Lake Greenwood State Park

In the depths of the Great Depression, the federal Civilian Conservation Corps sent young men across the country to build roads, plant forests, and create parks, giving them work, wages, and food in the hardest of times. In South Carolina, the CCC built a whole system of state parks, and Lake Greenwood was among the earliest, opened to the public in the late 1930s.

The corps built the park's original bathhouse, shelters, and other structures from native stone and heavy timber in the rustic style that became the signature of the era, meant to sit gently in the landscape. Much of that work survives, weathered and solid, and the park's Drummond Center interpretive building tells the story of the CCC and the men who did the work, some of whose descendants still live in the region.

Lake Greenwood was formed in the 1930s when the Saluda and Reedy Rivers were dammed to generate power and store water, creating a long, branching reservoir that quickly became a center of recreation for the region. From the park's shore the water spreads wide, dotted with fishing boats and, on warm weekends, the occasional sailboat.

The lake is well known for its fishing, with largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, and bream drawing anglers from across the Piedmont. The park offers boat access, a fishing pier, and quiet coves for paddling, and the calm mornings on the water, with mist lifting off the surface, are among the finest hours the park has to offer.

Away from the water, the park's trails wind through a Piedmont woodland of loblolly pine, oak, and sweetgum, following the shoreline and looping back through the trees. The walking is gentle, well suited to families and to birders who come for the mix of forest and lake-edge species.

White-tailed deer, gray squirrels, and rabbits are common, and the lake and its shallow coves draw herons, egrets, kingfishers, and wintering waterfowl. Ospreys and bald eagles hunt over the open water, and turtles line up on half-sunk logs in the warm months. It is unassuming wildlife watching, the kind that rewards a slow and quiet walk.

Spring is mild and green, with dogwoods blooming in the understory, fish moving into the shallows, and songbirds returning to the woods, a fine time for both fishing and walking.

Summer is the busy season on the water, warm and inviting for boating, paddling, and camping, with afternoon thunderstorms a regular feature to keep an eye on. Fall brings crisp air, turning hardwoods reflected in the lake, and thinner crowds, and winter is quiet and clear, the bare trees opening up lake views and eagles and ducks working the open water.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.