SC State Park Aiken State Park

Visited Aiken State Park today on our quest to get into all the South Carolina State Parks. This is one of the CCC built ones from the 1930s. The parks sits in the Sandhills region of the state so that means it covered in mostly tall pine trees. The campground has 30 site that sit on a a level patch of land. Almost all of them are on the outside of the loop and most are back in. Pretty close together with nothing to give you any privacy much. The sites are mostly sand in the drive and around the picnic table, fire ring and lantern post. Anywhere else you have a thick carpet of pine needles. Bathouse sits in the middle of the loop. There are some hiking trails in the park and you can put a kayak/canoe in the South Edisto River. This river connects with the Edisto River where you will find 3 other state parks (Colleton, Givhans Ferry, and Edisto Beach) downstream. This park is just below the fall line, so it is flat, slow moving water. The park has some ponds in it and one has a swimming area in it near the park office.

Aiken is nice area on the South Carolina side of the state line with Georgia. It is horse country where you will find a steeplechase contested at some point in the year and the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame is in Aiken. A hundred years or so ago, it was one of the places where the "captains of industry" had winter homes. A lot of this is pretty close to park too. There are plenty of places to get supplies in the city. Convenient to I-20 if you are traveling that route. You are about 2-3 hours from the coast. There are some other state parks in the area, Barnwell which I have reviewed earlier and there is one historic site, Redcliffe Plantation built by a Hammond, but no relation to me. The last family to own was John S. Billings who was the editor of Life magazine and he donated it to the state at his death. Nearby Silver Bluff Plantation is an Audobon Nature Preserve.

Aiken | South Carolina Parks Official Site