SC State Park Santee State Park

Santee State Park is on Lake Marion which was built as a New Deal project along with nearby Lake Moultrie. The lake has some bald cypress trees in the middle of it and one of the loops has a view of that. The lakes are where several state record holding fish were caught and is big destination for anglers. Near the park is a resort community with a golf course.

The campground is split into two loops. The smaller loop is called Cypress View (5o or so sites) and has paved sites with water, electricity (50 amps) picnic table and fire ring. This loop is closest to the office, marina and cabins that can be rented and is in a busy area. It attracts a lot of RVs and big camper units. We looked the other loop better, it is called Lakeshore and they are about a mile apart from each other. It is has more sites but it looked like the sites further from the water were seldom used. None of the sites back up to the water but a lot of them had great views of the water and there were plenty of access points for you to get the lake also. This loop had a variety of campers including some big units, tents and small campers. The campground was very shady.

It is convenient to I-95 (15 minutes) and no more than 30 minutes to I-26. It would be an hours drive into Charleston and hour back up I-26 to Columbia, SC. The town of Santee should have the supplies you need but Orangeburg is not far way if you can't find it in Santee.

There is a company that does tours of the lake and they have several different trips. The upper end of the lake is a Cypress Swamp. Nature photographers love this area with the lakes and the swamps. Francis Beidler Forest is a nearby area that is worth visiting.
Santee | South Carolina Parks Official Site