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List of South Carolina state parks facts for kids

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South Carolina
State Park Service
SC parks logo.jpg
Agency overview
Formed 1933
Headquarters 1205 Pendleton Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Annual budget $120 million (2008)
Agency executive
  • Paul McCormack, State Park Director
Parent agency S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism
Website http://www.southcarolinaparks.com

The State of South Carolina has a group of protected areas managed by the South Carolina State Park Service (often abbreviated to Park Service). Formed in 1933 in conjunction with the formalization of the federal Civilian Conservation Corps program, the State Park Service is administered by the state's Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism (SCPRT). There are a total of 47 facilities that the State Park Service administers, protecting nearly 80,000 acres of sensitive, attractive, and/or historically significant lands in South Carolina. The facilities fall under four types of classifications:

  • 38 State Parks
  • 8 State Historic Sites
  • 1 State Resort Park
  • 1 State Recreational Area

Cheraw State Park was the first park to be proposed within the system in 1934 with Myrtle Beach State Park becoming the first park to open in 1936. Within six years, the State of South Carolina and the CCC opened 17 state parks. Originally under the jurisdiction of the South Carolina Forestry Commission, the Park Service has been a unit within the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism since its formation in 1967. Hunting Island State Park in Beaufort County is the most popular state park in South Carolina and among the most popular in the United States, attracting 1.2 million visitors per year.

Following the Nukegate scandal, Dominion Energy settled with the South Carolina tax agency on $165 million in unpaid taxes owed due to an unfinished nuclear project in Fairfield County. As part of that settlement, the state agency and Dominion Energy agreed that Dominion would offset approximately a third of the unpaid taxes by turning over more than 2,900 acres of land which will ultimately become six new state parks in the coming years. The first state park expected to open from the settlement is Pine Island on Lake Murray.


Park Name County or Counties Size Year Acquired Year Opened
acres ha
Aiken State Park Aiken 1,067 432 1934 1936
Andrew Jackson State Park Lancaster 360 150 1953 1957
Baker Creek State Park McCormick 1,305 528 1967 1968
Barnwell State Park Barnwell 307 124 1937 1939
Caesars Head State Park Greenville 7,467 3,022 1976 1986
Calhoun Falls State Park Abbeville 318 129 1982
Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site Charleston 184 74 1970 1970
Cheraw State Park Chesterfield 7,362 2,979 1934 1939
Chester State Park Chester 523 212 1935 1936
Colleton State Park Colleton 35 14 1938 1940
Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site Dorchester 325 132 1960 1960
Croft State Park Spartanburg 7,054 2,855 1949
Devils Fork State Park Oconee 622 252 1991 1991
Dreher Island State Park Newberry 348 141 1970 1970
Edisto Beach State Park Colleton 1,255 508 1935 1937
Givhans Ferry State Park Colleton, Dorchester 988 400 1934 1937
Goodale State Park Kershaw 963 390 1973 1973
H. Cooper Black Jr. Memorial Field Trial and Recreation Area Chesterfield 7,000 2,800 1994 2006
Hamilton Branch State Park McCormick 731 296 1972 1972
Hampton Plantation State Historic Site Charleston 300 120 1972
Hickory Knob State Resort Park McCormick 1,091 442 1969 1973
Hunting Island State Park Beaufort 5,000 2,000 1938 1941
Huntington Beach State Park Georgetown 2,500 1,000 1960 1962
Jones Gap State Park Greenville 3,964 1,604 1976 1985
Keowee-Toxaway State Park Pickens 1,000 400 1970 1975
Kings Mountain State Park Cherokee, York 6,885 2,786 1934 1936
Lake Greenwood State Park Greenwood 914 370 1938 1940
Lake Hartwell State Park Oconee 680 280 1976 1985
Lake Warren State Park Hampton 440 180 1980 1990
Lake Wateree State Park Fairfield 238 96 1982 1985
Landsford Canal State Park Chester, Lancaster 448 181 1970 1973
Lee State Park Lee 2,839 1,149 1935 1941
Little Pee Dee State Park Dillon 835 338 1951 1955
May Forest State Park Charleston 23 9.3 2021 2023
Musgrove Mill State Historic Site Laurens, Spartanburg, Union 380 150 1975 2003
Myrtle Beach State Park Horry 312 126 1935 1936
Oconee State Park Oconee 1,165 471 1935 1937
Oconee Station State Historic Site Oconee 210 85 1976 1994
Paris Mountain State Park Greenville 1,540 620 1935 1937
Poinsett State Park Sumter 1,010 410 1934 1936
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site Aiken 350 140 1973 1975
Rivers Bridge State Historic Site Bamberg 390 160 1945 1945
Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site Union 44 18 1960 1961
Sadlers Creek State Park Anderson 395 160 1966 1968
Santee State Park Orangeburg 2,500 1,000 1942 1949
Sesquicentennial State Park Richland 1,419 574 1937 1940
Table Rock State Park Pickens 3,083 1,248 1935 1940
Woods Bay State Park Clarendon, Florence, Sumter 1,590 640 1973 1973
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