State parks paddle, paint, cook up special cabin stays inland
The Grand Strand boasts two S.C. state parks that sparkle year round along the ocean, and for anyone with an itch to explore, some pearls of special programs with cabin stays are booked this autumn at six other parks.
Two S.C. State Park Service regional program coordinators – Terry Conway, based in Charleston, and Jim Stanton, from Paris Mountain State Park, just north of Greenville – have teamed up on the schedule of cabin overnight getaways involving such pastimes and specialties as paddling, cooking and art. They include “Sparkleberry Swamp Paddle,” Sept. 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28 at Pointsett State Park, southwest of Sumter; “The Art of Smoke,” a meat smoking program, Nov. 18-20 at Santee State Park, southwest of Manning; and “Painting Skies and Reflections in Oil” with Michael Story, Dec. 4-6 at Table Rock State Park, northwest of Greenville.
Conway, who has spent 16 years in state parks education outreach, shared some details about the schedule this fall.
Question | How long have such themed experiences been developing at state parks across the Palmetto State?
Answer | We’ve been doing this for about three years. We started in winter 2013, and the “Winter Waterfalls” series, ... up in the mountain parks. That was our first shot at these, and they were well received.
Q. | What process goes into choosing sites for these special programs, or is there a rotation where these outings work best?
A. | We work within the parks that have cabins and more availability, and they have two nights in a cabin included with the experience. We have 14-15 parks with cabins, but not all of them need as much help with filling them. Some fill naturally, or maybe they don’t have the time slots we seek. (Myrtle Beach State Park has six cabins.) ...
One of the cool things with our programs is that we also include parks that don’t have cabins, so participants can experience programs in those and stay nearby in a park with cabins.
It’s part of our “Ultimate Outsider Program” – trying to get people to go to all 47 state parks. We’re using these cabin-based programs to help with that as well.
Q. | Is there a way to measure the radius for which, or how far that, patrons travel, for these long weekends/vacations?
A. | We give them a program survey, and one of the questions asks how they drove to participate in this activity? ... So far, the majority who return are pretty much 1 to 2 1/2 hours. We’ve had, off my memory, one person who drive 4 to 4 1/2 hours, so some people drive across the state or just from outside the state. The majority of our cabin experience participants are coming from within the state, or just on the boundary ... maybe drawing some people from Charlotte, N.C., or Augusta, Ga.
Q. | Through these programs and tailor-made arts-oriented immersions, how is the visit to each host park enhanced, beyond the natural aura and beauty absorbed from a walk, paddle, bike ride or drive there?
A. | People create a memory in the park. It might be a photo workshop where they take some really cool photos in spots that maybe they wouldn’t have access to. For instance, at Santee State Park, we took a boat ride last year with FishEagle Wildlife Tours, into an osprey nesting area, and participants got a chance to take pictures of an osprey sitting on a nest. Some patrons got to see little babies poking their heads over the edges of the nest. ...
In another instance, in a watercolor journaling class, we’ll take participants around Poinsett State Park to see Civilian Conservation Corps-built structures and other vistas, and use those as subject matter for them to create their water color images. ...That’s a big part of it: using the resources as subjects for some for these art experiences for some of the nature-based ones. ...
For some of the cooking programs, they’re taking home new kitchen skills. Just watching these programs, I learned how to cut onions; it changed the way I work in the kitchen. I no longer cry when I do it. It’s fascinating; I can make tiny, diced up onions in a matter of minutes. ...
We use outside instructors for a lot of these programs, and they’re bringing skill sets and knowledge they have especially trained for.
Q. | Do such getaways turn into new, innovative ways to showcase interior state parks that merit more attention? (Never will I forgot an October visit to Santee State Park, and hearing a rufous-sided towhee's whistles breaking the silence in such a lovely, serene setting.)
A. | Absolutely. Several of the program experiences are in lesser known parks that you might call our hidden gems. Take Barnwell State Park, a fairly small park in the Midlands of South Carolina, also one of the original CCC-built parks: Very few people know about it. Goodale State Park, near Camden, is another one. ...
At Poinsett State Park, about 15-20 minutes from Shaw Air Force Base, near Sumter, people can see the “Mountains of the Midlands.” You think maybe of the rolling hills and how it’s flat, outside of the sand hills, but all of a sudden, there’s a little mountain there in the Midlands. ... People love to ride their bikes there. It’s a big destination for mountain biking, and another one of our hidden gems, and certainly underutilized.
Contact STEVE PALISIN at 843-444-1764.
