20 Jaw Dropping Places in South Carolina

These 20 Jaw Dropping Places In South Carolina 

Will Blow You Away

By: Gwen Tennille

Posted on 23 March, 2015 | In South Carolina

From the stunning views of the mountains in upstate South Carolina to the sandy beaches on the 

coast, South Carolina has all that and everything in between. South Carolina just happens to be a 

lucky state that holds so much that everyone will find something that tickles their senses or ‘strikes 

their fancy’, which is what we say here. The following are just a handful of places that South 

Carolina has to offer.

1) Angel Oak of St. John’s Island: One of the oldest living trees in North America.

John Post

Angel Oak, historic South Carolina Oak Tree

2) The Battery in Charleston, SC: A place so chock full of history that a day is just 

not enough.

Carolina Web Marketing

3) Busted Plug of Columbia, SC: Made and installed by the artist, Blue Sky, this is just 

one of his pieces that will keep you in awe.

http://visitcolumbia.blogspot.com/2013/05/whats-hot-this-weekend-may-9-12-2013.html

Visitors enjoy Busted Plug Plaza, a public art instiallation by Blue Sky on Taylor Street in Columbia, SC, Sunday, 

April 29, 2012. (© 2012 Brett Flashnick/flashnick visuals, llc.)

4) Caesar’s Head State Park: This stunning view shows not only Table Rock, 

but also the Pinnacle Mountains as well.

Judy Rushing

5) Low Country marshes of Kiawah Island, SC: Home to so much wildlife, this is a birdwatcher’s treat. However, I would stay away from them in the high heat of summer.

Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Tricolored Heron Taking Off

6) Forty Acre Rock of Kershaw, SC: A part of Flat Creek Preserve, this 14-acre granite outcropping can provide hours of hiking and family fun.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/2612810890_59756f0ea7_z.jpg

7) The Castle of Greenville, SC: Built in 1902 for a German Baroness, this castle sits on 

the south face of Paris Mountain. Who would have thought that South Carolina held 

such charms?

Old House Dreams

8) Hilton Head Lighthouse of Hilton Head, SC: The most visited lighthouse in South 

Carolina.

coty2000

9) Hunting Island, SC: You can be a world away in a blink of the eye.

Rj Sorensen & Marion Lee

10) Magnolia Plantation of Charleston, SC: Founded in 1676, Magnolia Plantation has 

the honor of being known as the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry and the 

oldest public gardens in America.

Joe Kegley

11) Pearl Fryar Topiary Gardens: Three acres of visual delight.

Peter Frank Edwards

12) Poinsett Bridge near Traveler’s Rest, SC: The oldest bridge in South Carolina.

Town and Country Mom

13) Rivers Bridge State Park of Ehrhardt, SC: This park marks the site of the 

Confederacy’s last stand against General William T. Sherman’s sweep across the South.

South Carolina State Parks Service

14) Old Sheldon Church of Yemasee, SC: Built between 1745-1755 and once known as 

Prince William Parrish Church, these awe inspiring ruins should be on everyone’s must 

see list.

Michael Criswell

15) The State House in Columbia, SC: Built entirely out of blue granite, this building is completely fireproof.

Vicki Wilson

16) Swan Lake of Sumter, SC: This is the only public park that holds all 8 swan species

 and is home to the Iris Gardens.

Ed McDyer

17) Tunnel Vision of Columbia, SC: The artist, Blue Sky, does it again! They had to put 

up a barricade in front of this piece.

Laurey W. Glenn

18) UFO Welcome Center of Bowman, SC: Yes, you read that correctly. We welcome 

everyone to South Carolina!

Mark Steigelman

19) Yellow Branch Falls of Oconee, SC: Most people do not realize that South Carolina 

has waterfalls. This is just one of them…

Mark VanDyke

20) Campbell’s Covered Bridge of Greenville, SC: This is the last covered bridge in 

South Carolina.

Greenville County Parks

When it comes down to it, this is just a ‘drop in the bucket’ of what South Carolina has to offer. 

There is a not a corner you can turn or a road you can cross without running into something that 

will absolutely astound you. I welcome you to come to my beautiful state. Get a glass of sweet

iced tea, sit a spell, and take in the wonder that only South Carolina can offer you.

For more information about Greenville and surrounding areas Click Here

All information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

A Love Letter

A love letter to Upstate South Carolina’s finest town, 

a place where renewal can take on many meanings

I WOULD LIVE here, Greenville. I would live by your waters and the rocks of the Reedy River, in an apartment in Falls Park, or one of those places with a balcony overhanging the baseball stadium with the miniature Green Monster in left field and the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum across the street. I would live here, and I would walk the lengths of your Main Street, 15 blocks from West End to North Main, and eat barbecue or sushi or pizza until I was stuffed. I would try and find all your hidden mice sculptures, and I’d buy a cup of coffee at Spill the Beans, and I’d drink it under a parasol by the red maples and willow oaks that were planted in the late 1970s, rising from the concrete, the beginnings of your very revival. And then I’d shop for legalized moonshine.  

I’d be just another guy on the brick walkways, in a downtown full of people taking a stroll, a place that was all but dead 40 years ago. Back then, Main Street was four lanes and there was no place to park, and metal and plastic facades hung above the empty storefronts. Four mega-malls on the outskirts of the city sucked the life out of you. But then they planted those trees. And shrunk Main Street to two lanes. And put a pedestrian bridge over the rocks and the river. Stores started coming back. Restaurants, too. And look at you now, Greenville, just this moment, with me standing here—all the tinsel still wrapped around your light posts in the wintertime. 

When people think of South Carolina, they think of Charleston, or Myrtle Beach—not you. You feel like a secret. I would live here and ogle food through the fronts of all the trendy restaurants and then bar up at The Velo Fellow, with the waterfall sounds at the foot of Liberty Bridge in my ear. I would be with my wife, hopefully, having a Highland St. Terese’s Pale Ale. When I think of you, I think of her, because she is a product of the Upstate, raised in open country just 20 miles away. I think of her family, still there: her mom at the hospital as the inpatient manager of the pharmacy, her dad’s deep voice in a room with his Emmys and his Peabody, a newsman at WYFF-TV. 

I see white lights strung in the trees year-round. I feel 60 degrees and shorts at Christmas. I taste fried green tomatoes at Soby’s, hear the trolley passing slowly, and I see myself six years ago standing in the lobby of the revamped Poinsett Hotel, and the fountain rising, rising, the night before I married Amanda Brown, the best day of my life. 

I have lived many places, Greenville—in New York, in an apartment in the East Village where I could smell pizza baking from my window; in Los Angeles, the hazy light above the ocean in a place called Seal Beach; in Georgia, in a little blue house with two porch swings where my wife and I first made a home; and in downtown Indianapolis, in a 100-year-old Victorian, the snow knee-deep on the street a block from my favorite brewery, Sun King. But I would live here, Greenville, because no matter where I am, when I think of you I’m standing with her, and we are on the Liberty Bridge, above the water, above the glistening rock, listening to the falls, listening to the guys in the park playing guitar and steel drum. I would live here, because you seem like home to me. 

Justin Heckert is a writer living in Indianapolis. Follow him on Twitter: @justinheckert. 

For more information on Greenville, click Here

All information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.