The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor extends 240 miles across South Carolina, stretching from the mountains of Oconee County, along the Savannah River, to the port city of Charleston. The 14 counties of the corridor offer a cross-section of the state's history, culture, and natural landscapes. The area describes the evolution of upcountry and lowcountry life, from grand plantations and simple farms to mill villages and urban centers, and how their history affected South Carolina as a state and America as a nation.

The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor was established by the U.S. Congress in 1996 as one of a select number of National Heritage Areas -- regions in which entire communities live and work, and where residents, businesses, and local governments have come together to conserve special landscapes and their own heritage. It encompasses a region of the state which retains a large percentage of rural landscapes. The corridor contains an array of intact cultural resources representative of three major components of the state's development. Some of the earliest permanent European settlements in the American South. The invention and development of the plantation system of agriculture, and the interrelationship of historic trade routes, the coastal ports, and the settlement of the state's upland region. The area also contains specific sites of importance to the Revolutionary and Civil wars, and numerous state recreational facilities.

This corridor, bounded at one end by the ancient port city of Charleston and at the other by the mountains of the Blue Ridge, contains historic, cultural, and natural resources that tell the vibrant story of South Carolina's -- and the South's -- centuries-long evolution and culture. By following the two routes described in this brochure, the visitor will learn of rice and indigo, pirates and patriots, slaves and freemen, cotton fields and mill villages, swamps and waterfalls, railroads and backroads, soul food and "pig-pickin's," spirituals and bluegrass. From Table Rock Mountain to the wharves of McClellanville, the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor is a setting within which southern history and lifestyle is alive and accessible, in all its rich variety of cultures. We hope you will use this website and join us soon in an adventure of entertainment and experience.

The 240 miles and fourteen counties that comprise the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor are divided into four distinct regions that, together, provide a cross-section of the landscape, history, and culture of the corridor.

As you travel along the corridor, you will experience the history, nature, and lifestyles of the rural South. Two routes -- the Discovery Route and the Nature Route -- run the entire length of the Heritage Corridor, connecting special places within the fourteen counties and creating one unfolding heritage tourism destination. Locations of great natural beauty, recreational opportunities, military history, birding, local arts and crafts, agricultural traditions, and the state's rich African American heritage are identified and interpreted along the way. Plan your vacation or day trip around one of these routes, and South Carolina's heritage will unfold before you.