Romantics love it: a Southern state with graceful willow trees shimmering in the wind, trays of mint juleps and covered bridges.
But there’s definitely another side of South Carolina. Consider, for example, that the state honored the salamander by naming it the official state amphibian, according to 50states.com.
Actually, Campbell’s Covered Bridge off Highway 14 near Gowensville remains the state’s only covered bridge. South Carolina actually entered the Union on May 23, 1788, the eighth state to do so. Despite its long history, the state’s reputation as a premier resort area has only occurred in the last 25 years with the development of the Myrtle Beach section.
Speaking of history, the first battle of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter. The walls of the American fort located on Sullivan Island in Charleston Harbor were constructed of spongy Palmetto logs, which helped protect it when British cannonballs in earlier years bounced off the logs. Prior to being known as the Palmetto State, South Carolina was known as the Iodine State. This image still graces the state’s license plates.
Following the Civil War, the work of Coker Experimental Farms played a significant role in the agricultural revolution in the South. David Robert Coker (1870-1938) conducted a number of crop-improvement experiments on his family’s plantation in Hartsville, where he bred 30 experimental cotton selections.
If you’re a peach fan, you might want to go to South Carolina, not Georgia. The former is the nation’s leading peach producer and shipper east of the Mississippi. The Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame is a great place to see champion thoroughbred flat racers and steeplechase horses trained at Aiken.
The Black River Swamp Preserve near Andrews is actually a slow-moving river. High concentrations of organic carbon are responsible for its water the color of tea. Sumter currently has the largest Gingko farm in the world.
In addition to Myrtle Beach, the Grand Strand is one of the most popular tourist spots in the United States. It extends about 60 miles from Little River to Georgetown. Tourists might also want to take in The Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel, which was bored in 1856 more than a mile into granite. Although activities in 1859 that preceded the Civil War ended the project, Clemson University later used the tunnel to make Blue Mold Cheese for the first time in the South.
South Carolina is home to the Tyler Brother Work Shoe and Book Company in Wagener. This firm produces eight major brands of safety footwear, including Redwing, Georgia, Northlake and Wolverine. Cotton was once a bit part of the state’s economy, and the first boll weevil ever found in South Carolina is now displayed at the Pendleton District Agricultural Museum.
Fans look to Duncan Park Baseball Stadium in Spartanburg as the oldest minor league stadium in the country. Those who prefer the exotic might want to visit Lake Murray. It seems every few years, observers note some kind of water monster there, dating to 1973, when someone claimed seeing a cousin of the Loch Ness Monster.
Since 1894, tobacco has been a huge part of the economy of South Carolina. The Lake City tobacco market was established in 1898. Today it’s one of the two largest markets in the state. Mullins is known as the Tobacco Capital of South Carolina, with more than 200 barns throughout the town. Basket making is a traditional art form that has passed from one generation to the next. Making Sweetgrass baskets has been part of the Mount Pleasant community for more than 300 years.
Among the state’s oddities is a saying in Marion that anybody who takes a drink of water from Catfish Creek becomes infatuated with the area and wants to stay there. Bomb Island on Lake Murray has been declared a bird sanctuary. Each spring and summer, thousands of purple martins return to the island to roost for the season.
South Carolina is also the place where red spider lilies were first planted in the United States. Dr. James Morrow sent them and other plants from the Orient to the Willington-Mt. Carmel area while serving as surgeon with Commodore Perry’s Japanese expedition. The state’s Upper Whitewater Falls descends for almost 411 feet, making it the highest cascade in the eastern United States.
Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates in the most famous native son of Fountain Inn, SC. He lost his leg at 12 in a cotton gin accident but went on to become a famous dancer who performed more than 20 times on the Ed Sullivan Show, more than any other artist.
In 1954, South Carolina politician Strom Thurmond became the first U.S. senator to be elected by a write-in vote. He defeated Democratic nominee Edgar Brown by more than 50,000 votes.
Reference:
- 50states.com web site
