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Congaree National Park
South Carolina’s old-growth bottomland forest of champion trees
Some of the tallest trees in eastern North America grow in a floodplain just 18 miles (29 km) from South Carolina's capital. Congaree National Park preserves the largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the Southeast, where loblolly pines, cherrybark oaks, sweetgums and bald cypresses form one of the highest temperate deciduous canopies in the world. The park holds record-sized champion trees for many species. The Congaree River floods the forest several times a year, delivering the nutrients that let these giants grow.
Loggers cut most southern floodplain forests by the early 20th century, but the Congaree tract survived largely because it was so hard to reach. A grassroots campaign that began in 1969 led Congress to create Congaree Swamp National Monument in 1976. On November 10, 2003, it was redesignated a national park, dropping the word swamp, since the land is mostly bottomland that floods rather than standing water. Visitors walk a 2.6-mile (4.2 km) boardwalk loop or paddle Cedar Creek, and each late spring synchronous fireflies flash in unison along the trails.