Day 50: From the Mountains to the Coast

Today was a longer travel day. We had hotel reservations in Myrtle Beach, SC for tonight, which is over 300 miles from our cottage in Black Mountain, and there is no really fast, direct route to get between the two.

We had just one stop planned for the day: Cowpens National Battlefield, a Revolutionary War Battlefield just across the South Carolina line. Until researching this site, I didn't realize that more Revolutionary War battles were fought in South Carolina (250) than in any other state. This one was significant, because it was an American victory over the British regular army and was a turning point in the war in the south. Fought on January 17, 1781, General Daniel Morgan led the Patriots to a decisive victory, which is memorialized here. As a colleague of mine said, these battlefield parks are very beautiful, peaceful places, quite different from what they are commemorating.

Our second major stop of the day was one of those welcome surprises that have become a favorite part of the trip. We saw a sign for Landsford Canal State Park, and since we were all hungry we decided to see if it might do for a late lunch stop. A drive of several miles down a scenic country lane brought us to the park entrance. Paying a $4 day use fee (on the honor system; there was no attendant, just envelopes and a drop box), we parked and walked around. It turned out to be a gold mine for a geographer. Located on the Fall Line (where rivers cross from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain), the Catawba River becomes very rocky and shallow here. The Fall Line marks the boundary  between the Piedmont (literally, "foot of the mountains," an area of rolling hills) and the Atlantic Coastal Plain, an area of very low relief (in other words, mostly flat). Where rivers cross this boundary, they are generally rocky and shallow, with rapids or even small waterfalls. Historically, this was significant, because boats could only navigate up rivers to the Fall Line. At that point, goods had to be offloaded. Many cities developed at these sites as distribution centers (such as Richmond, VA and Columbia, SC). Not so here. A canal was built to allow passage of boats around the shallows to deeper water upstream. Remains of the canal and locks can be seen here, so I hiked awhile and photographed the structures and the river. The park itself was almost eerily quiet, as tranquil a setting as we could hope for. We had a picnic lunch at one of the many tables and enjoyed the perfect fall weather (sunny and 70 degrees).

Prying ourselves away, we returned to the road. We still had many miles to go. Reluctantly (this geographer likes to do his own navigating), I turned on Google Maps and let it guide us to our destination. There were too many possible routes and turns, and too little time. We finally arrived after dark at our high rise resort hotel in Myrtle Beach -- a world of difference from our cottage in the mountains the night before! We drove 316 miles today. My trip total is now 7,049 miles.

Cowpens Battlefield.

In the Piedmont.

One of the many churches we passed here in South Carolina (most of them were Baptist).

Our hotel in Myrtle Beach. This is the right time to be here: great weather (it was 80 degrees and sunny today),  no crowds, and cheap prices.

Not quite the same as our cottage last night (although it did have a small hot tub!). This hotel has four hot tubs, a kids' water park, two small kiddie pools, two larger pools, and a lazy river.

The Atlantic Ocean at night (huge lights on the top of the 16th floor of the hotel illuminate the beach).

The view from our room. Field work can be challenging, but I'm up to the task.