The essential guide to South Carolina's Congaree National Park

A cypress forest in Congaree National Park, South Carolina. Photo / 123RF

This swampy, forested park is crisscrossed with boardwalks, allowing visitors to see the area's native species up close

As the USA's National Park Service celebrates its centenary, we're profiling the wilderness areas it manages.

Today: South Carolina's sole national park . . .

Congaree National Park

"The largest old-growth bottomland forest in the country, the only one that remains intact, reminding us of what was once a common feature of the southern landscape."
- From the South Carolina Educational Television documentary 'Roots in the River: The Story of Congaree National Park' (2008)

There is a bald-cypress tree with a name in this old-growth bottomland forest. It's called Harry Hampton, named after the man who began lobbying to protect this land in 1954. His effort gained momentum when college students, enthused by the first Earth Day in 1970, joined in. Today, the park visitor centre also bears the name of Hampton, who died in 1980.

Visitors to the park, which is near Charleston and Columbia and named for Native Americans who lived in central South Carolina, may walk, paddle, camp and fish here. The interior is accessible via boardwalks, which provide views of Spanish moss, bald cypress and a forest of water tupelos.

Canoeing or kayaking Cedar Creek (bring your own boat or take a guided tour with park vessels) takes visitors past some of the tallest trees in eastern North America. Also part of the scene are river otters, deer, turtles, wading birds and the occasional alligator. Several species of woodpeckers can be found in the park, including the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

Size: 26,276 acres

Founded: National monument, 1976; national park, 2003

Attendance: 87,513