Between the mountains and the sea, South Carolina has a small city that reinvented itself around a waterfall, a national park nobody has heard of and the best zoo in the region. These are the inland days for a family with a car.
Greenville
Falls Park is a waterfall in the middle of downtown with a curved pedestrian bridge over it, lawns to picnic on and a path along the river. Main Street has a trolley, a mouse hunt of tiny bronze mice hidden along the sidewalks that kids track down with a map, and ice cream at every corner. The Children’s Museum of the Upstate is one of the biggest in the country. The Swamp Rabbit Trail runs twenty miles on an old rail line to Travelers Rest and bikes are rented downtown. A Greenville Drive minor league game at the mini Fenway. It is a weekend on its own.
Waterfalls
The Blue Ridge Escarpment north of Greenville has more waterfalls than anywhere in the Southeast. Raven Cliff Falls is a short hike to an overlook. Issaqueena Falls near Walhalla is a five minute walk with a tunnel next door. Twin Falls is a flat quarter mile. Lake Jocassee has boat tours to waterfalls that drop straight into the lake and kayak rentals for older kids.
Table Rock
A state park with a lake, a beach, a playground and the mountain rising behind it. The Carrick Creek trail is a short loop past small falls for kids and the summit trail is a serious half day for teens.
Congaree
Twenty minutes from Columbia, the largest old growth bottomland forest in the country and a national park with a two and a half mile boardwalk loop through giant cypress and tupelo. Rangers lead owl prowls at night and there are synchronous fireflies for a couple of weeks in late spring that need a lottery ticket. Canoe trips on Cedar Creek with an outfitter. Junior ranger badges and a good visitor center. Mosquito meter at the entrance, and it is not a joke in summer.
Columbia
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is the best zoo in the Carolinas with a ropes course, a zipline over the river and a garden across the bridge. EdVenture children’s museum has a giant kid you climb inside. The State House has bronze stars where the cannonballs hit.
Charleston Tea Garden
On Wadmalaw Island south of Charleston, the only tea plantation in North America, with a trolley tour through the fields and free tasting. It is a short, sweet stop on a beach day.
Planning South Carolina with kids? Start with the full South Carolina family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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