Table Rock State Park Table Rock Mountain Nearest city| Pickens, South Carolina Coordinates| 35°02′09.2″N 82°42′21.3″W / 35.035889°N 82.705917°W / 35.035889; -82.705917Coordinates: 35°02′09.2″N 82°42′21.3″W / 35.035889°N 82.705917°W / 35.035889; -82.705917 Area| 3,083 acres (12.5 km2) Created| 1935[1] Camp sites| Both regular and RV campsites[2] Mountain cabins are also available in the park[3] Hiking trails| * Eastern trailhead of the Foothills Trail * A trail to the summit of Pinnacle Mountain * A trail to the summit of Table Rock Other information| Leashed pets are allowed everywhere except for cabin areas. Website| Table Rock State Park Table Rock State Park is a 3,083-acre (12.48 km2) park at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Pickens County, South Carolina. The park includes Pinnacle Mountain, the tallest mountain totally within the state.[4] ## Contents * 1 Park Features * 1.1 Trails * 2 History * 3 Table Rock State Park Historic District * 4 References * 5 External links ## Park Features[edit] The park features a lodge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that includes a kitchen and a 72-seat dining room.[5] There are two park lakes that accommodate seasonal swimming and hiking trails that lead to Mill Creek Falls, the Pinnacle Mountain summit (two routes), and Table Rock summit. A nature center offers educational programs, and there are picnic shelters and a playground. ### Trails[edit] The 1.9-mile (3.1 km) Carrick Creek Nature Trail loops around two creeks with small cascades and waterfalls and displays wildflowers in season.[6] The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) Table Rock Summit Trail is moderately strenuous, rising 2,000 feet (610 m) above the trailhead and includes a shelter built by the CCC. At approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km), the trail forks, the left fork following a ridge trail to Pinnacle Mountain and the right fork to the summit at 3,124 feet (952 m). The trail ends at an overlook with a view of Table Rock Reservoir and Caesars Head.[7] The park is the eastern trailhead of the 80-mile (130 km) Foothills Trail through the Blue Ridge Escarpment. A waterfall on Carrick Creek Nature Trail ## History[edit] Prior to the signing of the Hopewell Treaty of 1785, the land now encompassed by Table Rock State Park was part of the Lower Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee called the area, "Sah-ka-na-ga," the Great Blue Hills of God, and they established many hunting camps in the area.[8] According to folklore, Table Rock Mountain received its name from a Cherokee legend in which the flat-topped mountain served as a table from which the Great Spirit ate his meals.[9] Europeans moved into the Oolenoy River Valley soon after the signing of the Hopewell Treaty, settling at Pumpkintown—named for the unusually large pumpkins grown there. William Sutherland and James Keith operated a wayside lodge for visitors and in 1845, they built the twenty-room Table Rock Hotel, which prospered until the Civil War. Visitors increased again after Reconstruction, and Stephen Keith reopened the Table Rock Hotel. In 1899, Keith's family built a new hotel on a new location on the mountain but by 1912 had abandoned it.[8] ## Table Rock State Park Historic District[edit] United States historic place Table Rock State Park Historic District U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. Historic district Show map of South Carolina Show map of the United States Nearest city| Pickens, South Carolina Area| 2,860 acres (1,160 ha) Architect| J.W. Linley Architectural style| Late 19th And Early 20th Century American Movements, CCC construction MPS| South Carolina State Parks MPS NRHP reference No.| 89000478[10] Added to NRHP| June 15, 1989 In 1935 approximately 2,860 acres (11.6 km2) of land was donated to the state of South Carolina by Pickens County and the city of Greenville.[11][12] The park was created in the 1930s, first by two companies of World War I veterans employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps.