From National Parks

May 5, 2016

Prescribed Burn in the National Park

One of the first things we learned at Kings Mountain NMP is that they would have a prescribed burn. This is something that happens almost every year as the National Park Service works to keep the underbrush down so that small fires don’t become huge forest fires that threaten property and lives. For years, the …

May 3, 2016

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site

The final National Park in South Carolina that we visited was Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Never heard of Charles Pinckney? Neither had we, but I was determined we would visit every NPS site in South Carolina before we left. Charles Pinckney National Historic Site was just a few miles from Fort Moultrie so it …

April 27, 2016

Fort Moultrie: A Division of Fort Sumter

When Tom and I went to Fort Sumter, we also stopped by Fort Moultrie. Actually, we went to Fort Moultrie first because we were more interested in it. But Fort Moultrie is not its own National Park: it is a division of the Fort Sumter National Monument. So a lot of people have never heard …

April 21, 2016

National Park Week: Busy Week Part II

National Park Week started last Saturday and coincided with our busy week. National Park Week means that there are all kinds of special things going on. 2016 is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, so many of the special things are related to the Centennial. On Saturday we had almost 700 visitors to …

April 20, 2016

Busy Week at Work

This last week was a busy week at work; in fact, it was so busy that I’m going to take two days to tell you about it! The first part of the busy week was on Thursday and Friday when we had Education Days. Seven hundred 3rd and 4th graders from all over the area …

April 19, 2016

Fort Sumter: The First Shots of the Civil War

Tom and I had never been to Fort Sumter, despite visiting most of the Civil War sites in the east. But we wanted to visit all the National Parks in South Carolina, so we decided to hit all the Charleston area sites in a couple of days. We went to the fort on April 12, …

April 17, 2016

Ninety Six: An Odd Name and Battle

The town of Ninety Six was established in 1751 as a trading post with the Cherokee: the trading post was 96 miles from the large Cherokee city of Keowee, near today’s Clemson, South Carolina. Several Indian trails intersected at Ninety Six and it became a growing community on the frontier. When the white settlers stole …

April 13, 2016

Congaree National Park

On one of our adventure days this week, Tom and I headed to Congaree National Park, near Columbia, South Carolina. Congaree National Park protects 26,000 acres of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest. It is the wetland system of the Congaree and Wateree Rivers. In other words – it’s a swamp. More than half of South Carolina …

March 29, 2016

Prophets and Moguls, Rangers and Rogues, Bison and Bears

“Prophets and Moguls, Rangers and Rogues, Bison and Bears” is the title of a new book about the history of the National Park Service (NPS). 2016 is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, so I read the book eagerly. I thought it would be easy to find a book about the history …

March 18, 2016

The Overmountain Men

Before I move on to the next battle in South Carolina, we need to discuss the Overmountain Men. These men were central characters in the Battle of Kings Mountain but some background is needed so you can understand who they were. I have already discussed the difference between the regular army and the militia – …