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Oconee Photo Safari

Posted on May 31, 2009 By Tom 1 Comment on Oconee Photo Safari
History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Travel

Geezers

When I knew that Laura was going to be out of town this weekend, I contacted a couple of my Chorale/Furman friends to see if they would be interested in a photo safari. Ken Cothran took me up on the challenge, so early Saturday morning I picked him up at his place in Clemson and we headed out.

Our first stop was the town of Pendleton. Once the major city in the Upstate, the whole area is now on the Register of Historic Places. We walked around the little town square and took a few shots.

Red, White, and BluePendleton ArchitectureCannon BarrelKen shooting a cannon

We headed south of the town to the ruins of Tanglewood Mansion, next to the new Pendleton Library. All that remains are a few columns, chimneys, and the foundations to the mansion. According to the historical marker, the mansion was destroyed by fire in 1908, but rebuilt in 1910 using the original columns and portico. It was destroyed by fire again in 1970. Here’s a photo showing the mansion prior to the first destruction…

…and what it looks like now…

Reaching upwardTanglewood FoundationsTanglewood FoundationsTanglewood ColumnsTanglewood Remains

The library has erected an unsightly chain link fence around the ruins. I can understand the need to keep people out, but I would hope that they could put up something more attractive. As is, there are many gaps in the fence, and anyone could get in. We behaved and stayed outside.

Our next Pendleton stop was St. Paul’s Episcopal, just east of the town. This church is the final resting place of Thomas Pickens Clemson, founder of Clemson University, and of many members of the Calhoun family.

st pauls hdr 1St. Paul's Episcopal WindowsThomas Clemson tomb

From Pendleton we headed west toward Seneca. I had never really spent much time in the downtown area, so we parked and walked a bit. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of shops and restaurants in the area, especially in the Ram Cat Alley part of town. We popped into a couple of the art stores, took some photos of the architecture, then decided to have an early lunch at one of the sandwich shops.

Ram Cat AlleySymmetry 1Symmetry 2Old Seneca Buildings

Over lunch Ken and I plotted out our next stop. Ken said that he had never seen Bull Sluice on the Chattooga, so we decided to head that direction. We took Highway 76 west from town, and through the town of Westminster. On the other side of town we stopped at the Chau-Ram Park, where the Chauga River and Ramsey Creek come together.

The park was quite crowded, with picnickers and folks enjoying the cool water. We crossed the suspension bridge then walked along some of the trails, shooting shots.

Chauga River Suspension BridgeRamsey Creek FallsTubing on the ChaugaRhododendron backlit

Highway 76 through Long Creek is always much longer than I remember. It takes awhile to get from Westminster to the South Carolina-Georgia border and the Chattooga River. The parking lot was crowded, but not too bad. We took the trail down to Bull Sluice, a Class V rapid on the river, and gathered with the spectators there to watch boats going over the rapids.

Spectators at Bull SluiceKayaking through Bull SluiceStuck in a bad place

We still had a bit of time, so we followed Highway 11 up to Oconee Station.

Oconee Station HDR 1Oconee Station HDR 2

Then ended our day with a hike to the nearby Station Cove Falls. It was a good day, and was great to be out and about.

Station Cove Falls

Tags: Oconee Photography rambling South Carolina

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One thought on “Oconee Photo Safari”

  1. Ken C says:
    May 31, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    Those two guys in front of the store reminded me of Bartles and James.

    Reply

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