Revolutionary War Road Trips in South Carolina
Explore the Revolutionary War 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.
Before Aiken was a well-liked 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 Country was the frontier of the colonies. Even on the peak of the Revolutionary War, it was a peaceable land of few residents and even fewer battles.
But there are just a few 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. Highway 78 between I-95 and I-20, following the route of the Charleston to Hamburg Railroad, and study concerning the American Revolution alongside the best way. Discover charming small cities with native meals, art work, and climbing trails. Then, spend an evening or two in Aiken, the place you’ll be able to find out about one among South Carolina’s most underrated locations.
Road Trip Map
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Destination
Branchville
Between Interstate 95 and Aiken, US Highway 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 now not journey these rails. The city’s solely attraction is the Southern Railway Passenger Depot. Built in 1877, it served passengers for many years and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
READ MORE: Road Trip Exploring the Revolutionary War in South Carolina’s Old 96 District (Part 4)
Destination
Bamberg
In one other twenty minutes alongside US Highway 78, simply earlier than arriving in Bamberg, the street parallels the deserted railroad that after related 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.
Destination
Denmark
Another ten-minute drive brings vacationers to Denmark, a small railroad city that developed within the 1800s. In 1897, Elizabeth Evelyn Wright based Denmark Industrial School for African Americans, 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. Today, Voorhees University is a personal, traditionally black college providing bachelor’s and grasp’s levels.
The Jim Harrison Gallery stands on the intersection in the midst of city. Harrison’s first canvas was the facet of a ironmongery shop, the place he retouched a Coca-Cola signal, the primary of over 100 in his early profession. In the Nineteen Seventies, he started promoting restricted version work in a small store in his hometown – however you’ll have to name forward to e book an appointment.
Destination
Blackville
Yet one other ten-minute jaunt on US Highway 78 leads into Blackville, 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. But 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 stunning lake, and a number of the greatest cabins within the South Carolina State Parks system. Consider reserving an evening or two at a cabin and benefit from the nice outside from the consolation of an Adirondack chair on the entrance porch.
No. 1
God’s Acre Healing Springs
In 1781, a fierce skirmish occurred on Windy Hill, two miles north of Blackville, throughout the Revolutionary War. 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 advised to stick with the dying troopers and bury them once they died. But when Native Americans 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 excellent well being.
God’s Acre Healing Springs is a historic web site “deeded to God for public use.” The web site is open to guests throughout daylight. The springs are within reach of the small parking space. Pipes permit the water to circulation via taps the place locals and vacationers fill water bottles and take the therapeutic water residence.
READ MORE: 27 National Park Sites to Learn About the American Revolutionary War
Destination
Aiken
After leaving Blackville, it’s a 45-minute scenic drive into Aiken on US Highway 78. Aiken was based in 1835 by William Aiken, president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company. The metropolis developed within the late 1800s because the railroad terminus to Charleston. In the early 1900s, town earned a popularity as a Winter Colony for rich horse homeowners, resulting in the numerous building of grand mansions and motels.
Stay at The Willcox, a boutique lodge in-built 1898. Expanded and upgraded till 1928, the lodge options an on-site restaurant and bar, an outside swimming pool, and gasoline fireplaces in lots of visitor rooms.
Although breakfast at The Willcox Restaurant is unbelievable – particularly their Sunday brunch – you may need to contemplate La Parisienne, a French-style café 5 minutes from the lodge. Macarons and pastries are freshly baked day by day, and their Farmer’s Breakfast options farm-fresh eggs, savory sausage, crispy bacon, and breakfast potatoes.
The Aiken Visitor Center and Train Museum is a good place to start exploring town. Upstairs, a museum traces the historical past of the Charleston to Hamburg Railroad that spurred growth in small cities like Branchville, Bamberg, and Denmark. Book a two-hour guided tour on the air-conditioned trolley to study 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 night time with reside music and loads of seating. Aiken Brewing Company is a microbrewery with a unbelievable meals menu. At Whiskey Alley, homeowners Chad and Katie Jajczyk are additionally the manager cooks, overseeing an unlimited menu of beautiful meals. The Alley Downtown Taproom encompasses 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 Historical 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 demise, the home served as a university campus and public library earlier than lastly turning into the county’s historical past museum.
The Aiken County Historical Museum is an exhibit all by itself. Explore the lobby, grand eating room, and personal research of the mansion. Learn about 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 War battles within the space.
Destination
North Augusta
The closing leg of this street journey journey is a 30-minute drive to North Augusta. Founded in 1906, town consumed the unique city of Hamburg. The city was a well-liked trip spot for northerners with a heat winter local weather and simple railroad entry. After the Savannah River Site was accomplished within the Nineteen Fifties, town’s inhabitants exploded.
The 7.4-mile Greeneway Trail 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.
The metropolis can also be residence to the Augusta GreenJackets, a minor-league baseball crew affiliated with the Atlanta Braves. Home video games are held at SRP Park on the banks of the Savannah River.
No. 3
Charles Hammond House
Charles and LeRoy Hammond have been profitable retailers in Virginia within the mid-1700s. But initially of the American Revolution, Loyalists demanded their allegiance, forcing the brothers to flee the state for a plantation in South Carolina.
In the 1770s, Charles Hammond constructed an impressive residence on a bluff overlooking the Savannah River. LeRoy and his son LeRoy Jr. operated a ferry throughout the river. But the household couldn’t escape the Revolutionary War solely – by the top of the conflict, three generations of the household served within the Continental Army or native militias.
Samuel Hammond was one of the crucial outstanding family members. He served as a lieutenant colonel throughout the Revolutionary War, 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. But when North Augusta started work on Riverview Park, a few of their our bodies have been reinterred within the Hammond Family Cemetery beside the Charles Hammond House. Colonel LeRoy Hammond and his son Captain LeRoy Hammond are buried with different members of the family.
The Charles Hammond House is present process in depth renovation, remodeling the historic home right into a mattress and breakfast. Guests will be capable to spend an evening in the home of a Revolutionary War Patriot constructed simply earlier than the American Revolution.