Barnwell State Park may be the best fishing hole in South Carolina that not many folks know about.

A traditional state park primarily serving the people of Barnwell County, Barnwell State Park offers camping and cabins, picnicking and playgrounds, and a community center long favored for meetings and reunions.

There’s also a nature trail that winds around a pair of nice-sized ponds that many locals know hold a good population of bream and bass, some of them surprisingly large.

Barnwell State Park is one of 16 state parks in South Carolina built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression to provide jobs for the men who built them and recreational opportunities for the people who live nearby.

Such as great fishing. Guess the secret’s out!

Several prominent families of Colonial and Antebellum South Carolina lived at Hampton Plantation, including Rutledges, Horrys and Pinckneys. Today, the mansion stands as a testament to the wealth and power of these families as well as the craftsmanship of the builders. Tours include a study of the architecture and evolution of the house, as seen in the open walls and unfurnished rooms, as well as personal insight into the people that called Hampton home.

A unique combination of history and mixed ecosystems makes Poinsett State Park a special place in the woods.

The rural Sumter County park’s setting in the High Hills of Santee where the Midlands sandhills meets the coastal plains has given rise to such unusual sights as mountain laurel festooned with Spanish moss.

The serene setting also offers camping, a fishing pond with coquina bathhouse built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and clean, rustic cabins high atop a hill where often the only sound is the breeze through the trees.

The mix of steep hills and bluffs, pine and hardwood forests and Lowcountry swamp also is home to a wide range of plant and animal life.

Hiking is a favorite activity at Poinsett, where its own extensive trail system connects to the Palmetto Trail in adjacent Manchester State Forest.