Revolutionary Struggle Highway Journeys in South Carolina
Discover the Revolutionary Struggle with this 12-part sequence that includes street journey itineraries, historical past of the American Revolution, and details about the historic websites, museums, and battlefields throughout the state.
Earlier than Aiken was a preferred vacation spot for watching horse using occasions, earlier than it was a world-renowned “Winter Colony,” and earlier than the world’s longest railroad opened between Charleston and Hamburg, South Carolina’s Thoroughbred Nation was the frontier of the colonies. Even on the top of the Revolutionary Struggle, it was a peaceable land of few residents and even fewer battles.
However there are a couple of nice tales to discover, just like the legend of the pure therapeutic springs and the Indian dealer who died whereas held captive in his personal home.
Go for a street journey alongside U.S. Freeway 78 between I-95 and I-20, following the route of the Charleston to Hamburg Railroad, and be taught concerning the American Revolution alongside the way in which. Uncover charming small cities with native meals, paintings, and climbing trails. Then, spend an evening or two in Aiken, the place you possibly can find out about certainly one of South Carolina’s most underrated locations.
Highway Journey Map
Click on to avoid wasting this Google Map to your smartphone, pill, or pc.
Vacation spot
Branchville
Between Interstate 95 and Aiken, US Freeway 78 is a splendidly easy two-lane street and a welcome break from the fixed onslaught of interstate freeway journey. At a leisurely tempo, it takes about quarter-hour to reach in Branchville.
In 1828, a railroad junction was constructed on the nation’s first railroad line between Charleston and Hamburg, a ghost city now consumed by North Augusta. The junction nonetheless exists, although passenger trains not journey these rails. The city’s solely attraction is the Southern Railway Passenger Depot. Inbuilt 1877, it served passengers for many years and is now listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations.
READ MORE: Highway Journey Exploring the Revolutionary Struggle in South Carolina’s Outdated 96 District (Half 4)
Vacation spot
Bamberg
In one other twenty minutes alongside US Freeway 78, simply earlier than arriving in Bamberg, the street parallels the deserted railroad that when linked Charleston and Hamberg. A portion of the road is a paved multi-use path. The city developed within the late 1800s as a railroad city with a one-block downtown of native companies.
Vacation spot
Denmark
One other ten-minute drive brings vacationers to Denmark, a small railroad city that developed within the 1800s. In 1897, Elizabeth Evelyn Wright based Denmark Industrial College for African People, modeled after the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. When New Jersey philanthropist Ralph Voorhees donated funds for the land and buildings, the varsity was renamed in his honor. Immediately, Voorhees College is a non-public, traditionally black college providing bachelor’s and grasp’s levels.
The Jim Harrison Gallery stands on the intersection in the course of city. Harrison’s first canvas was the aspect of a ironmongery store, the place he retouched a Coca-Cola signal, the primary of over 100 in his early profession. Within the Nineteen Seventies, he started promoting restricted version work in a small store in his hometown – however you’ll have to name forward to ebook an appointment.
Vacation spot
Blackville
Yet one more ten-minute jaunt on US Freeway 78 leads into Blackville, yet one more small city developed within the 1800s as a railroad junction. The deserted railroad line runs via the center of city in a small park surrounded by benches and bushes. It’s the right place to take a break from driving.
Get one thing to eat at Miller’s Bread Basket, a restaurant that includes Amish-style cooking. The meals is served in a buffet setting and features a meat, sides, and drink. However save room for dessert – they’re freshly baked each day and price each chunk.
About ten minutes from the small city, Barnwell State Park is a hidden oasis of climbing trails, a beautiful lake, and among the greatest cabins within the South Carolina State Parks system. Take into account reserving an evening or two at a cabin and benefit from the nice open air from the consolation of an Adirondack chair on the entrance porch.
No. 1
God’s Acre Therapeutic Springs
In 1781, a fierce skirmish occurred on Windy Hill, two miles north of Blackville, through the Revolutionary Struggle. The battle resulted in sixteen useless Patriots and a number of other mortally wounded Loyalists, incomes the hill the nickname “Slaughter Hill.”
A neighborhood legend includes 4 mortally wounded Loyalists left behind after the battle. Two others have been instructed to stick with the dying troopers and bury them once they died. However when Native People found them, they led the troopers to a pure spring whose waters supposedly had restorative properties.
Six months later, the six Loyalists arrived in Charleston in good well being.
God’s Acre Therapeutic Springs is a historic website “deeded to God for public use.” The location is open to guests throughout daytime. The springs are nearby of the small parking space. Pipes permit the water to movement via taps the place locals and vacationers fill water bottles and take the therapeutic water house.
