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CSS Little David
A model of the CSS Little David. A small steam engine hidden inside the hull allowed the torpedo boat to attack at a top speed of 10 knots.
Photo by Jim Huff
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Old Santee Canal Park
From the park’s interpretive center, guests can stroll along four miles of scenic boardwalks and hiking trails.
Photo by Jim Huff
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Berkeley Museum
Located within the Old Santee Canal Park, the Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center tells the story of 12,000-year story of the region. Exhibits and artifacts focus on Brig. Gen. Francis Marion (the Swamp Fox), American Indians, Colonial life, the Civil War, early medicine, rural electrification, early education and the Francis Marion National Forest.
Photo by Jim Huff
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Canoeing at Old Santee Canal Park
A three-mile paddle trail immerses you in a cypress swamp where alligators, wood ducks, turtles and ospreys flourish amid a thriving community of southern shield ferns and other native vegetation.
Photo by Jim Huff
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Stony Landing Plantation
Originally referred to as "Stone Landing" and named for the high grade of marl found near the surface of the soil, the name Stone Landing was dropped sometime in the late 1700s, and the site became known as Stony Landing.
Photo by Jim Huff
The CSS Little David was an engineering marvel of its day—sleek, steam-powered and designed to stealthily attack Union warships blockading Charleston Harbor. Armed with a spar torpedo, the vessel made military history when her crew rammed and seriously damaged the USS New Ironsides in October 1863, four months before H.L. Hunley’s fateful voyage.
South Carolina’s homegrown torpedo boat has long been overshadowed by the exploits of the Hunley, but at Old Santee Canal Park in Moncks Corner, the Little David takes center stage. The cigar-shaped, semi-submersible boat was designed and built here in secret by local physician St. Julien Ravenel, and a full-size mock-up greets visitors just inside the park entrance. A scale model inside the park’s interpretive center offers a cut-away view of the boat’s ingenious design, and visitors can also learn about the Little David’s place in history through a permanent display inside the Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center, which is located on park grounds.
The 200-acre park takes its name from another forgotten engineering marvel: the Santee Canal. Opened in 1800 after seven years of back-breaking labor, the man-made waterway was the first in the nation to link major river systems. By joining the Santee and Cooper rivers, the 22-mile-long canal made it easier to transport cotton to the port of Charleston, says Mary Bell, the park’s historical education coordinator.
“This was the first true canal in the United States,” Bell says. “The Erie Canal, which we all know about, was built afterwards. Other canals were just bypasses around rocks. This was the first canal that connected watersheds."
The Santee Canal operated until the 1840s, when steamships and a rail link between Columbia and Charleston replaced mule-drawn barge traffic. Today, most of the canal lies submerged beneath Lake Moultrie, but visitors can explore the waterway just by walking into the park’s interpretive center. The entranceway is a full-sized replica of the brick-lined locks used to raise and lower boats. Inside the building, displays include intricate models of the waterway and a 27-minute ETV documentary on its construction.
Another way to explore the park’s history is to get outside and walk the four miles of scenic boardwalks and trails winding through hardwood bluffs and lowland swamps. The trail ends at the last surviving portion of the original canal system, and visitors can rent MP3 players for a 19-stop audio tour along the way. Visitors can also explore the park’s natural beauty by renting a canoe and following the three-mile paddling trail along Biggin Creek. The trail begins and ends at the interpretive center, passing beneath huge live oaks festooned with Spanish moss and resurrection ferns.
History buffs, picnickers, hikers, paddlers and birders keep the day-use park busy year-round, as do families celebrating weddings in the Stony Landing House, the beautifully preserved 1843 house overlooking the headwaters of the Cooper River, says Dave Sales, the park’s environmental education coordinator.
“We have an unusual combination of truly significant American national and natural history here,” he says, “but we’re also a real community park.”
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Get There
Old Santee Canal Park is located at 900 Stony Landing Drive in Moncks Corner.
Hours: The park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission: $3 per person for ages 7 and up, $2 for senior citizens and free to children under 7. Fees include admission to the Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center.
Details: The main park number is (843) 899-5200; oldsanteecanalpark.org. For more information on the museum, call (843) 899-5101.