, picnicking and biking and hiking trails also are popular.
The park’s rolling, wooded terrain supports a large variety of wildlife, including fox squirrels and deer. Hamilton Branch is also known for its wide variety of trees, including pines, dogwoods with their white blooms in early spring, oaks, hickory and sweetgum.
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 Plum Branch |
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Tucked away in the remote last vestiges of a colonial-era rice plantation, Hampton Plantation State Historic Site is both bucolic and evocative.
The plantation’s Georgian-style mansion and well-kept grounds serve as an interpretive site for the system of slavery that helped build such plantations into the greatest generators of wealth in early American history. They also tell the story of the freed people who made their homes there for generations after emancipation.
Visitors can explore the mansion, wander the plantation grounds or just look out upon Wambaw Creek at the remains of rice fields that once stretched as far as the eye could see. George Washington had such a view when he stood on the Hampton family’s portico in 1791.
A historic kitchen building, huge live oaks, camellia gardens and archaeological sites also tell the story of Lowcountry rice culture.
Hampton is an ideal place to discover the surrounding Santee Delta’s natural beauty, which inspired the works of a South Carolina poet laureate, Archibald Rutledge, who lived here and gave it to the people of South Carolina as a legacy.
The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.
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 McClellanville |
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Military & Law Enforcement Golf Discount
What would you call a state park that offers 18 holes of lakeside championship golf, tennis, skeet shooting and archery, a swimming pool for lodge guests, full-service restaurant and meeting facilities and more than 70 lodge rooms?
That would be Hickory Knob State Resort Park.
The only full-service resort in the S.C. State Park Service, Hickory Knob rests on rolling, wooded shoreline alongside 70,000-acre Strom Thurmond Reservoir on the Savannah River: South Carolina’s “West Coast.”
The park’s amenities also include a boat ramp, campgrounds and one of the state’s most popular mountain biking trails. Serene and tucked away, location is another plus for this destination, with picturesque, historic small towns such as Abbeville and Greenwood nearby and Augusta and Anderson (and Clemson) just an easy drive away.
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McCormick |
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NOTICE TO CABIN GUESTS
Hunting Island is South Carolina’s single most popular state park, attracting more than a million human visitors a year.
Also attracted to the semi-tropical barrier island is an array of wildlife, ranging from loggerhead sea turtles to painted buntings, barracudas to sea horses, alligators, pelicans, dolphins and deer, raccoons, Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and even the rare coral snake.
What they all enjoy is five miles of beach, thousands of acres of marsh, tidal creeks and maritime forest, a saltwater lagoon and ocean inlet. Amenities include a fishing pier and some of the state’s most desirable campsites and cabins.
Adding to the natural history of the big park is a piece of man-made history: South Carolina’s only publicly accessible historic lighthouse. Dating from the 1870s, the Hunting Island Lighthouse shoots 170 feet into the air, giving those who scale its heights a breathtaking view of the sweeping Lowcountry marshland and the Atlantic Ocean.
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 Hunting Island |
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A sweeping Grand Strand beach, pristine and wide open. Sea-breeze camping and fishing from a jetty or in the surf. And some of the finest bird-watching on the East Coast.
That’s not all Huntington Beach State Park has to offer. There’s also Atalaya, the picturesque, Moorish-style winter home of Anna Hyatt and Archer Huntington, sculptress and philanthropist, respectively, who left the park and adjacent Brookgreen Gardens as their legacy.
Nature lovers also will enjoy the park’s Environmental Education Center and wide variety of programming, including the chance to see loggerhead turtles and other endangered plant and animal species up close. The park’s freshwater lake is a sure-fire place to see alligators and sometimes even a mink or two.
Art lovers, meanwhile, flock by the thousands to the prestigious, juried Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival held in and around the castle each September.
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 Murrells Inlet |
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With its stunning view of the Blue Ridge and woods full of rhododendrons, mountain laurel and wildflowers, Keowee-Toxaway State Natural Area is truly one of South Carolina’s pretty places.
History lovers also will appreciate the park’s museum, which tells the story of the Cherokee people who first lived here and their complex relationship with European settlers.
The park features a rental cabin with a porch overlooking Lake Keowee and a courtesy dock. Camping also is available.
For day use, there’s picnicking, shoreline fishing and hiking trails.
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 Sunset |
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A big, hilly, woodsy park with lots to do, Kings Mountain State Park has been a regional favorite for generations.
Built originally by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, Kings Mountain has miles of trails, equestrian facilities, group camping barracks, campgrounds, two fishing lakes with boat rentals and the popular Living History Farm.
The farm is a realistic replica of a typical Piedmont farm from the early to mid 1800s. Buildings include a house, barn and gin, and there are gardens and animals, including cows, chickens and a bunch of friendly cats.
Regularly scheduled special events at the park bring in local crowds and the park also is adjacent to Kings Mountain National Military Park, site of a pivotal Revolutionary War battle.
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 Blacksburg |
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Generations of history come together with miles of fun at Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area.
The park occupies a series of peninsulas on Lake Greenwood, which itself offers 212 miles of shoreline and 11,400 acres of boating and fishing opportunities year-round.
Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area is one of 16 state parks in South Carolina built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. That history is captured in the park’s CCC museum, which also serves as a popular reception and meeting center.
CCC structures remaining at the park include picnic shelters, a boathouse, water fountain and lakeside terrace.
In addition to lakeside camping, picnicking and hiking, the park also hosts the South Carolina Half-Iron Man Competition, a popular endurance contest, each fall.
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 Ninety Six |
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