If you go
WHAT: Overnight cabin experiences at state parks across South Carolina.
WHERE, RESPECTIVELY:
▪ Oconee State Park (From I-26 north of Columbia, take I-385 west, I-185 – a toll road – west, then I-85 west from Greenville area to Exit 1, then S.C. 11 north, west of S.C. 28 through Walhalla, and north – right – on S.C. 107 for two miles to park) – “Writing Retreat” with Carol Crawford, Tuesday-Thursday); “Painting Skies and Reflections in Oil” with Michael Story,” Aug. 28-30; and “Wildlife Drawing Class” with Alan R. Young, Dec. 2-4. Contact park at 864-638-5353.
▪ Barnwell State Park (From Interstate 95 south, take exit 77, then U.S. 78 west for about 40 miles into Blackville, and south – left – on S.C. 3 for three miles) – “Kayaking at Barnwell and Aiken,” Sept. 6-8, 13-15, 20-22 and 27-29; “Ultimate Outsider Weekend,” Sept. 30-Oct. 2; and “Smocking (Baby Clothes),” Nov 15-17. 803-284-2212.
▪ Poinsett State Park, in Wedgefield (From I-20, take Exit 98 south on U.S. 521 from Camden area, then south – right – on S.C. 261 for 35 miles) – “Weekdays on the Water – Sparkleberry Swamp Paddle,” Sept. 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28, and “Kayaking at Goodale,” Oct 4-6 and 11-13; and “Watercolor Journaling,” Oct. 18-20. 803-494-8177.
▪ Santee State Park (From I-95 south, take Exit 98, west on S.C. 6 for one mile, then turn right on State Park Road) – “Weekdays on the Water – Santee Locks and Lake Tour,” Oct. 11-13; “Defending Carolina – S.C. Civil War Battlefields Tour,” Nov. 8-10; and “Art Class – Landscapes,” Nov. 11-13 (tentative); and “The Art of Smoke,” meat smoking program, Nov. 18-20. 803-854-2408.
▪ Table Rock State Park (From I-26, north of Spartanburg, take Exit 5 southwest toward and through Campobello, for about 45 miles, and left on to East Ellison Lane) – “Painting Skies and Reflections in Oil” with Michael Story, Dec. 4-6. 864-878-9813.
▪ Edisto Beach State Park (From U.S. 17 south of Charleston, take S.C. 174 east – left – for about 30 miles toward the ocean) – “Painting Party,” Dec. 11-13 (extended stay for viewing Geminids meteor shower). 843-869-2156.
MORE DETAILS, PRICES (WHICH VARY BY EVENT), AND REGISTRATION: Call each park, or visit www.southcarolinaparks.com.
VISIT BOTH STATE PARKS ON GRAND STRAND: Open 6 a.m. every day of the year, with same admission rates of $5 ages 16 and older, $3.25 S.C. seniors, $3 ages 6-15, and free ages 2 and younger. Also, state park passes, to access 47 sites across South Carolina, are $75 or $99. –
Myrtle Beach State Park, on U.S. 17 Business, one mile south of Farrow Parkway/South Ocean Boulevard, across from Seagate Village. 843-238-5325 or www.myrtlebeachsp.com. (“A Camping Ex-PIER-ence!” is 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 to 7 a.m. Sept. 18, with group overnighter on pier – no tents, though – with room for 25 people, ages 11 and older. Register, for $30, by 4 p.m. Sept. 13. More details from nature center at 843-238-0874.)
▪ Huntington Beach State Park, on U.S. 17 between Murrells Inlet and Litchfield Beach, across from Brookgreen Gardens. 843-237-4440 or www.huntingtonbeachsp.com. (In “Soul of the Salt Marsh,” 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at Paint & Untwined, 804 Inlet Square Drive, Unit D, Murrells Inlet, near Five Guys Burgers and Fries – a fundraiser for ages 12 and older to help this park’s efforts to rebuild its nature center after a fire earlier this summer – take a painting class and bring your work on a 16-by-20-inch canvas home; no experience required. Register for $35 at www.paintandunwined.com/classes/; more details at 843-651-1988. Also, in “Coastal Kayaking,” 9-11 a.m. Mondays, take a guided salt-marsh tour – for ages 9 and older, and with adult accompaniment through age 15 – for $35. Pre-registration required with Black River Outdoors Center at 843-546-4840 by 4 p.m. the previous Sunday.)
This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "State parks paddle, paint, cook up special cabin stays inland."