Caesars Head State Park
Caesars Head State Park | |
---|---|
Nearest city | Cleveland, SC |
Coordinates | 35°7′N 82°36′W / 35.117°N 82.600°W |
Area | 7,467 acres (30.2 km2) |
Created | from 1976 to 1986 |
Camp sites | 24 primitive trailside sites |
Hiking trails | 13 |
Website | Park website |
Caesars Head State Park is a park in northern
History
In 1825 the state engineer and noted architect Robert Mills described Caesars Head as a "mass of granite, rising from the vale, through which a rapid river winds its turbulent way...the ledges of stone, rising almost perpendicular, and at length, hanging over at [the] top, so that they seem to totter to their fall."[2]
After the completion of the Jones Gap Road in 1848, a former state senator, Benjamin Hagood, purchased about 2,400 acres (970 ha) around Caesars Head where he built a summer cottage, and later a hotel, "to take advantage of the area's cool breezes, moderate temperatures, and breath-taking views."
In 1880, Miles sold the hotel to E. M. Seabrook of Charleston, who enlarged the inn and associated cottages but was unable to pay off the mortgage. In 1885, the property reverted to Miles, who was said to have been "a model innkeeper" of a "comfortable primitive hotel". In 1897, the Mileses deeded the property to Furman University in exchange for an annuity and free room and board for the rest of their lives.[6] In 1924, Furman sold the property to a development company interested in selling lots for summer homes. The hotel continued to operate even when the land developer failed during the Depression. In 1946 brothers Pete and Tom Marchant bought the property and added tennis courts and a swimming pool. The hotel, a cottage, and the adjacent servants' quarters—the original Hagood house—burned in the early morning of September 9, 1954.[7] The Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism acquired the park lands from various owners between 1976 and 1986.[8]
Recreation
The park is noted for its panoramic view of the mountain country and is a destination for
The park permits
The visitor center at the park headquarters off US 276 includes an interpretive museum that features photographs of the park's human history as well as a relief map of the entire Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area.[13]
References
- ^ Nawal Jaber, et al., "The Dramatic History of Caesar's Head", Echoes (Northwest Middle School, Travelers Rest, South Carolina), Spring 1987, 16.
- ^ Robert Mills, Statistics of South Carolina (Charleston: Hurlburt and Lloyd, 1826), 579.
- ^ Judith Bainbridge, "Caesar's Head Continues to Attract Tourists", Greenville News, July 8, 2009, City People, 2.
- ^ Archie Vernon Huff, Jr., Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 142.
- Marietta, about 16 miles (26 km) away. Bainbridge, 2.
- ^ Bainbridge, 5. Miles died in 1903, his wife in 1918.
- ^ Bainbridge, 5; Huff, 311; "The Dramatic History of Caesar's Head", 27-28; Greenville News, September 10, 1954, 1; Greenville Piedmont, September 10, 1954.
- ^ Park website.
- ^ “By the Numbers,” Park website.
- ^ Park website
- ^ Marie McAden, "Migrating raptors put on an aerial show at Caesars Head State Park," Discover South Carolina website Archived 2012-12-31 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Park website; “Unique Features,” Park website.
- ^ "History and Interpretation," Park website.
External links
- Geographic data related to Caesars Head State Park at OpenStreetMap