Union County brings together themes from plantation and civil rights history with historic architecture, river experiences and other activities. For your trip planning, it helps to set a clear priority: culture and architectural history, an event date, or time on rivers and lakes will lead to different itineraries. If an event is the deciding factor, check the dates before your trip.
History Across Different Periods
Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site tells the story of the cotton boom and its collapse, secession and the Civil War. The themes also include slavery and sharecropping, emancipation and the struggle for civil rights, as well as Reconstruction and its violent end. Economic development, political upheaval and civil rights history are presented side by side.
The Cross Keys Living History event takes place annually on the last weekend in April; check the dates before your trip. The Union County Agricultural Fair offers a different timeframe: it is a week-long fair and a tradition more than 100 years old. You should also check the current dates in advance for this visit. Cross Keys House was built by Barrum (Barham) Bobo between 1812 and 1814.
Architecture, Collections and Industrial History
In Downtown Union, the Union County Arts Council is based in a historic building constructed in 1872. Union Carnegie Library was the first Carnegie library built in South Carolina. The Original Union County Jail House is a two-story structure made of granite ashlar in the Palladian style, built in 1823 and attributed to Robert Mills. Its construction date, materials and architectural style offer specific points of comparison, although the buildings do not represent the same function or period.
The Union County Museum houses local pottery, Civil War flags, photographs, paintings and rare books. Other sites offer insights into industrial history: Union Cotton Mills was completed in 1894 and was the first textile mill in the county. The Buffalo Mill Historic District includes historic resources associated with South Carolina’s textile industry from the early to mid-20th century. The individual mill and the larger historic district thus represent different scales of industrial history. Downtown Union has been around for more than 225 years; Union Depot was built as a passenger train station around the turn of the 20th century.
Rivers, Lakes and Other Activities
Nearly 62,000 acres of Union County are set aside as part of Sumter National Forest. On the water, the experiences described vary by river and route length: the Tyger River Float Trip is a designated 24-mile route on the Tyger River in Union County. On the Enoree River, a 30-mile route offers a boating trip. The Broad River, in turn, offers opportunities for canoeing in Union County. You can fish for bream, bass and catfish at the county’s five lakes.
There are different themes away from the rivers, too. The Big Buck Course features narrow forest passages, fields, stream crossings, rocks and steep climbs. Big Buck Farm in Union County hosts an off-road motorcycle and ATV racing series. Union County Dragway has two concessions stands serving food and drinks, as well as a COMPULINK timing system. The options described thus range from nature and water activities to motorsports, without needing to combine them into a single itinerary.
Discover more destinations: Union, Florence, Horry, Marlboro County, York, Bamberg County, Anderson, Beaufort.
For the main travel overview: South Carolina.
