Ninety Six

I list all the national parks and monument in this blog and mark the ones we’ve visited. I’ve heard of people who have seen all 436 of them, but it would be difficult and take a long time. For us, we’re keeping them in mind but don’t necessarily drive much out of our way if the park is fairly small. We’re now at 116 parks.

I’ve never heard of and didn’t have a clue what the Ninety Six National Historic Site was, but it was just a few miles from the campground. Turns out it was a siege and battle site from the Revolutionary War. The Ninety Six comes from the town name where the battle was fought. No one really knows there the name came from but it might be because the town was 96 miles from a big Cherokee village. However, it is actually only 78 miles to that village, so who knows. The town was at the crossroads of several early roads such as the one pictured here (Island Ford Road). This was like the Natchez Trace since the road had worn down over years of travelers walking the trail.

The park was an excellent visit. There is a short one mile hike where you see where the siege occurred along with the earth works built by the Patriots who were trying to overtake the Loyalist-built Star Fort. It was interesting hearing how this was a battle between American Patriots and American Loyalists. Basically, it was a battle between the Northern Patriots looking for independence and Southern Loyalists who believed that England should continue to lead us.

By the way, we had a thunderstorm and hail hit us last night. Made a very exciting time in the RV but it looks like no damage.