READ MORE: 27 Nationwide Park Websites to Study In regards to the American Revolutionary Struggle
Vacation spot
Aiken
After leaving Blackville, it’s a 45-minute scenic drive into Aiken on US Freeway 78. Aiken was based in 1835 by William Aiken, president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Firm. Town developed within the late 1800s because the railroad terminus to Charleston. Within the early 1900s, town earned a repute as a Winter Colony for rich horse house owners, resulting in the numerous building of grand mansions and inns.
Keep at The Willcox, a boutique lodge inbuilt 1898. Expanded and upgraded till 1928, the lodge options an on-site restaurant and bar, an out of doors swimming pool, and gasoline fireplaces in lots of visitor rooms.
Though breakfast at The Willcox Restaurant is implausible – particularly their Sunday brunch – you would possibly wish to contemplate La Parisienne, a French-style café 5 minutes from the lodge. Macarons and pastries are freshly baked each day, and their Farmer’s Breakfast options farm-fresh eggs, savory sausage, crispy bacon, and breakfast potatoes.
The Aiken Customer Middle and Prepare Museum is a superb place to start exploring town. Upstairs, a museum traces the historical past of the Charleston to Hamburg Railroad that spurred improvement in small cities like Branchville, Bamberg, and Denmark. Ebook a two-hour guided tour on the air-conditioned trolley to be taught concerning the metropolis’s historical past whereas rolling round city.
Get one thing to eat at The Alley – a pedestrian-only alleyway and thriving warmth of town at evening with stay music and loads of seating. Aiken Brewing Firm is a microbrewery with a implausible meals menu. At Whiskey Alley, house owners Chad and Katie Jajczyk are additionally the manager cooks, overseeing an enormous menu of beautiful meals. The Alley Downtown Taproom includes a whopping 48 beers and ciders on faucet together with a menu of wine by the glass and kombucha – and since they don’t have a kitchen, they’ve an open coverage of bringing your meals!
No. 2
Aiken County Historic Museum
In 1931, Richard Howe joined dozens of different rich elites within the “Winter Colony” and constructed a grand mansion, naming it Banksia. After his dying, the home served as a university campus and public library earlier than lastly turning into the county’s historical past museum.
The Aiken County Historic Museum is an exhibit all by itself. Discover the lobby, grand eating room, and personal examine of the mansion. Study Aiken’s historical past because the “Winter Colony,” why horse disciplines are integral to the area, and different moments from town’s historical past. The museum additionally options an exhibit concerning the Revolutionary Struggle battles within the space.
Vacation spot
North Augusta
The ultimate leg of this street journey journey is a 30-minute drive to North Augusta. Based in 1906, town consumed the unique city of Hamburg. The city was a preferred trip spot for northerners with a heat winter local weather and simple railroad entry. After the Savannah River Website was accomplished within the Nineteen Fifties, town’s inhabitants exploded.
The 7.4-mile Greeneway Path was initially accomplished in 2000 and prolonged in 2011 alongside an deserted railroad via town. The multi-use path is superb for strolling, jogging, and bicycling within the city areas round Riverview Park.
Town can also be house to the Augusta GreenJackets, a minor-league baseball staff affiliated with the Atlanta Braves. Dwelling video games are held at SRP Park on the banks of the Savannah River.
No. 3
Charles Hammond Home
Charles and LeRoy Hammond have been profitable retailers in Virginia within the mid-1700s. However firstly of the American Revolution, Loyalists demanded their allegiance, forcing the brothers to flee the state for a plantation in South Carolina.
Within the 1770s, Charles Hammond constructed a powerful house on a bluff overlooking the Savannah River. LeRoy and his son LeRoy Jr. operated a ferry throughout the river. However the household couldn’t escape the Revolutionary Struggle totally – by the top of the conflict, three generations of the household served within the Continental Military or native militias.
Samuel Hammond was one of the vital outstanding family members. He served as a lieutenant colonel through the Revolutionary Struggle, main males at Hanging Rock, Musgrove’s Mill, Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Augusta. In 1805, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Hammond because the Colonel Commandant of the St. Louis District within the Louisiana Territory and later as the primary governor of the Missouri Territory.
Initially, the Hammonds have been buried in separate cemeteries. However when North Augusta started work on Riverview Park, a few of their our bodies have been reinterred within the Hammond Household Cemetery beside the Charles Hammond Home. Colonel LeRoy Hammond and his son Captain LeRoy Hammond are buried with different relations.
The Charles Hammond Home is present process intensive renovation, remodeling the historic home right into a mattress and breakfast. Friends will be capable of spend an evening in the home of a Revolutionary Struggle Patriot constructed simply earlier than the American Revolution.
