Chester State Park has been a haven for hiking, picnicking, boating and fishing for the surrounding communities in the South Carolina Piedmont ever since it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Centrally located between Columbia and Charlotte, the park centers on a 160-acre lake, itself surrounded by a two-mile nature trail through the pine forest.

A community building, camping, archery range and johnboat rentals and an unusually serene, placid setting close to town are among this traditional state park’s attractions.

Redcliffe Virtual Tour

“Cotton is King!”

Those words resounded through Congress and then the nation in a fiery speech by South Carolina Sen. James Henry Hammond in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Hammond’s legacy also lives on in the picturesque setting of Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site.

The plantation home, completed in 1859, and iconic lane of 145-year-old magnolia trees are highlights of the site. So is the view of the Savannah River valley from the top floor of the Greek Revival house, where historians say Hammond could see the clock tower a dozen miles away across the river in downtown Augusta.

Exploring the preserved slave quarters, admiring the heirloom garden and picnicking on the expansive lawn also are favorite activities at the park. Redcliffe was donated to South Carolina in 1973 by former Time editor John Shaw Billings, a descendant of the former congressman and governor.