Musgrove Mill State Park

Originally my plan had been to head to Chimney Rock State Park but looking at the weather maps for the day it seemed that the whole area would have complete cloud cover and rain with thunderstorms. My second choice was Table Rock but that had the same weather issue. An important part of the plan was to photograph autumn foliage though this year thus far has been fairly abysmal. It’s now November and though some leaves have turned yellow, others are still green with a few that are red. They say that “global warming” is behind this. I have my doubts about that link.

So, on the morning I had planned to visit Chimney Rock, I set about looking on the State Parks map to see where I fancied going. Largely I was looking at photographs on the parks websites of anything that looked interesting to see. There are plenty parks to walk and to cycle but precious few with any outstanding natural features. Eventually I decided on Musgrove Mill as it was pretty close at about 80 miles away. Most of that was along I20 which is a pretty quiet two lane interstate. Along the sides of the interstate, the colors of the leaves were vivid with yellows, a few reds and a lot still green.

The actually park itself was split into two main trails. Or rather the Park Ranger at the visitor’s center handed me two trail maps both of which were for trails of about one mile in length. The first trail took me around the site of the old mill of which nothing remains bar a few stones from the foundations that weren’t interesting enough to merit a photograph. Now there is a tale surrounding the Mill and that’s based around a Revolutionary War skirmish.

In the tale related, the British side consisting of a motley crew of irregular soldiers under the union flag were encamped by the mill on one side of the Enoree river. At the same time they were there, a force of Revolutionaries headed toward the river from the other side. Hearing that the British side was encamped at the mill, they set up on a hilltop and sent a small raiding party into the British position. The raiding party was pursued by the British side in what can only be described as amateurish poor judgement. Seeing the Revolutionaries on the hilltop they followed their training and went into three lines of musketeers (one firing, one clearing and one loading). Now while that was the format of war in the “civilized” world, that didn’t work well in guerilla warfare. Let’s face it - most of the Revolutionary war was fought on gureilla lines. Needless to say, in another stunning piece of bad judgement the British side fired too soon and their shot fell short. The Revolutionaries waited and fired when the British side was well within range. The result was an overwhelming win for the Revolutionaries who retreated to join another skirmish just as the British were fighting their retreat. Both sides claimed victory yet that’s debateable as neither side actually held the ground. The final tally was 5 dead on the Revolutionary side, 79 dead on the British side and 67 of the British side captured.

The first trail took me through some woodland where I noted the trail had been well marked with red rectangles painted to trees along the route at 20 foot intervals. It was quite a pleasant walk during which I noted that the fences were constructed in a zig-zag fashion. I’ve not seen fences quite like this before but it makes sense as there’s really no need for nails. The whole thing just balances together.

Continuing my walk, I walked along the banks of the Enoree river. There was no sign - clearly - of the fighting that had gone on around the mill. In fact after 300 years I was rather surprised anybody even remembered such a small scale skirmish.

The views along the river were rather pleasant. In fact this reminds me very much of a painting my late mother had with its autumnal colors. As you can see though - all I’m getting is a golden color, not red. It is rather a lackluster autumn.

By the end of the first trail, I’d figured out that the trails were wrapped around in order to make me walk the most miles while achieving the least distance. The first trail with stops probably took about an hour. I’d come across interesting things along the route that others would have missed.

That, I gather is not the Jolly Green Giant’s brain. It is in fact something called a Hedge Apple from a shrub that has branches from which bows can be made. Apparently they have the right physical characteristics to make really strong, springy bows. According to what I’ve read since, there are various uses for the plant including using the root to ease menstral pain. There is no indication that the fruit has any use for anything other than growing a new shrub.

Mosses abounded. I’m not sure what this is but it looks a bit like the sphagnum moss that many people used to use as bushes on their model railway layouts when I was small. Heaven knows whether model railways are still a thing today. I’m pretty sure all children want these days are Pokemon cards, video games and electronic toys.

Just like the mosses, fungi abounded too. All this one needs is a small frog sitting on top. I have no doubt due to the red coloration that ingestion of this particular mushroom would have deadly consequences. Oddly enough, most of the things dangerous to humans in nature have a red color though confusingly some are red but are edible such as apples and cherries.

As I completed my walk on the first trail I saw this. I have no idea what it is other than either a tree has been ripped out of the hole and those are root holes or whether it’s the home of some creature or other. The holes were big enough that they could have been homes for rats, snakes or some other creature equally hazardous to human life.

Now the second part of the park or rather the second trail was accessed by driving to a different car park. The sign that announced it was a 1.3 mile trail was a little disconcerting due to the heat. It was pretty warm even though it was a cooler day than a few weeks ago. I’d been forced to shed my jacket and was feeling pretty warm in just a polo shirt and jeans. If I had to do this walk in the heat of summer then no matter what people said, I’d probably wear as little as humanly possible!

This walk turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I’d already tired myself so I wasn’t as observant as could be. Having said that I plodded along. Quite soon after I’d started the walk, I came across the main reason for the walk. That was the waterfall. In fact though I was expecting a real cascading waterfall this wasn’t too bad. It was quite picturesque. I’m glad a took a photo of it before other walkers did. On my return journey there were several people at the falls.

In fact, the fellow standing on the falls was one of several photographers there. Without him there, it’d be very difficult to judge the size of the falls. In a way it’d have been nice to have a photo without somebody standing there but on the other hand it does make it look more than a tiny stream going over a fist sized pebble. I have no idea who he is but he was very pleasant to speak with.

All along the trail there were signposts with little historical snippets on them. I suspect they were areas where people could rest for a few minutes while reading the text. There were quite a few benches along the trail - some of which I used. The hilarious thing about the signs though is that the Provincial soldiers (red coat) are always shown with their rifles upside down as though they didn’t know how to use them. Perhaps even after 300 years there’s some ill feeling that exists?

The last trail took in the position from which the Revolutionaries fired upon the British side. Unsurprisingly there is no marker where the bodies of the Revolutionaries or the British dead are buried. After 300 years in the soil, it’s unlikely that even the bones still remain. The best chance of finding them is by looking for musket balls with a metal detector. The chances are too that the dead of both sides were buried in two separate mass graves - if indeed they were buried at all.

Finally, I made it back to the car and headed home. Along the road I found a sign on the Newberry exit that announced there was a McDonalds. Felling just a little peckish I followed that sign and drove for a couple of miles in the direction indicated without finding anything other than trees. Clearly somebody must have been having a laugh with that sign. I rejoined the interstate and eventually got off at the Chaplin exit as I knew there was a McDonalds there.

McDonalds usually has wifi and this was no exception. It was the slowest darned WiFi I have even encountered though. My phone can upload data faster than that McDonalds WiFi! The egg McMuffin and the coffee were welcome though and took me off the interstate while torrential rain poured down. Eventually, the rain having eased, I continued on my journey, pausing to buy a birthday cake for somebody along the way. There, I saw a rainbow and that’s where my cellphone came in handy. I’m sure you can see which photos were taken with a camera and which with a cellphone?

I’m sure you’ll agree, a rainbow over a Walmart is just about the tackiest place ever to see a rainbow. Having said that, Lexington SC is nothing but tacky. This next photo is what I love to call Lexington’s red light district.

I get the same view every time I go through Lexington - nothing but red lights as far as the eye can see. It’s amazing when the only thing or the biggest thing and the only thing that gives the town a reason to exist is the jail!