My month in South Carolina

My take on South Carolina

where I went this month

South Carolina's land:

You can see on the map that I only missed one part of the state - the eastern section, part of which is known as the Pee Dee region, after the Pee Dee River that flows there and all of which (I think) is included in SC's extensive Coastal Plain region.  Columbia, which is pretty thoroughly inland and in the northern half of the state, is on the dividing line between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont region.  The Piedmont runs northwest to the Blue Ridge Mountains and includes Spartanburg and Greenville.

I mention all that because these land forms are distinct enough that even I could notice them.  The coastal area is truly flat; the mountain area is truly mountainous; the piedmont is truly a kind of land that's neither of the others, including hills, rather than mountains or flat land.

The part I missed, in the east, is the area I traveled through 5 years ago when I was on my way to Pennsylvania to begin my trip.  I still clearly remember staying in a couple of state parks there and finding the campgrounds to consist of a whole lot of sand.  That must have been the Sandhills part of the Coastal Plain.

Aside from the different land forms, I saw a whole lot of trees.  This seems to be a very green state.  The word I tend to think of is "lush."  Of course, that's likely to be a function of the fact I'm here in May, when Spring is in full swing statewide.  All kinds of flowers were blooming, adding to the impression.

On the other hand, I saw a large number of various kinds of bodies of water all over the state, most appearing to be at least full, and on the edge of overflowing.  And even they sometimes had waterlilies growing and blooming in them.

Aside from Spring, I think the lushness is likely also a function of the fact that South Carolina gets its full share of rain, without which it might look more like some of the western states.  The striking contrast kept leaping to my mind through my month here.  Of course, in May a year ago I was in Oregon which, let's face it, also gets its fair share of rain too - some would say more than its fair share.  And there I noted how green things were but never used the adjective lush.  And that's the word for South Carolina's land.

South Carolina's people:

Most people I talked to were very nice, very accommodating.  It would be hard for me to say anything else when I remember that guy who went way out of his way to lead me around a disaster along back roads to my campground.  

I guess the phrase I'd use to describe the people here is "Southern hospitality."  Not at all universal, of course, but still a dominant strain among the people I met.  Not all states show that sort of thing, which makes it more impressive that South Carolinians in general did.

One thing that surprised me was how often I'd see people wearing masks in stores.  I would never have expected it in this politically conservative state, especially now that we have effective vaccines and subsequently lower rates of even contracting Covid, let alone being hospitalized with it. but there they were.  Old people and also young people - wearing masks indoors, just like me.

Driving in South Carolina:

I haven't got much nice to say about driving in this state.  The roads are often so rough that they're almost dangerous to drive on.  I complained long and bitterly all month about the poor directional signs, both on the highway and in various towns and cities.  

Drivers themselves were generally courteous, which I appreciated, but they weren't as gracious on the highway as they were when they were pedestrians or shoppers.

This seems to be the primary
official plate and the one I saw
most often around the state.

I also saw this one not quite
as often but close.

What I wanted to see that I missed:

As usual - I missed a lot of what the state has to offer.  Some things I noted in my daily posts but others . . . for instance, SC boasts having the finest beaches in the country.  But since I didn't get to see even one of those, I can't give an opinion.

And in no particular order, here are some other sights I missed:

   *SC has a quilt trail in the northwestern part of the state, and I didn't get to see any of it.  

   *SC's state dog is the Boykin spaniel, and the Camden Museum has an exhibit that explains what kind of dog this is and where it came from.

   *There's a SC Tobacco Museum in Mullins, and I'm curious about what they've got.  

   *And Bishopville is home to the SC Cotton Museum; they say it includes a larger-than-life boll weevil, which to me is more of a repellant than an attraction, but they say Native Americans were growing cotton here before the Jamestown colony.  I'm curious if they address the critical contribution by enslaved laborers to SC's success.

   *Winnsboro boasts the "oldest continuously running town clock in America."  The town's brochure mentioned an incident that occurred "during the War of Northern Aggression."  This brochure is amazingly unclear about the date the clock was installed, but it might have been in 1834.  Each fall the town holds their Rock Around the Clock Festival.

   *Northwest of Greenville is a grist mill with the tallest water wheel in SC.  The Pickens-Hagood Mill stands next door to the Hagood Creek Petroglyph site.  I'd like to see both of them.

   *McBee is the location of Mac's Pride store, open mid-June through late August, so I missed it.  Mac's Pride is known for its peaches, which I'm a sucker for.

   *At the Swan Lake Iris Gardens that I passed in Sumter, they have all 8 species of swans living there.

   *Fort Sumter (which is nowhere near the town of Sumter) is accessible only by ferry, and it looked like it cost more than I wanted to pay.  But it's certainly the site of a historic moment for our country.

   *Near Harleyville is the Francis Beidler Forest, where a 1-mile boardwalk takes a visitor out to virgin bald cypress and more tupelo gum trees than anywhere else in the world.  I'd like to see that but they don't allow dogs, and my policy is to never go on a long walk if I can't take Dext with me.  (I like to walk but not enough to double my trips to satisfy someone else's rules.)

And of course I'd have liked to spend a lot more time in the towns I did visit - Beaufort and Charleston spring to mind as examples.  I did the best I could with the time and energy I had, but South Carolina deserves another visit.

My conclusion:

As I noted in one of my posts, South Carolina seems to be having trouble leaving behind even the 19th century, let alone the 20th.  Even more than I found in Georgia, the Civil War seems to still be clinging to the people here, begging to be treated as last week's news, rather than the (somewhat disreputable) history of 160+ years ago.

Considering it took a massacre at a Charleston church by a white supremacist in 2015 to convince the authorities to cease flying the Confederate flag on the capitol grounds, SC seems to be showing they'll cling to the Lost Cause until it's pried from their cold dead fingers.  Literally.

This is the same state that refused to agree women could vote until the 1960s, even though that was imposed on them by the 19th Amendment in 1919.  These folks just seem to want to be the last fading flower of the Confederacy.

I have no idea how visitors of other races are treated here.  All I can say is that white visitors will undoubtedly find, as I did, that this is a lovely and gracious state with pleasant, helpful folks and beautiful things to see.  But I think as long as they've got this dead (literally) weight clamped to their legs, South Carolinians are going to keep on holding themselves back from a future that's theirs for the taking.