City: Charleston, SC

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (843) 899-5200

Address: 900 Stony Landing Rd.

Description: Another fun day-trip adventure is to Old Santee Canal Park, just 30 minutes from Charleston. Opened about a decade ago, Old Santee Canal Park interprets the building and operation of America’s first man-made inland waterway. To find this colorful and kid-friendly park, take I-26 north from Charleston to exit 209A (US 52), then follow US 52 about 18 miles past Goose Creek and into Moncks Corner. Two miles down the main road of the town (US 52), look for an Old Santee Canal Park sign on the right. Plan to bring a picnic basket (rain or shine—there’s a large, covered picnic area with tables) and spend your day absorbing the tranquil inland beauty. Santee Canal was America’s first summit canal, a type of canal that uses a multi-lock system to raise and lower cargo-laden barges. It was praised as a great engineering and economic development in the 1800s. The canal provided a cost-efficient, dependable way to ship crops between the uplands and the coast. While ideas for such a solution had been tossed about as early as the 1700s, the Revolutionary War intervened, and it was not until 1793 that construction actually began. Seven years and $650,000 later, with the labor of 700 men who worked with shovels and picks, a canal 22 miles long, 35 feet wide, and 5½ feet deep was a reality. At first, mules and horses walked alongside the canal and pulled the heavy barges or boats with their cargo. Later, crewmen with poles replaced the beasts. In all, there were 16 years of profitable operation before severe droughts in 1817 and 1819 dried up the canal and ended operations for the time being. The rains returned, and 1830 was the canal’s busiest year, with 700 cotton-heavy barges passing through the waterway. Progress in transportation technology within the state spelled disaster for the canal, however, when a railway between Columbia and Charleston was completed in 1840 and took a substantial portion of the canal’s business. The final blow came in 1846, when the railroad tracks were laid to Camden. In 1850, the shareholders threw in the towel. Today, most of the canal is covered by the waters of Lake Moultrie. But where the still waters of Biggin Creek and the nearby swamps intersect with the southernmost section of the canal, the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism has created the Old Santee Canal State Park. Included in the park is the plantation house at Stony Landing bluff, built after 1840 by John Dawson. The house—restored and open to the public free of charge—faces Tail Race Canal (flowing from the Santee Cooper lakes, created during the 1940s). Throughout the 19th century, cement and building blocks were made here, and during the Civil War, gunpowder was manufactured. After a house tour, a good place to get oriented is the park’s 11,000 square foot interpretive center. There are nifty exhibits showing the canal in different phases, a 30-foot simulated oak tree with man-made wildlife inhabitants (we bet you can’t tell the difference!), and a cave. Short films about canals and the environment are also up-to date and well done. If it’s a pretty day, we suggest a hike on a nature trail—either the swamp walk, the creek walk, or the canal walk—or renting a canoe. The 195-acre park is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call or write Old Santee Canal Park, 900 Stony Landing Rd., Moncks Corner, 29461. Admission is $3 for adults; seniors age 65+ pay $2; children age 6 and younger get in free.