[1] The veterans were apparently too old for the strenuous labor necessary to build a dam and otherwise work in mountainous terrain, and in 1936, they were replaced by two junior CCC companies. One of these two companies (5466) constructed a concrete dam and spillway to create the twenty-three acre Pinnacle Lake. The other (5465) built miles of trails, roads, a bathhouse, a concessions building, fish-rearing pools, eight cabins, picnic shelters, and houses for the park superintendent and warden. Most notable was a lodge constructed of logs, an L-shaped building with a great hall on the main level and a dining hall, sun porch, and kitchen on the basement level. The CCC also landscaped the park using natural vegetation from the Pinnacle Lake bed. The park opened to the public with a ceremony on April 4, 1938.[13][8] The Table Rock State Park Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[10] Also listed in 1989 were the related Civilian Conservation Corps Quarry No. 1 and Truck Trail, Civilian Conservation Corps Quarry No. 2, Roper House Complex and Table Rock Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Site. It is also a South Carolina Heritage Trust Site. Table Rock Mountain, as seen from Visitors' Center ## References[edit] 1. ^ a b "About This Park - Table Rock State Park - South Carolina State Parks". 14 October 2007. 2. ^ "Table Rock State Park - (near) Pickens". 14 October 2007. 3. ^ " "About This Park - Table Rock State Park - South Carolina State Parks". 14 October 2007. 4. ^ "South Carolina - Naturally!". 9 May 2007.. 5. ^ SC State Park website 6. ^ SC Hiking Trails website 7. ^ "Table Rock State Park Map" (PDF). 10 October 2010.. 8. ^ a b c Table Rock State Park sign (May 30, 2009). 9. ^ Tara Mitchell Mielnik, New Deal, New Landscape: The Civilian Conservation Corps and South Carolina's State Parks (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2011), 133. 10. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010. 11. ^ Sims, E. Thomas; Julie Turner (February 1, 1989). "Table Rock State Park (CCC) Camp Site" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 29 July 2012. 12. ^ "Table Rock State Park CCC Camp Site, Pickens County (off S.C. Sec. Rd. 25, Pickens vicinity)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 29 July 2012. 13. ^ Mielnik, 133-35. ## External links[edit] * Media related to Table Rock State Park at Wikimedia Commons * Geographic data related to Table Rock State Park (South Carolina) at OpenStreetMap * Table Rock State Park \- official site * v * t * e State Parks of South Carolina Upstate| * Caesars Head * Croft * Devils Fork * Jones Gap * Keowee-Toxaway * Kings Mountain * Lake Hartwell * Musgrove Mill * Oconee * Oconee Station * Paris Mountain * Rose Hill Plantation * Sadlers Creek * Table Rock Midlands| * Aiken * Andrew Jackson * Baker Creek * Barnwell * Calhoun Falls * Cheraw * Chester * Dreher Island * Goodale * H. Cooper Black Jr. * Hamilton Branch * Hickory Knob * Lake Greenwood * Lake Wateree * Landsford Canal * Lee * Poinsett * Redcliffe Plantation * Rivers Bridge * Santee * Sesquicentennial Coastal| * Charles Towne Landing * Colleton * Colonial Dorchester * Edisto Beach * Givhans Ferry * Hampton Plantation * Huntington Beach * Hunting Island * Lake Warren * Little Pee Dee * Myrtle Beach * Woods Bay * v * t * e Protected areas of South Carolina Federal| | National Parks| * Congaree | National Historic Sites and Historical Parks| * Charles Pinckney NHS * Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie NHP * Ninety Six NHS * Reconstruction Era NHP National Military Parks and Battlefields| * Cowpens NB * Kings Mountain NMP National Historic Trail| * Overmountain Victory National Forests| * Francis Marion * Sumter National Wildlife Refuges| * Cape Romain * Carolina Sandhills * Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin * Pinckney Island * Santee * Savannah * Tybee * Waccamaw National Estuarine Research Reserves| * Ashepoo Combahee Edisto Basin * North Inlet-Winyah Bay Wilderness Areas| * Cape Romain * Congaree * Ellicott Rock * Hell Hole Bay * Little Wambaw Swamp * Wambaw Creek * Wambaw Swamp Wild and Scenic River| * Chattooga River State| | State