South Carolina – Road Trips

South Carolina SC Travel, Tourism SC Sightseeing SC Road Trips Also see: SC Sightseeing Tours, Cruises | Historic Sites, Buildings, Monuments
SC Bed and Breakfasts | SC Hotels | Visitors Bureaus in SC | SC Photo Gallery

Books on SC Road Trips

• Backroads of South Carolina: Your Guide to South Carolina's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures
• Best Hikes With Dogs: Georgia and South Carolina
• Doggin' The Carolina Coasts - The 50 Best Places To Hike With Your Dog
• Scenic Driving South Carolina
• South Carolina, a Day at a Time

Planning a Road Trip

• Branchville: The Oldest Railroad Junction in the World
  
• Camden: A Trot through History
• Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge
  
• Civil Rights History road trip - this virtual road trip is a great online resource, and can also help you plan your real road trip
  
• Cruisin' the Capital: A Day in Columbia - a little art, a little history, and a little nature equal a visit to our state's capital
  
• Driving the ACE Basin | ACE Basin - South Carolina Picture Project
• Finding Fun in Fairfield County
• Georgetown, Stop and Spend the Day
  
• Heritage Corridor Provides Perfect SC "Stay-Cation" - Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg, and Orangeburg counties
  
• Kingstree: Where They Treat You Like Royalty
• A Morning in McClellanville - a day in this quaint, fishing village
  
• North Charleston – The Lowcountry's Greenest City
  
• Parris Island: South Carolina's Buried Treasure
• Southern Living's US 17 driving tour - North Myrtle Beach to the ACE Basin
  
  
• County Maps
• Dog-friendly Travel Guide for SC
• Statewide and Regional Recreation and Tourism Maps

Additional Road Trip Ideas from SCIWAY Readers

Here are some great recommendations from SCIWAY readers for places to visit on your SC Roadtrip. We'd love to hear your ideas for a SC Road Trip too! Mail them to service@sciway.net.

Lowcountry Road Trips

• Coastal Discovery Museum - Hilton Head
• Hampton Plantation State Historic Site - Charleston
• Hunting Island State Park - while there, be sure to see SC's only publicly accessible historic lighthouse
• Huntington Beach State Park & Brookgreen Gardens - Murrells Inlet
• Murrells Inlet to Georgetown to Pawley's Island - submitted by SCIWAY News reader Martha Hamel.
• Penn Center: South Carolina's Hidden Treasure - St. Helena Island
• South Carolina Artisans Center - Walterboro
• Wadmalaw Island
  – Charleston Tea Plantation
  – Muscadine Wine & Firefly Vodka

Midlands Road Trips

• Aiken - make time for visits to Hitchcock Woods and the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum
• Boykin - Kershaw County - small community nine miles south of Camden
  
• Living History Park - North Augusta - living exhibits and demonstrations of colonial life; while there go through the Garden at North Augusta, a sensory garden featuring wheelchair accessible pathways and special features for the visually impaired. For lunch, stop at the Sno-Cap Drive-In, which has been in business since 1964.

Pee Dee Road Trips

• Cheraw - Chesterfield County - a must-stop on the SC Cotton Trail (PDF); a tour through historic downtown Cheraw (PDF) is recommended, with a stop for lunch at A Little Taste of Heaven on Market Street
• Pearl Fryar's Topiary Gardens: Yard of the Century - Bishopville

Upstate Road Trips

• Historic Downtown Abbeville - includes Abbeville Opera House and the Burt-Stark Mansion
• Long Creek - on Chattooga river in Oconee County, whitewater rafting and other outdoor activities available | Pictures of falls
• Ninety Six National Historic Site - site of two Revolutionary War battles
• Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail - Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties
  

Murrells Inlet, Georgetown, Pawley's Island Road Trip

"In my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in South Carolina is the stretch between Murrells Inlet and Georgetown, and the plantations just west of Georgetown. Your visit needs to start at Brookgreen Gardens ... beautiful when the azaleas are blooming in early spring, or during the Christmas season at night when the gardens are all lit up by candles.

Then go over to Huntington Beach State Park and walk on the nature trails. Wind your way through Atalaya while there, which is Anna Hyatt Huntington's former winter home. (And admire the beautiful sidewalk entrance there built as an Eagle Scout project by my son!)

While driving south, drive down Kings River Road from Litchfield to Pawleys Island, which runs between beautiful golf courses, and stop at the historic old church at All Saints with its really neat cemetery. I suppose no trip to Pawleys Island would be complete without a look at the beach. Between Pawleys Island and Georgetown is Hobcaw Barony, with a visitors center. Make sure you plan your trip so as to be in this particular area around about lunch time, and stop at my favorite "hole in the wall" Hog Heaven for the south's best barbeque and fried chicken!

As you drive through Georgetown, make sure to go through the downtown historic district. The Rice Paddy on Front Street is a great place for dinner. (I would also have recommended it for lunch except I already told you to go to Hog Heaven!) As you leave the area, travel on Highway 701 (toward Conway) and wind down the roads that run along the river. That is the sight of many old rice plantations, some of which are still intact. There is an excellent book called Rice Plantations of Georgetown by Alberta Q. Lachicotte which tells where all the old plantations are and the history behind each. (They have the book at local bookstores.)

I forgot to mention, you should stay at the Litchfield Inn in Pawleys Island, for a real step into the old South. If the price there scares you away, try one of the Bed and Breakfast Inns in historic Georgetown, or the old inn on the island in Pawleys, which still has no air conditioning but has huge windows, great breezes, porches with rocking chairs, and family style meals the locals die for! Now if that isn't a great trip in South Carolina, I don't know what is!"
~Submitted in January 2008 by Martha Hamel, a SCIWAY reader