Santee State Park

Lake Marion did not exist a century ago. It was created in the late 1930s and early 1940s when the Santee Cooper hydroelectric and navigation project dammed the Santee River, flooding tens of thousands of acres of Lowcountry swamp and farmland to generate power and bring electricity to a rural region. The result was a pair of enormous lakes, Marion and Moultrie, that transformed the landscape of the central part of the state.

When the waters rose, they drowned forests of cypress and hardwood, and much of that timber still stands beneath the surface or breaks the water as gray snags. Those flooded trees and the rich, shallow flats they create are a big part of why the fishing here is so good. The lake was named for Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War partisan known as the Swamp Fox, who fought British forces through these very swamps.

The state park opened along the shore to give the public a foothold on this new inland sea. Its most famous structures, the cabins on pilings reaching out over the water, were built to put visitors as close to the lake as possible, and they remain a beloved and much-requested place to stay.

Lake Marion is one of the premier fishing lakes in the Southeast. It is legendary for catfish, including the big blues and flatheads that grow to trophy size in its rich waters, and it also gives up striped bass, largemouth bass, crappie, and bream in good numbers. Anglers come from across the region to fish the flooded timber, the shallow flats, and the old river channels beneath the surface.

The park offers boat landings, fishing piers, and easy shore access, and guided fishing is a local tradition. For those who prefer a slower cruise, park-run boat tours head out to a limestone cave along the shore and into the eerie, beautiful maze of Sparkleberry Swamp, a flooded cypress wilderness that is one of the wildest corners of the lake.

On land, Santee State Park offers a network of walking and biking trails that loop through the pine forest and along the lakeshore, gentle enough for a family outing yet long enough to work up a sweat. The paths pass through classic Sandhills and coastal-plain woods of loblolly pine and hardwood, with glimpses of the water through the trees.

Overnight, the choices range from the famous over-water cabins on their pilings to lakeside cabins on the shore and campgrounds shaded by pines. Staying here means falling asleep to the sounds of the lake and waking to mist rising off the water, a genuine escape into the quiet interior of the state.

The lake and its flooded forest draw a wealth of wildlife. Ospreys and bald eagles nest around the shore and dive for fish, herons and egrets stalk the shallows, and wood ducks and other waterfowl gather in the coves. Alligators live in the warmer sloughs, deer and turkey move through the pinewoods, and the swamp margins hum with frogs and insects in the warm months.

Spring and fall are the most pleasant seasons, with mild air and active fishing. Summer is hot and busy, prime time for swimming, boating, and family stays in the cabins. Winter empties the park out and brings the best striped-bass fishing and the greatest concentrations of wintering waterfowl and eagles, a fine quiet time for anyone who does not mind the chill.

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