Aiken State Park and Redcliffe Plantation

2019 Hiking Week 24

6 months into this South Carolina adventure and still so many places to share with you! We recently visited Aiken State Park and Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site. They are about 30 minutes apart on either side of Aiken.

The Aiken Park Office has a nice space to relax.

Aiken State Park is about an hour's drive from downtown Columbia. It's a large park with over 1000 acres. Features of the park are fishing ponds, the Edisto River, and a swimming area. There are also campsites and a 3 mile hiking trail. Even though it costs $2.00 per person to enter the park, there have not been a lot of improvements to the facilities. I was interested to see that the park was the second state park built in South Carolina. I can see how this would be a great place for people in the area to retreat to. I am especially interested to return and possibly kayak the Edisto River. You can rent canoes from the park for $20 to do the almost 2 mile river trail. The Edisto River is different from some of the other South Carolina rivers in that it is called a "blackwater river". These rivers are a dark brown color because of the environment that they flow through. The debris from trees and other vegetation turn the water brown, like tea. There are also other places along the Edisto River that you can kayak or canoe, like Colleton State Park to Givhans Ferry State Park. *Bucket list item, you can canoe and camp along the way. I found these cool tree houses along the river that you can stay at. Sounds fun, as long as it's not mosquito season!

While at Aiken State Park, we decided to walk over to the river via the trail. We ended up taking the wrong turn and instead of a short hike to the river, we ended up hiking the entire 3-mile trail. Which is not too fun in the summer when bugs are hovering around you head the whole hike. It would have been nice if they had better trail markers and directional signs along the way. Also, parts of the trail were overgrown or boardwalks were damaged. I know we had some strong storms recently and I am sure the trail is not too busy this time of year but it made hiking difficult. But there were some nice views and lots of sweet bay magnolias along the trail.




After our unplanned hike, we decided to stop in Aiken for lunch. Downtown Aiken is pretty nice. They are proud of their horse racing history and there are some nice shops and restaurants downtown, especially around some of their pedestrian alleyways. I would like to return to check out Whiskey Alley for dinner. But if you need lunch, check out their Pizza Joint.

Downtown Aiken

Magnolia lined drive.

Outside of North Augusta, near the town of Beech Island, is the Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site. This was a plantation home for Hammond family. Three generations lived on this site. There is a nice new visitors center with history of the land and those who lived on it (also nice bathroom facilities!). Visiting the plantation is free but you can pay a small fee for a tour of the house and grounds. There is an example of slave living quarters with a history of those that lived on this site. The original drive way is lined with magnolia trees that are over 150 years old and there are some neat horse stables. I would be interested to return for the tour, especially during cooler weather. The best part about visiting this time of year were the magnolia tree blooms and the many gardenia bushes that were blooming on the property.

We didn't have time on this visit but there were some places in North Augusta I wanted to check out:
North Augusta Greeneway (I believe it's around 7 miles long)
Augusta Greenjackets Baseball Stadium
Southbound Smokehouse (attached to the baseball stadium)
Sno-Cap Drive In (since 1964)