WONDER 1 - CHATTOOGA RIVER
One of the most spectacular and beautiful rivers is the Chattooga River, South Carolina's first wonder.
Famed as the location of the movie Deliverance, the spirited Chattooga River stands as the crown jewel of southeastern rafting. The Chattooga was the first river east of the Mississippi to be granted the Wild & Scenic designation, and is still the only one that is commercially rafted, offering the best and most challenging whitewater in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountain regions.
WONDER 2 - Sassafras Mountain
Sassafras Mountain, the Roof of the Palmetto State, is the highpoint of South Carolina at 3,553 feet above sea level. Straddling the border of the Carolinas, from the summit of Sassafras Mountain, one is surrounded by up to 50 miles of breathtaking vistas.
The geology of Sassafras Mountain reflects millions of years of plate tectonics. It lies within the inner Piedmont belt and is thought to be part of a continental fragment that attached or even reattached North America during the Middle Ordovician at a time of continental collision and mountain building called the Taconic Orogeny (mountain-building episode). These geologic processes caused active stream down-cutting and the resultant modern scenic gorges and waterfalls that surround Sassafras Mountain.
WONDER 3 - Jocassee Gorges
The Jocassee Gorges, South Carolina's 3rd Wonder, were named by National Geographic as one of “50 of the Last Great Places on earth.” In the uppermost reaches of South Carolina, the clear waters of Lake Jocassee splash against the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment that represent the sharp transition between the South Carolina Mountains and the Piedmont. Forested slopes drop in elevation by 2,000 vertical feet in a matter of one to two miles. Named after a Cherokee legend, "Jocassee" means "Place of the Lost One."
Wonder 4 - Congaree National Park
This vast wilderness area is known as the Congaree National Park, and is nature's solution to flooding. At the confluence of the Congaree and the Wateree Rivers, lies a floodplain that collects water from an area larger than the state of Maryland.
Congaree National Park contains the largest remaining area of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the southeastern United States, and home to six national- and 23 state-champion trees.
Wonder 5 - Edisto River
The Edisto River’s name originates from the Native American term that means “black” and refers to the dark color of the river created from decaying leaves and other plant material.
The Edisto is considered the longest free-flowing blackwater river in the United States and one of the longest worldwide. The Edisto supports several rare, nationally threatened, and endangered species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, southern bald eagle, wood stork, loggerhead turtle, and short-nosed sturgeon.
Wonder 6 - ACE Basin
The ACE Basin is named after the three rivers that combine into the St. Helena Sound: The Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Rivers. The Ace Basin is one of the largest undeveloped estuaries along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Located primarily between Charleston and Beaufort, this 350,000 acre area is not only a Safe Haven for wildlife, it is one of the most important barriers against storm surges, erosion and flooding for the mainland. National Geographic called this area “one of the last great places” on earth.
Wonder 7 - Bull Island
Bull Island is arguably one of South Carolina's most beautiful and remote places. The largest of four barrier islands found within the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Bull Island is a 5,000-acre maritime forest with fresh and brackish water impoundments and a beach area, which houses the picturesque Boneyard Beach. While the sight of Boneyard Beach on Bull Island is breathtakingly beautiful, one cannot ignore the sobering reality of how this landscape was created. These dead trees used to be part of the Bull Island maritime forest, however, due to the rise of ocean water levels and the resulting erosion, these trees found themselves in a new environment, choked by salt water, ill-equipped to survive. However, the six-and-a-half-mile uninhabited island remains virtually untouched and is home to countless wildlife and endangered species and has a world-renowned reputation for its bird life.
