![]() ![]() Visitors can take in the show from an observation deck built along the park’s nature trail or kayak to the colony and explore the archipelago of flowers from the inside. Each flowering stalk can produce five to eight flowers, allowing the colony to stay in peak bloom for 40 to 45 days. This section of the Catawba River flows over a craggy dome of granite-perfect habitat for lily bulbs, which anchor firmly in the crevices and sprout three to five flowering stalks. Park visitors can thank a rare combination of natural factors for the chance to witness the river in bloom, he says. It’s 20 acres of 4-foot-tall plants all covered in white,” says Al James, manager of Landsford Canal State Park. “The peak bloom-mid-May to mid-June-is what everybody wants to see. This rare, flowering stalk grows only in the rivers of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina, and the 20-acre patch found on the Catawba River within Landsford Canal State Park is both the biggest and the most accessible, drawing thousands of spectators each season to witness a giant, natural bouquet. If you missed the show this year, mark your 2018 calendar now to see a natural wonder found only in South Carolina-the world’s largest colony of Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies in full bloom. Peak blooming season for Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies at Landsford Canal State Park in Catawba runs from mid-May to mid-June. ROCKY SHOALS SPIDER LILIES, LANDSFORD CANAL STATE PARK For more information, call (843) 774‑2417 or visit. Just follow the billboards by day and the neon glow by night. South of the Border is located near Hamer at the intersection of I-95 and Highway 301. There is just nothing else out there like South of the Border.” - Tim Hanson Schafer, president and co‑owner of the iconic roadside attraction. At the center of it all stands Big Pedro, a 97-foot-high neon sign that prompts nearly all travelers to stop and snap a photo or two.Įven after 70 years of ups and downs (including $1 million in damages from Hurricane Matthew in 2016), there is no sign that the popularity of South of the Border is on the decline, says Ryan H. Visitors also have the option to eat at multiple restaurants, enjoy amusement rides, shop at a massive fireworks store, spend the night at the motel or campgrounds, and visit a live reptile exhibit. ![]() What they discover are curiously enticing gift shops filled with a remarkable variety of kitsch-and South Carolina’s only native soft drink, Blenheim Ginger Ale. Love it or hate it, South of the Border-the Palmetto State’s largest roadside attraction-is still going strong.Įach year, thousands of weary travelers motoring along I-95 spot the 300-foot-tall observation tower shaped like a Mexican sombrero and are lured into stopping to see what the place is all about. ![]() For more information, visit .īig Pedro welcomes I-95 motorists to South of the Border near Hamer. Admission is free, but reservations are required for special-event photo sessions. The park, which has picnic tables and a gift shop, is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. Diane Veto ParhamĪngel Oak is located at 3688 Angel Oak Road, Johns Island, on a dirt-and-gravel road that runs behind St. “Just respect the rules, so the tree can survive another 300 or 400 years,” Taylor says. Plenty of signs and park staff are there to remind you, including its chief guardian, park manager Barbara Taylor, who has watched over the tree for 12 years. Rules are strict here-no sitting, climbing or standing on the tree no picnic blankets or tripods close enough to endanger the root system. Feathery ferns grow across thickly ribbed bark on these limbs, many of which are hollow inside.Īs soon as the gates open each day, tourists flock to the tree for photo ops. Giant, gnarled limbs-the largest is 89 feet long-branch in all directions, some dipping all the way down to the sandy soil below, some propped on wooden posts for added support. Its shade covers about 17,000 square feet. And if you’re looking for shade, you’ll find plenty. ![]() Inside the chain-link fence around Angel Oak Park, it stands 65 feet tall, with a circumference of more than 25 feet-you need at least 10 people with outstretched arms, holding hands, to circle the trunk. As a popular public landmark, it continues to thrive under the cautious protection of the City of Charleston, whose parks department took over its care and management in 1991. This 400-year-old live oak tree on Johns Island is thought to have survived so well because it lived on private property for many of its years. It’s named for the Angel family who once owned it-not, as some guess, for the strong, graceful limbs that drape protectively around it. ![]()
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