Rivers, Rails, and Crossroads Region
The Towns of Rivers, Rails, and Crossroads Region

Beech Island
Think of Beech Island as an island off the coast? That's not the case with Beech Island -- a community of 2,500 located along the Savannah River in Aiken County, named for the beech trees along the wetlands. Starting in 1685 as the trading center of Savano Town, Beech Island grew into an agricultural community. Only minutes from Augusta, Georgia, Beech Island offers country living with the advantage of big-city shopping and entertainment nearby. In Beech Island, you're not far from a hike in the woods, a walk down a country road, or a fishing trip on the river.

Rosemary Hall, North Augusta.

North Augusta
North Augusta is on the banks of the Savannah River, which forms the Georgia-South Carolina border. This family-oriented community offers all the advantages of the surrounding metropolitan areas. Visionary leaders look to the future with plans for riverfront development, including recreation, shopping, and restaurants. Present opportunities include Riverview Park, which provides access to the Greenway hiking/biking trail, the Hippodrome, a multipurpose equine facility, and the River Golf Club. Historic sites and events include Wade Hampton Veterans Park, Rosemary Hall and Lookaway Hall, Living History Park (with Concerts in the Park, Colonial Trades Fair, and Militia Muster), Jack-o'-Lantern Jubilee, Heritage Tours, and Christmas Tour of Homes.

Salley
The town of Salley is a quaint southern community located in the eastern corner of Aiken County. The town was founded in 1887 and is widely known as the "Chitlin' Capital of the World." This title is based on the town's annual Chitlin' Strut Festival, held annually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Each year, tens of thousands of people come to the festival to enjoy music, crafts, carnival rides, and food of all description. Of course, chitlin's are the main attraction. The town is also home to the Old Salley School Museum, which highlights local history and culture.

Wagener
It's the small town home town that everyone remembers. People still speak to each other and to strangers, and men open doors for ladies. Main Street and downtown are the meeting and shopping centers for its citizens. No malls here. A wide green park expanse runs through the middle of town, with often-occupied benches for visiting and enjoying the street scene. Plainly displayed is a Conestoga wagon used by pioneers crossing the nation. The old jail is now the town museum. Numerous churches and nearby grave sites link the past with the present. Come see Wagener for quiet reminiscing.

Barnwell
Preparing for its 200th birthday, Barnwell is a haven for travelers who take tranquility seriously. From the historic Court House on the Circle, take a stroll down tree-lined streets, laid out in 1817, past homes and churches that survived the Civil War. Enjoy the pleasures of Lake Edgar Brown, with its picturesque shoreline, only a stone's throw from the center of the city. Excellent restaurants, a lively Performing Arts Center, and a museum of local history make Barnwell a great choice for an overnight stay.

Whaterwheel at Edisto Memorial Gardens.

Orangeburg
Orangeburg, the Garden City, features the Edisto Memorial Gardens. 150 acres of cypress trees, azaleas,  camellias, and 5,000 rose plants rank the gardens among the top twenty tourist attractions in South Carolina, with 600,000 visitors annually. Included is Horne Wetlands Park, a 2,600-foot boardwalk along the North Edisto River. Garden events include the South Carolina Festival of Roses in April and the Children's Garden Christmas. Orangeburg also features the historic campuses of South Carolina State University and Claflin College, vital to African American heritage, Orangeburg County's Fine Arts Center, the Bluebird Theater, and Robert Stevenson Auditorium, plus many antique shops, historic homes, churches, and cemeteries.

Elloree
Elloree is a small, charming town on the move. The Old Towne District, fouded a century ago in 1886, will be open by the fall of 1999, with dinner theaters featuring live entertainment, shops, and a museum. The end of March brings the Elloree Trials horse races at the Elloree Training Center. Look for the Elloree Farmers' Market in Joe Miller Park in the summer and guided tours of the Elloree cotton gin and fields in the autumn. Other festivals and activities happen during the year. Cove visit us -- seven miles from Santee on S.C. Highway 6.

Eutawville
Eutawville is located three miles from the Eutaw Springs Battlefield, one of the last major battles (1781) fought in South Carolina during the American Revolution. The town grew up in the 1830s around the historic Church of the Epiphany, and was chartered in 1888 near the Ferguson-Elloree fork of the Eutawville Railroad. Indian Bluff Park provides free boating, swimming, and picnicking facilities, with a fishing pier and nature trail. South Carolina game management department offers deer, dove, and quail hunting. Accommodations are available within the area.

Holly Hill
Experience the amenities of rural life in Holly Hill, population 1478. Located in exciting Santee-Cooper Country, Holly Hill is easily accessible from Interstates 26 and 95 and from US Highway 78, the Heritage Discovery Route. Forty-six miles nortwest of historic Charleston, Holly Hill is the southwestern anchor of the Eastern Orangeburg County Discovery Trail, which showcases life in the adjacent small towns. Chartered in 1887, Holly Hill's turn-of-the-century homes and stores, restored railroad depot, and old churches and cemeteries record the past. Within the area are motels and campsites, local culinary delights, family recreation, seasonal tours, and festivals. Anchored in its proud past, Holly Hill is a slice of Americana.

Santee
As the traditional halfway stop between New York and Miami, Santee offers more than just accommodations to the traveling public. At exit 98 on Interstate 95, Santee is the gateway to Santee-Cooper Country, where Lakes Marion and Moultrie provide a paradise for vacationers. Santee offers access to the best fishing in the Southeast, as well as golfing, swimming, camping, and shopping for all ages. The area features restored Victorian towns, cotton fields, historic African American churches and cemeteries, and lake tours, where you can see and experience local wildlife and some of the oldest stands of cypress trees. Santee looks to the future, while honoring its past.

Williston
The Town of Williston was chartered in 1858 as a stop along the Southern Railway from Charleston. Named for settler and gentleman planter Robert Willis, census records as early as 1790 show families forming the community that would later become Williston. Williston grew as a railroad town until the Civil War, when troops under General Sherman burned more than 30 homes and tore up miles of track. The town recovered, and cotton and asparagus would become important cash crops to the town economy during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th century. However, it was the nuclear material that reinvigoraged Williston when the federal government built the Savannah River Nuclear Facility in the 1950s, temporarily swelling the town to 10,000 people. Williston today boasts more industrial jobs than people, a nine-hole golf course, two city parks, library, museum, and a town festival. 

Springfield
Once the steam locomotive brought people and business to the town of Springfield, chartered in 1887 and located in the western corner of Springfield County. Now Highways 3 and 4 connect this small town near the South Fork of the Edisto River to Columbia, Orangeburg, Aiken, and Augusta.

Residents share with visitors their historic downtown district and residential architecture; good barbeque and country cooking; flea market and livestock market; shops, art and pottery gallery; and churches, cemeteries, and battlefields. Springfield's rivers and streams, swamps, woods, and fields offer fishing, boating, and hunting.

The town hosts the Governor's Frog Jump and International Egg Striking Contest every year the Saturday before Easter, a fourth of July Trailwalk and Fireworks Show, an October Trailgate Picnic, and in December both the Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting and the Springfield Defends Fruitcake Event.

Year 'round, indoors or out, Springfield welcomes you!

For more information, call 803-258-3764.