World Country Guide

Introduction

This aristocratic colonial port boasts beautifully restored antebellum homes, quaint old churches and lovely hidden gardens. So many churches dot the streets of Charleston that the city has been nicknamed ‘The Holy City’. Some of the most historic among them include the First Baptist Church, French Huguenot Church, St Philip’s Episcopal Church and the Unitarian Church. Popular attractions include Cabbage Row, which was the inspiration for America’s first opera, Porgy & Bess. Charles Towne Landing is an unusual park located on the first permanent English settlement in South Carolina. Visitors can take a guided tram tour of the original 1670 fortification or board a replica of a 17th-century trading ketch and explore 11km (7 miles) of pathways through beautiful English park gardens. The Market Hall, a National Historic Landmark in a Greek Revival style, houses the Confederate Museum. Other attractions include Middleton Place, America’s oldest formal English garden; Magnolia Garden; Boone Hall Plantation; Drayton Hall; the Charleston Museum; the Cold War Memorial at Patriot’s Point Naval and Maritime Museum; and the Spirit of South Carolina, a replica tall ship docked at the north end of Union Terminal Pier.
Fort Sumter is possibly the most important historic military site in the nation; the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter from Fort Johnson in 1861. Boat tours to Fort Sumter leave from Liberty Square and Patriots Point Maritime Museum. Charleston beach resorts include Fairfield Ocean Ridge at Edisto Island, Seabrook Island Resort, Wild Dunes Resort on the Isle of Palms, and Kiawah Island.
Columbia is the seat of State government and the hub of the arts, education and history in South Carolina. Attractions include the Columbia Museum of Art, where contemporary art shares the spotlight with masterpieces of the Baroque and Renaissance. Ranked among the top10 zoos in the nation, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden uses water and light to create the illusion of privacy and wild, unlimited space for the 2000 animals. The Confederate Relic Room and Museum features weapons and memorabilia, including flags, newspapers, clothing, pictures and money. The Fort Jackson Museum traces the history of the American soldier and a special exhibit focuses on the life and times of President Andrew Jackson. Other sights include Robert Mills Historic House and Park, Millwood Plantation Ruins, the South Carolina State Museum, Riverfront Park and Historic Columbia Canal.
Stretching 96km (60 miles) from Little River near the North Carolina border to the tidelands of historic Georgetown, the Grand Strand is a long area dotted with beaches and tourist resorts. Popular attractions for children include the Myrtle Beach National Wax Museum; Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, which boasts a giant German Pipe Organ dating from 1900; NASCAR Speedpark; and Ripley’s Aquarium. Fun water rides can be found at Myrtle Waves Water Park and Wild Water and Wheels in Surfside Beach. Family Kingdom Amusement Park boasts Swamp Fox, a legendary wooden rollercoaster. There is also an array of family entertainment complexes offering professional stage and music programmes.
Other sights include Brookgreen Gardens, a showplace of art and nature developed in the 1930s by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington on the site of four colonial rice plantations. Amongst the 2000 species of plants, visitors can view around 550 of America’s finest 19th- and 20th-century sculptures by artists such as Frederic Remington and Daniel Chester French, as well as many by Anna Hyatt Huntington herself. Across the street is the oceanfront Huntington Beach State Park, which is also home to Atalaya, once the castle-like studio of Mrs Huntington. The park offers a visitors’ centre, boardwalk nature trails, camping, picnicking, sunbathing and nature programmes. Myrtle Beach State Park is one of the most popular parks in the State with cabins, camping swimming and pier fishing.
The South Carolina Hall of Fame in Myrtle Beach has interactive video displays that salute outstanding citizens of South Carolina. The story of rice and indigo is told through dioramas and artefacts at the Rice Museum inside the Old Market Building in Georgetown.
One of the oldest resorts on the Atlantic Coast, the island was once a refuge for colonial rice planters’ families wishing to avoid malaria. Many of the old beach houses can be rented. The original Pawley’s Island rope hammocks have long been handmade in this area.
The Cherokees called this range ‘the Great Blue Hills of God’. This was Cherokee country when the first traders came here. By the late-1820s, all that was left of the Lower Cherokee Nation were place and river names, such as Jocassee, Seneca and Tokeena. Today, Upcountry attractions include the Anderson Arts Center, the Anderson County Museum, Greenville Zoo, Hollywild Animal Park, Campbell’s Covered Bridge and the Irma Morris Museum of Fine Art. The lively town of Spartanburg has several attractions, including Cleveland Park; Hatcher Garden and Woodland Preserve; the Zimmerli Amphitheater; the Motor Sports Museum of the South; and a new Cultural Arts Facility for the arts, science and heritage, including a 500-seat theatre.
The falls of Whitewater cascade over the Blue Ridge, down a drop of 275m (900ft). The top of Raven Cliff Falls in Caesars Head State Park offers a bird’s-eye view encompassing the great sweep of the Blue Ridge. Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River, which separates South Carolina from Georgia, is a popular spot for whitewater rafting, canoeing and kayaking. Table Rock State Park is one of the State’s oldest and most popular parks. Camping, boating, fishing, swimming, nature trails and summit hikes have drawn record numbers of visitors.