Our next campground was to be Watsadler Corps of Engineers Campground on Lake Hartwell, near the South Carolina state line. We choose this campground for two reasons. First, we could get the RV there without having to deal with Atlanta as it was northeast of our current location. Secondly, it provided access to Ninety Six National Historic Site which is our last National Park site in South Carolina. I had tried to get a site at one of the COE campgrounds further east along the Savannah River, however, they did not open for the season until later in March or April. Watsadler COE was the only one open year round. The pull was not bad over narrow Georgia highways and better US highways. In fact, we missed a turn and ended up traveling about 20 miles on I-20 which turned out to be fortuitous since there was a Rest Area along this stretch that gave us an easy place for lunch. We were not in any hurry and got to Watsadler around 2:30. Again this was fortunate since the registration booth is only open from 2-5. If we had come earlier we would have had to know our site number so we could park the RV and return to register later in the day. I suppose we could have looked it up on the web, since I have not needed to record this information in the past. I will from now on, but since it was after 2 we got registered. We did run into one problem with the registration. This was the first COE campground that wanted to see our National Park Pass we were using to get the discount (50% off!!). It turns out that you have to have the Senior Pass, which we will not be eligible for until next year since you have to be 62. The Golden Eagle Interagency Pass is good for only admission, not campground fees. So we had to pay an additional $90 for the week. This is still within our budget, but obviously not as good as half price. In any case, we got registered and found our campsite. We were immediately impressed with the site. First, it was a pull-through site which made it easy to park the RV and second, the view outside the front door was great. Our site looked east across Lake Hartwell which gave us a great view, especially with the sunrises in the morning when it was not cloudy. Kal got some great pictures of the sunrise. In addition, the sites are all lined up along the shore line, which meant there was a lot of room between the sites. The bathroom facilities were also close. My only complaint about the campgrounds was the dump station, which is actually on the way into the campground loop instead of on the way out. This meant that when we left the following week we had to pull around to the dump station and then circle through the campground again. Poor planning in my opinion.
Since a cold front was to come through on Wednesday causing rain and lower temperatures, we decided to visit Ninety Six National Historic Site on Tuesday. It was a little over an hour to Ninety Six and when we arrived we discovered the Visitor Center was not open on Monday or Tuesday. Having come so far already, we decided to see what we could instead of returning later in the week. Except for the museum and movie about Ninety Six, we did not miss anything. I was only upset that I could not buy my lapel pin that I am collecting from each National Park. What is it about the National Historic Sites in the Carolinas? We ran into this problem last year at Moore’s Creek National Historic Site in North Carolina which also was not open on Tuesdays. I suppose we should check their hours on the web first and will attempt to do this in the future. In any case, the weather was great on Tuesday and we had a great time visiting the site, especially since we had it all to ourselves. The path from the Visitors Center travels along the old Island Ford Road that goes to the ford on the Saluda River. Due to heavy traffic in the past, the road was well sunk into the ground and still very obvious. We found the same to be true with the Charleston Road that led south our of town. Once you exit the roadbed you are immediately struck with the condition of the trenches and earthen embankment of the Star Fort. The picture is even more dramatic when you climb up into the observation tower that gives a great bird’s eye view of the battlefield. Back in 1781, during the later part of the Revolutionary War, Ninety Six was the location of the longest siege of the war. Before that time Ninety Six had become the trade and cultural center for the backwoods of South Carolina. Unlike the coastal areas around Charleston and Savannah, this was the frontier with continuous tensions between the settlers and Cherokee Indians. The settlers themselves were divided in their loyalties between the Crown (Loyalists) and the revolutionists (Patriots) to the extent that there was a continuous civil war being waged since 1775 when Ninety Six was the site of the first land battle of the Revolution between American loyalists and patriots only a few months after Lexington and Concord. After being defeated at Kings Mountains and again at Cowpens just a hundred miles to the north in October and January, respectively, and a costly victory at Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina, the loyalist army under the command of General Lord Cornwallis was retreating to Charleston. This left the frontier without military support and General Greene in command of the Continental Army decided to remove British rule of the frontier rather than pursuing Cornwallis. This brought his army to Ninety Six in May of 1781. However, the loyalists under the command of Lt Col. Cruger had fortified not only the town of Ninety Six with a stockade, but also improved the defense at the Stockade Fort to the West of town and constructed an 8 sided Star Fort to the Northeast of town. Without heavy artillery, Greene was forced to use siege tactics to take the town. Concentrating on the Star Fort, they began to build parallel trenches to bring up men and cannon within range of the fort. The first parallel was completed on June 1, the second on June 3, and the third on June 10. You can see all of these parallels on the ground after the excavations in 1973 and 1974. They then put up a 30 foot high wooden tower to provide a platform to shoot down into the fort. However, the loyalists simply put up a higher wall of sandbags to protect themselves. After learning that there was a relief column on the way to reinforce the loyalists, General Greene decided to storm the fort on June 13. Armed with axes and hooks to pull down the sandbags, 50 soldiers were ordered to advance on the fort. However the loyalists did not wait for them to gain access over the walls. Instead Cruger sent troops in both directions from the back of the fort and pinned the patriots in the ditch. General Greene abandoned the attack and before dawn on June 20 had retreated north.
