Congaree and Ninety Six

Tuesday morning Alicia had to go back to work so I headed further south to Congaree National Park which preserves the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States. I arrived just as the visitor center opened and hiked the 2.5 mile Low and High boardwalk trails from the Visitor center. 

 I was literally the only person at the park besides the lady at the visitor center.  Also, the day was dark and dreary which I thought would be perfect for touring a swamp, but honestly, the further I hiked out and the darker the skies got it honestly just scared the crap out of me. The trail is actually pretty interesting because it goes by cypress knees, then a lake, then a growth of dwarf palmettos and then through some really tall trees. 

 

The average canopy height is over 100ft tall. Congaree has one of the tallest temperate deciduous forests in the world, and is taller than the old-growth forests found in Japan, the Himalayas, Southern South America and all of Eastern Europe. I set out on one of the offshoot trails which took me off the boardwalk but it started raining and I was feeling really nervous so I ran back to the boardwalk. I’ve never been creeped out at a National Park before and I really don’t know why I was but I raced back to my car and got the hell out of there. 

I found solace at a Zaxby’s where I had a meal of fried chicken. My next stop was Ninety Six National Historic site. There is a paved 1 mile walking trail that includes wayside signs, the reconstructed siege works and Stockade Fort, original 1781 Star Fort, town site of old Ninety Six, historic roads, and more. Its kind of an odd name and its thought to be a reference to the distance in miles between the location and the Cherokee town of Keowee but that’s not accurate by today’s measures. The Star Fort is the most famous because it is original. It reminded me of the Hopewell earthen works that I saw last year in Ohio. Again, I was the only person out touring and the trail was a really nice one. Since I still had daylight left I decided to stop by Musgrove Mill which is a state historic site. The only thing there was a herd of deer as the visitor center was closed so I took a quick walk down to the river and a monument and left. 

 My last stop for the day was Rose Hill State Historic site. I really wanted to see a plantation. It was getting pretty dark but I wandered around the home and manicured gardens. Rose Hill is the former home of South Carolina Governor William H. Gist who was governor of South Carolina during years leading up to the civil war.

 

After getting back to Spartanburg,  Alicia and I headed downtown to the annual Dickens of a Christmas. It was kinda funny to see an ice rink in South Carolina! I enjoyed the Christmas celebration without freezing my butt off which is a novelty. One of the centerpieces of downtown is the Denny’s corporate headquarters.