South Carolina

October 31 - November 4, 2023

Our visit to South Carolina was part of a 5-week, 3,695-mile trip throughout the southeast, including one-night stays in Virginia and Maryland, and more extensive stays in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This blog post describes our time in South Carolina.

We had two destinations in South Carolina: Charleston and Congaree National Park. We found South Carolina to be a beautiful state that was interesting to visit. The two campgrounds we stayed at were two of the nicest campgrounds. Driving through the country roads in South Carolina, we saw acres and acres of cotton fields, a sea of brown and white, making for an interesting change of scenery from earlier drives.

We left Savannah, Georgia and drove to James Island County Park, a few miles outside of Charleston. Despite being Halloween, the park was dressing up for its Christmas light show. The park is beautiful park with a pond, bike/walking trails, and wooded campsites. Our site was a nice size, wooded, and not too close to our neighbors. We spent part of our time biking around the park, taking the trail past a fishing pier and through some wooded areas. A terrific benefit was that the park offered roundtrip daily shuttles to Charleston for $10 per person roundtrip, which we took advantage of.

Despite Charleston having a free bus system, we walked all over town. Starting at the Visitors Center, we walked down King Street to the City Market, an indoor market established in 1807. We enjoyed walking through the French Quarter which had a very European feel. We also walked by the Old Slave Mart Museum. While walking, we passed a woman who worked in the Post Office on the corner of Meeting and Broad Streets who told us about a small but interesting museum in the post office which we visited. We really liked King Street, with its commercial offerings closer to the Visitors Center and the residential area with big beautiful homes closer to the water.

Charleston did a much better job than Savannah of recording and sharing the role that slavery played in building the city and surrounding area. Wanting to learn more, we visited the McLeod Plantation Historic Site. Our tour guide share that he is a descendent of the Gullah Geechee people, a culture interesting to learn about. Visiting the plantation with its large mansion and small shacks was a sobering experience.

Leaving the Charleston area, we drove to Poinsett State Park, a beautiful, quiet, and secluded campground about 45 minutes from Congaree National Park. Disappointed that our site was in the middle of the campground and under a street lamp, we were able to move to a site off the main road that backed into the woods. We biked down one of the trails a bit, saw some huge pinecones fallen from the Long Leaf Pines, and collected firewood. We ate dinner around the fire but went inside early as the temperature was quickly dropping. In the morning, we found that the water in our hose outside froze a bit in the 30-degree weather, but the plumbing inside seemed fine. Our blankets kept us warm enough at night, and the space heater and furnace warmed the van up quickly in the morning.

Visiting Congaree National Park was well worth the trip as the park is beautiful, quiet, and serene. We walked the boardwalk trail to the Oakridge Trail, a total of about 7 miles through bald cedar groves, loblolly pine trees, and along the river. While on the trail we heard oinking noises and saw wild hogs running away in the distance. A very unique experience!