Since the town of Ninety Six was burned by the loyalists when they withdrew towards the coast in July, there is nothing left of the town, although they have marked out the boundaries. They have located the brick jail on the edge of town and done some archeological excavations of the homes finding a few artifacts. We also took a short hike down the Charleston road to the Gouedy Trail which is 1.5 mile loop through the bottomland hardwood forest along the creek. As all bottomland hardwood forests it was fairly swampy with multiple small creeks and they have done a good job with the trail and bridges over them. The trail takes you to the site of the original Gouedy Tradepost, which became the original Fort Ninety Six in the 1750s to trade with and protect the early settlers from the Cherokee Indians. It is interesting that they don’t know where the name Ninety Six came from, although it could represent the distance at the time to the Cherokee town of Keowee, near Clemson. There are also some unmarked graves along the trail from the 1700s that are probably the remains of a slave cemetery.
After the side trip we headed up the hill to the Stockade Fort that overlooked the town which they have partially reconstructed. You can get a good sense of the defensive nature of the fortifications since they have inserted pointed poles into the soil as would have surround the Star Fort to protect it from ground attack. They have also brought in a 1700s log cabin from nearby to use as a demonstration and education center for the site.
On Wednesday I checked into Disc Golf courses in the area and found one in Greenwood, which is less than 10 miles from Ninety Six. So I decided to travel back to Ninety Six to get my lapel pin and take in a round of disc golf. With the cold front approaching the day was cloudy and windy, so I was not sure if I would be able to play, but it gave me a good excuse to return to Ninety Six. Kal decided to stay at the camper, so we each had a day to ourselves. Now that the Visitors Center was open, there were a lot more people visiting the site and I was able to take in their movie as well as get my pin. The movie was very well done, using real actors to play the roles, giving a complete history of the rise of Ninety Six and its importance to bringing law and order to the frontier. They also showed the construction of the Star Fort from digging the walls and constructing the abatis in front of the fort. They did a real good job showing the trenches being constructed during the siege and the short fight to storm the fort. While not worth an hour’s trip by itself, I was glad I got to see it. From there I went and got some lunch and went in search of the disc golf course. The course is on the campus of Lander University in downtown Greenwood. I found the baskets for the course with no problem, but I could not find the starting point for the course and with construction on campus I could not figure out where visitors were supposed to park. Taking into account the threatening weather and the students walking through the course going to classes, I decided against playing disc golf. Instead I went shopping and bought me some tennis shoes I needed. My current shoes were developing a serious “mouth” at the toes and would soon become flip-flops!! So the day was not a complete loss.
Thursday was the start of the NCAA Basketball tournament and we had a good signal for CBS. Over the years we have enjoyed our basketball and really missed attending the Auburn games the last two years, so we were excited to be able to watch the tournament again. Kal grabbed the dirty clothes and went into town to a laundromat and I cleaned the RV in the morning. We were both done by noon and settled in to watch some basketball. We saw some great games on Thursday, although without cable all we could watch was whatever game was on CBS. Except for the blowout by Kentucky the games were entertaining. I did not realize I would miss the old way CBS used to cover the tournament before all the cable channels. In the past, they would keep you updated on all the games cutting to them at half time and whenever something exciting was happening during the end of the game. Now with cable, they ignore the other games and the only way you can keep up with them is the scores at the top of the screen. Even during halftime all they did was talk about and maybe show a couple of highlights. While frustrating to be limited again to a single game, it was still better than nothing.
Friday through Sunday was pretty much the same deal. We piddled around the RV in the morning working on the blog and knitting or playing games and watching basketball in the afternoon and evenings. Even the weather cooperated since it was cloudy and raining every day but Saturday, so we did not feel so guilty about spending the time in front of the TV. Even though we had to watch some games we were not that interested in, instead of other games that would have been of more interest, we did get to see UAB lose their second game and Wichita State win their first two games and make it to the Sweet 16. We both grew up in Wichita and have a sweet spot for the team. We are both rooting for Wichita State to win its next game so it can face Kentucky for the Final Four. It was Kentucky that ended Wichita State’s unbeaten season last year in the tournament. It would be sweet to be able to end Kentucky’s unbeaten season this year, although I will admit that Kentucky had a much better chance last year then Wichita State will have this year. We can only hope!! Go Shockers.
Somers Travels 