Barnwell State Park, Blackville, South Carolina

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”

Aristotle

We were driving near Barnwell and spotted this state park and decided to give it a go and see what it was like. This is one of the smaller state parks and has a quaint feel as we drove in. There are 307 acres in this park in the coastal plain area in South Carolina. When we pulled up to the box to pay we found out this park is run by a donation system to help maintain the park and by the honor system.

We parked near the playground. The lake is a nice size and we are told the fishing is good here. It is stocked with crappie, bream, bass, and catfish and looking across the lake there is a small fishing pier. There are two other smaller lakes in the park. We saw a beach area and read it is open for swimming from Memorial Day to Labor Day with no life guard. On the beach we saw small boats and kayaks that you can rent. The visitors center is right in front of the beach. There was a sign up with pictures of how this park was years ago. It looks like this was the place to go then. Today we were the only people walking around and it was a pretty peaceful and quiet area.

We walked down the path near the tiered spillway. It looks so picturesque and standing there watching and listening to the falling water brought a feeling of peace and tranquility. The Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) built the spillway, old pumphouse, and two picnic shelters. The CCC built sixteen state parks and Barnwell State Park was fortunate to be chosen as one of them. This land was purchased from the landowners to make this lovely state park back in 1937.

There are twenty-five camp sites and the camping fees are only fourteen to sixteen dollars a night. If you are not comfortable with camping, you can rent one of the two bedroom cabins for sixty to eighty-six dollars a night that sleep up to four people. The cabins are fully furnished.

If you don’t want to spend the night, you can just come and have a picnic in one of the four picnic shelters. There are many plenty of walking trails to enjoy where you can see lots of wildlife including white tailed deer, wild turkeys, and alligators.

Barnwell State Park is a peaceful clean park that is off the beaten path and worth a visit. It is open till dark and the office is open from eleven to four. Check them out.