Our first long trip of two weeks took us to Carolina Landing in Fair Play, SC. A Thousand Trails location, this stay only cost us travel fees. Not ever having been to the area, we were excited to explore. For this trip, we surfed the web for weeks before we got to the area, to find points of interest we might like.
Friday, 29 August 2025: Set up, headed to the closest town of Seneca for dinner and to grab some groceries for the week. In downtown Seneca, we found Mayberry’s. How appropriate since the name follows our last trip to Mount Airy. Dinner was filling and simply good.
Saturday, 30 August 2025: Saturday’s in the fall are for football. This one was no excpetion. Hanging out at the campground with College Gameday, Vols vs Syracuse (the game was in Atlanta, for a moment we thought about going in person), and some ETSU vs Murray State. Winners all around! We were pumped up for the rest of the trip.
Sunday, 31 August 2025: We visited Traveler’s Rest Historical Site in Georgia. This site is on the old Unicoi line connecting South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Built in 17__, the homeplace stayed in the family for a couple hundred years. In 19__, the last descendant to live in the home, _________, donated it to the State of Georgia. The craftsmanship on this house was amazing. Such straight, plumb lines! Our old houses did not come close to being so straight and plumb, and they were build much later than this old house! Great site to visit! Lunch was next at Highway 17 Diner. That afternoon, we visited the South Carolina Botanical Gardens on the Clemson campus, to include The Wren House, Hanover House, and many other gardens.
Monday, 1 September 2025: We started with a short hike to Stumphouse Tunnel. The tunnel was begun to connect with the other side of the mountain for a railroad line. The work was much more tedious than expected, sometimes only moving inches a day. When the Civil War broke out, the work was discontinued. After the War, the State had no money to recommence the work, and the tunnel remains as it was left at the beginning of the War (with the exception of lights being put in for tourism purposes and some graffiti). Next we traveled a short distance to the trailhead for Issaqueena Falls. This hike was about 30 minutes into the forest to a platform to see the falls. We thought about hiking down to the bottom of the falls, but the trail is much steeper and not as easily traveled, so we settled for the midway view. Still beautiful! We then had Pete’s Drive-in in Walhalla for lunch and headed to Oconee Station State Historic Site across the county. We butted in on a group (good people!) for a GREAT educational tour with the Park Ranger (and her kids – one of whom I thought was with the group and no one realized she was missing; finally figured out she was the Ranger’s kid – thankfully; I was worried). She knew her stuff! Next, we went to Station Cove Falls and hiked to the bottom of the falls. We spent some time wandering through the creek, climbing rocks. We found a beautiful butterfly. She (he?) let us hold her and then we passed her on to another guy. She stayed on his hand for a half hour or more. Very calming watching her. On to Chau Ram County Park/Ramsey Creek Falls. This place was a great family park with lots of picnic and swimming areas. The hike was not very strenuous, but it was very nice there. We then went to High Falls County Park, also a great family park. There was a beach area with kayak rentals and a volleyball court. We watched the boats for a while from the pier. Very relaxing area. The old house there was being refinished, so we did not get to see it. When we left the park, we passed the Oconee Nuclear site. Yikes!
Tuesday, 2 September 2025: We found some neat little thrift stores around the Seneca area and then headed to the Lunney House in downtown Seneca. FAVORITE!!! This was a craftsman style (our house) house. Superbly refinished. So beautiful. (See history post.) We found a good lunch at Ye Olde Sandwich Shoppe and then walked downtown Seneca. Ram Cat Alley has some very good shopping. We checked out Cherry Street Market. Beth could have bought the place out, if we had a yard. 🙂 We then went to the Oconee History Museum; really great information about the town, it’s people, and the industry. Beth learned a lot about the textile industry there. Her dad worked at a textile mill for nearly 40 years, so she was very interested in that. On to downtown Walhalla where we strolled the streets for some shopping (Sunni Ann Mercantile Company) and stopped for ice cream at Mountain Mocha. We seem to find ice cream wherever we go. Funny for not being big ice cream eaters…
Wednesday, 3 September 2025: We headed into Anderson where we did some box store shopping (TJ Maxx, Academy Sports). We try to shop local when we can, but there were not many local shops in Anderson. We then found Brothers Italian Cuisine for lunch (best Italian food EVER!!!! – see link). We went back to Clemson to tour Fort Hill. The same curator that was at Hanover House on Sunday was working at Fort Hill today. She remembered us, and we had some good conversation with her. Great lady! We then walked the boardwalk @ Larry Abernathy Waterfront Park on campus. Short but nice boardwalk; very peaceful.
Thursday, 4 September 2025: Today, we packed up and headed back to Moody Bluff Campground in Kingsport. See you there!