The State of South Carolina has a group of protected areas managed by the South Carolina State Park Service (often abbreviated to SCPRT or Park Service). Formed in 1933 in conjunction with the formalization of the federal Civilian Conservation Corps program, the State Park Service is administered by the state's Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism (SCPRT). There are a total of 50 facilities that the State Park Service administers, protecting more than 90,000 acres of sensitive, attractive, and/or historically significant lands in South Carolina. Park Service History 1967-Present The facilities fall under four classifications:
40 state parks 8 state historic sites 1 state resort park 1 state recreational area
Cheraw State Park was the first park to be proposed within the system in 1934, with Myrtle Beach State Park becoming the first park to open in 1936. Park Service History 1933-1942 Within six years, the State of South Carolina and the CCC opened 16 state parks. South Carolina Facts Originally under the jurisdiction of the South Carolina Forestry Commission, the Park Service has been a unit within the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism since its formation in 1967. Hunting Island State Park in Beaufort County is the most popular state park in South Carolina and among the most popular in the United States, attracting 1.2 million visitors per year.
Following the Nukegate scandal, Dominion Energy settled with the South Carolina tax agency on $165 million in unpaid taxes owed due to an unfinished nuclear project in Fairfield County. As part of that settlement, the state agency and Dominion Energy agreed that Dominion would offset approximately a third of the unpaid taxes by turning over more than 2,900 acres of land which will ultimately become several new state parks in the coming years. The first state park opened from the settlement is Pine Island on Lake Murray.
Park name County or countiesSize Year acquired Year opened acres haAiken State ParkAiken19341936Andrew Jackson State ParkLancaster19531957Baker Creek State ParkMcCormick19671968Barnwell State ParkBarnwell19371939Black River State ParkGeorgetown, Williamsburg20212026Caesars Head State ParkGreenville19761986Calhoun Falls State ParkAbbeville1982Charles Towne Landing State Historic SiteCharleston19701970Cheraw State ParkChesterfield19341939Chester State ParkChester19351936Colleton State ParkColleton19381940Colonial Dorchester State Historic SiteDorchester19601960Croft State ParkSpartanburg1949Devils Fork State ParkOconee19911991Dreher Island State ParkNewberry19701970Edisto Beach State ParkColleton19351937Givhans Ferry State ParkColleton, Dorchester19341937Goodale State ParkKershaw19731973H. Cooper Black Jr. Memorial Field Trial and Recreation AreaChesterfield19942006Hamilton Branch State ParkMcCormick19721972Hampton Plantation State Historic SiteCharleston1972Hickory Knob State Resort ParkMcCormick19691973Hunting Island State ParkBeaufort19381941Huntington Beach State ParkGeorgetown19601962Jones Gap State ParkGreenville19761985Keowee-Toxaway State ParkPickens19701975Kings Mountain State ParkCherokee, York19341936Lake Greenwood State ParkGreenwood19381940Lake Hartwell State ParkOconee19761985Lake Warren State ParkHampton19801990Lake Wateree State ParkFairfield19821985Landsford Canal State ParkChester, Lancaster19701973Lee State ParkLee19351941Little Pee Dee State ParkDillon19511955May Forest State ParkCharleston20212023Musgrove Mill State Historic SiteLaurens, Spartanburg, Union19752003Myrtle Beach State ParkHorry19351936Oconee State ParkOconee19351937Oconee Station State Historic SiteOconee19761994Paris Mountain State ParkGreenville19351937Pine Island State ParkLexington20212025Poinsett State ParkSumter19341936Redcliffe Plantation State Historic SiteAiken19731975Rivers Bridge State Historic SiteBamberg19451945Rose Hill Plantation State Historic SiteUnion19601961Sadlers Creek State ParkAnderson19661968Santee State ParkOrangeburg19421949Sesquicentennial State ParkRichland19371940Table Rock State ParkPickens19351940Woods Bay State ParkClarendon, Florence, Sumter19731973
References
External links Official website Official S.C. Parks Guide (2013)