2 weeks Ago
As The Meadows at Black River State Park nears its soft opening in early 2025, the public was encouraged to attend a presentation on Monday, November 4 to learn more about this northern point of the new Black River park system in South Carolina. S.C.
Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism and the Open Space Institute presented updates on the Black River Parks Initiative at the event. “We are in the buildout process of the Black River Water Trail and Parks network, and The Meadows is the biggest buildout we have going right now,” says Park Manager John Moon. The Black River State Park is made up of about eight tracks along the river and stretches all the way to Georgetown County.
The total acreage of the project is around 7,500 acres presently and will eventually consist of 12 parks along 70 miles of river from Black River Landing in Williamsburg County to Rock Trail Point in the Chopee area of Georgetown. The Meadows at Black River State Park is located nine miles from Kingstree, just two miles south of Coopers Country Store in Salters on Hwy. 521.
The Meadows will provide a fun and accessible place to relax, explore, and spend time outdoors with friends and family with a boat ramp style kayak launch, small shelter, bathhouse/bathroom and a parking area for people to park, picnic area, short little nature trail, and eventually cabins and camp sites. Moon describes the site as a traditional state park that you generally see in the park service. The Black River State Park is the first state park to be built in South Carolina in 20 years.
The State Park will not only be a site for recreation for residents and visitors, it will celebrate and preserve the history of the Black River. The Black River’s historical roots are deep, from the indigenous people who lived along its banks and used it for foraging, hunting, travel and commerce, to the enslaved Africans who farmed the large-scale rice farms that depended on the river. The river was witness to the Revolutionary and Civil War, both including significant activity along its banks.
The state park also insures the wilderness, the animals, and endangered species like the red-cockaded flatwoods salamanders that are native to the area are protected. The park includes new scenic and recreational opportunities for local residents and visitors including gathering spaces, camp sites, walking trails, kayak entry points, and more along the banks of the Black River. The park will be a 100-mile-or-less day trip for 40% of SC residents.
Similar initiatives in Southwest Virginia and Knoxville have resulted in a significant rise in tourism resulting in tens of millions of dollars to the local economy. Most of the benefits of tourism in South Carolina historically has benefited coastal resort towns. This new trail of State Parks in the Black River State Park network could be an economic gamechanger for small, rural, inland communities along the historic Black River.
Unlike traditional State Parks, there is no land trail connecting the State Parks in this network, instead, the river is the trail that connects each individual park on the Black River. Each park will have its own trails, but they are not connected with trails in other parks. “The main attraction that ties them together is the Black River,” says Moon.
Black River Initiative is a project of the SC State Parks, Open Space Institute, The Nature Conservancy and Winyah Rivers Alliance. The project started coming together in 2018, and was the brain child of Open Space Institute, S.C.
State Park Service, and stakeholders including The Nature Conservancy and S.C. Conservation Land Bank.
The presentation on November 4 was held at the Williamsburg County Council Chambers, 201 Main St., Kingstree from 4 p.m.
to 6 p.m. Staff from the SC Parks Recreation and Tourism and the Open Space Institute presented maps and renderings, focusing especially on “The Meadows” at Black River State Park and presented information on the Narrows track of the project located in Andrews, as well as the Oxbow Bend, a more traditional park with camping cabins and picnic areas, and Indigo Crossing track, a more primitive style camping and water access point.
The partnering organizations are still in the procurement, planning and permitting process for much of the state park, but aims to keep the public abreast of changes and progress along the way. Black River State Park is not expected to be completely finished until 2030. Contact jmoon@scprt.
com or more information or questions about the parks..