Parks| * Aiken * Andrew Jackson * Baker Creek * Barnwell * Caesars Head * Calhoun Falls * Cheraw * Chester * Colleton * Croft * Devils Fork * Dreher Island * Edisto Beach * Givhans Ferry * Goodale * H. Cooper Black Jr. Memorial Field Trial and Recreation Area * Hamilton Branch * Hickory Knob * Hunting Island * Huntington Beach * Jones Gap * Keowee-Toxaway * Kings Mountain * Lake Greenwood * Lake Hartwell * Lake Warren * Lake Wateree * Landsford Canal * Lee * Little Pee Dee * Myrtle Beach * Oconee * Paris Mountain * Poinsett * Sadlers Creek * Santee * Sesquicentennial * Table Rock * Woods Bay | State Historic Sites| * Charles Towne Landing * Colonial Dorchester * Hampton Plantation * Musgrove Mill * Oconee Station * Redcliffe Plantation * Rivers Bridge * Rose Hill Plantation State Forests| * Harbison * Manchester * Poe Creek * Sand Hills * Wee Tee Heritage Preserves| * Aiken Gopher Tortoise * Altamaha Towne * Ashmore * Bald Rock * Bear Branch * Belvue Springs * Bennett's Bay * Blackwell * Botany Bay Plantation * Brasstown Creek * Bunched Arrowhead * Buzzard Island * Buzzard Roost * Capers Island * Cartwheel Bay * Cathedral Bay * Chestnut Ridge * Childsbury Towne * Clear Creek * Congaree Bluffs * Congaree Creek * Crosby Oxypolis * Daws Island * Ditch Pond * Dungannon Plantation * Eastatoe Creek * Eva Russell Chandler * Fort Frederick * Fort Lamar * Forty Acre Rock * Glassy Mountain * Gopher Branch * Great Pee Dee River * Green's Shell Enclosure * Henderson * Janet Harrison High Pond * Laurel Fork * Lewis Ocean Bay * Lighthouse Inlet * Little Pee Dee * Little Pee Dee State Park Bay * Long Branch Bay * Longleaf Pine * Lynchburg Savanna * Nipper Creek * Old Island * Pacolet River * Peachtree Rock * Peters Creek * Poinsett Bridge * Rock Hill Blackjacks * Savage Bay * Savannah River Bluffs * Segars-McKinnon * Shealy's Pond * South Bluff * St. Helena Sound * Stevens Creek * Stoney Creek Battery * Stumphouse Mountain * Tillman Sand Ridge * Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center * Victoria Bluff Heritage Preserve * Waccamaw River * Wadakoe Mountain * Wateree * Watson-Cooper * Woods Bay Wildlife Management Areas| * Bear Island * Belfast * Bonneau Ferry * Campbell's Crossroads * Canal * Causey Tract * Cliff Pitts * Clinton Reservoir Tract * Crackerneck * Donnelley * Draper * Edisto River * Fant's Grove * Gray Court Tract * Hamilton Ridge * Hatchery * Herbert Kirsh * Hickory Top * James L. Mason * James Ross * Jim Timmerman * Keowee * Landsford Canal Forest * Liberty Hill * Marsh * McBee * McCalla * McConnells Tract * Moultrie Hunt Unit * Nine Times * Oak Lea * Palachucola * Pee Dee Station * Samworth * Santee Coastal Reserve * Santee Cooper * Santee Cooper Tract * Santee Dam * Santee-Delta * Thurmond Tract * Turtle Island * Webb * Wild Turkey * Woodbury * Worth Mountain Seabird Sanctuaries| * Bay Point Shoal * Bird Key - Stono * Crab Bank * Deveaux Bank * Joiner Bank * North Santee Bar * v * t * e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Topics| * Contributing property * Keeper of the Register * Historic district * History of the National Register of Historic Places * National Park Service * Property types Lists by county| * Abbeville * Aiken * Allendale * Anderson * Bamberg * Barnwell * Beaufort * Berkeley * Calhoun * Charleston * Cherokee * Chester * Chesterfield * Clarendon * Colleton * Darlington * Dillon * Dorchester * Edgefield * Fairfield * Florence * Georgetown * Greenville * Greenwood * Hampton * Horry * Jasper * Kershaw * Lancaster * Laurens * Lee * Lexington * Marion * Marlboro * McCormick * Newberry * Oconee * Orangeburg * Pickens * Richland * Saluda * Spartanburg * Sumter * Union * Williamsburg * York Lists by city| * Charleston * Columbia * Greenville * North Charleston * Rock Hill Other lists| * Bridges * National Historic Landmarks * Keeper of the Register * History of the National Register of Historic Places * Property types * Historic district * Contributing property Authority control General| * VIAF * 1 * WorldCat (via VIAF) Other| * MusicBrainz place *[No.]: number *[v]: View this template *[t]: Discuss this template *[e]: Edit this template