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My husband and our two children, ages 4 & 6 are planning to spend New Years with my sister-in-law in Sumpter. She just moved there ( she's a traveling PT ) so she knows nothing about the town or how to entertain our kids. We are interested in local fun stuff for kids within Sumpter like local animal farms, fun centers, museums, off the beaten path fun. Please give any ideas, we appreciate any input!!
Okay, the first thing is make sure everyone you meet in Sumter knows that you know there's no p in the town's name. Then go to the opera house and Swan Lake.
Swan Lake is out on a road a couple of miles from downtown Sumter. It's a cypress-filled pond that flanks the road. On one side of the road the pond has swans. On the other side is a swamp with a winding boardwalk. Irises are all over the place there, thus the annual Iris Festival, but I don't guess they're blooming now.
What is Swan Lake?? Where is it? Sounds interesting.
If you are listening to the SC twang.. you get "Sumpter" rather than "Someter" which is the correct way to pronounce it....
I dont know if you can just drive on to Shaw AFB anymore.. but if you can it would be neat for them to see the jets.. and I believe their maybe an Airforce Museum on site.. If they are going through drills.. then you can just sit along Hwy 378 and enjoy the show.. Also, check out some of the State Forest and Park if you like the outdoors.. also Lake Santee is not far away.
You may also want to take in Columbia and the Riverbanks Zoo, Edventure, and the State Museum in Columbia as a day trip
That's so funny you mentioned Shaw AFB, a friend of mine who has family close to this area mentioned Shaw AFB also. This is a great option and will check it out. Thanks so much!!
My biggest complaint about Sumter is the lack of kid-friendly activities. The two biggest have been mentioned: Swan Lake & the opera house. I enjoy swan lake and they've really made some beautiful improvements over the last few years. Make sure the kids take a couple bags of bread to feed the swans and that will keep them entertained for hours! You can also stop by Dillon Park (North side if the 378 bypass, on the frontage road, next to the SC National Guard post), as they have a paved walking track and also access to a small piece of paved trail, plus swings & a jungle gym.
You won't be able to get on Shaw without a sponsor (someone already on-base that can come pick you up from the gate and stay with you the entire time), but you can see the runway from 378 if they wanted to watch some F16s take off & land.
New Years might be too cold for the kids to enjoy the state park & forest outside of town (past Wedgefield on 261), especially since the trails out there are pretty technical.
However! Congaree National Park (between Sumter & Columbia, then a bit South on 601; it's about 40 minutes from Sumter) has some nice trails, including a raised boardwalk that would take them through the marshes. They might check the calendar of events, because they're always doing things on weekends that are geared towards entertaining kids (unfortunately the guided canoe trips will be out-of-season). They have a small museum-like area indoors, plus a small theater that shows clips/films related to the National Park, and some Jr. Ranger activity books that the kids can take on the trails to help keep them interested (i.e. spot this tree, etc). It's a little out of the way, but it's really nice, plus it's one of our National Parks!
As Woodlands mentioned, they may want to take a day and make a trip to Columbia. Edventure (kid's museum) shares the same parking lot as the State Museum, and then the zoo is just across the river and upstream a bit. There are also several nice parks in the area: just across the bridge from the state museum is the Three Rivers Greenway, which offers a nice paved walking trail along the Congaree River and stretches from West Cola to Cayce; across the river from this, and across Gervais from the museums, is Bicentennial Park and then Granby Park. Finlay Park is beautiful and offers a great cityscape view of downtown Columbia, plus they could then stop by Cromer's for some popcorn, peanuts & candy (Guaranteed worst in town! Don't worry, that's just a joke of a tagline).
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Sorry Sumter for the misspelling!!
Sounds interesting.
