# Congaree National Park — a flooding forest of champion trees in South Carolina

Canonical: https://sockmonkey.com/places/congaree-national-park (this is a plain-text copy of that page)
Source: https://sockmonkey.com/places/congaree-national-park
Publisher: SockMonkey.com (https://sockmonkey.com)
Part of: The Field Guide - https://sockmonkey.com/places/
Cite as: SockMonkey.com - sockmonkey.com
Last reviewed: 13 November 2026

Part of The US National Parks

- **Where:** Midlands of South Carolina, south-east of Columbia
- **Coordinates:** 33.83° N, 80.82° W (Harry Hampton Visitor Center)
- **Size:** More than 26,000 acres;, almost 80% in the floodplain
- **Tallest tree:** National champion loblolly pine, 170 ft tall, more than 15 ft round
- **Designations:** Wilderness, Important Bird Area, UNESCO biosphere region, Ramsar wetland
- **Floods:** About ten times a year
- **Protected:** National monument 1976, national park 2003
- **Advisory:** United States, (no State Department level)

## The short answer

Congaree National Park covers more than 26,000 acres of bottomland and upland forest in the Midlands of South Carolina, about 30 minutes from Columbia Metropolitan Airport. Almost 80% of it lies in the floodplain of the Congaree River, where the floods spread fresh soil through forested wetlands, oxbow lakes, sloughs and slow creeks lined with bald cypress and tupelo. The 2.6-mile Boardwalk Trail starts at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, and a marked canoe trail follows Cedar Creek.

## Why it's worth knowing

Knees in the water. In the lowest ground the bald cypresses and tupelos stand in the water, and around the cypresses rise their own knobbly “knees”, crowding the old sloughs like a field of wooden stumps. Cedar Creek’s marked canoe trail winds about 15 miles through this wilderness, from Bannister’s Bridge to the Congaree River, past some of the tallest trees in eastern North America, and paddlers watch for river otters, deer, turtles, wading birds and the occasional alligator.

Flood and flame. Two forces shape the park. Down on the floodplain, the river’s floods deposit fresh, nutrient-rich soil. Up on the bluffs along the northern edge, an upland pine forest depends on fire to clear out competing trees and keep open, grassy savannahs, home to the red-cockaded woodpecker, the indigo snake and the southern fox squirrel. Both forests were once everywhere: bottomland forests like this covered about 30 million acres of the South-east and longleaf pine savannahs about 90 million. Only scattered remnants survive.

Saved by a newspaperman. After the Civil War the Chicago lumberman Francis Beidler bought 15,000 acres of the floodplain for its giant cypresses. His family kept the land after the logging stopped and leased it to hunt clubs. A member of one, the newspaper editor Harry Hampton, spent years exploring the floodplain, decided it was the last of its kind and size, and argued for it in his columns. When logging threatened again in the late 1960s, a new generation took up the call, “Congaree Action Now”, and in 1976 Congress made it a national monument. The visitor center bears Hampton’s name, and the clearing where his hunt club stood is on the Sims Trail.

## The field notes

### A refuge in the woods

For enslaved people on the plantations around the floodplain, this jungle-like wilderness was a refuge. While a few made the long journey north, many instead ran to the woods to live free while staying near their families and supplies. Called maroons, they sometimes lived for years in the forest, facing both slave catchers and the river’s floods, and chose to decide their own future rather than have it decided for them.

### The people the river is named for

The park and the river are named for the Congaree people, who once lived in this region. Little is known about them: many are thought to have died in the 1600s and 1700s through warfare and diseases brought by European colonization, and the survivors were absorbed into neighbouring tribes. People have lived on and used this floodplain for at least 10,000 years. The Spanish who came through in the sixteenth century left behind something that is still here: the hogs they brought for food.

### The road to the coast

On the quieter east side of the park, the Bates Ferry Trail follows a road that dates back to when South Carolina was a British colony, and may be older still. It runs along a narrow strip of land inside a former bend of the river, now the oxbow lake called Bates Old River. Ferries carried goods across the river here on their way to the coast; the road played its part in the American Revolution, and in 1865 saw a skirmish as General Sherman’s army marched across South Carolina.

**A relic from Congaree National Park**

A cypress knee standing up out of a slough. Along the Weston Lake Trail, an old cypress-tupelo slough, a dried-up river bed, is crowded with these knobbly wooden points, sticking up out of the water around the bald cypress trees that grow in the lowest, wettest ground of the floodplain. The boardwalk passes the same cypress and tupelo trees on its way down from the bluff.

## Getting there

How to get there. From Interstate 77, exit 5, Highway 48 (Bluff Road) runs east for about 8 miles; a slight right onto Old Bluff Road leads 4.5 miles to the park entrance sign, and the Harry Hampton Visitor Center is a mile beyond. For GPS, the park gives the address 100 National Park Road, Hopkins, SC 29061, because some devices go astray on the park’s name. Charlotte is about two hours away up Interstate 77, and Augusta about an hour and 45 minutes. Columbia Metropolitan Airport is about 30 minutes from the park, and Charlotte and Charleston airports about two hours. The COMET bus, Route 47, stops outside the visitor center; ride-share services may not pick up from the park.

When to go. The river floods about ten times a year, and floods can close the backcountry trails and parts of the boardwalk; the elevated part of the boardwalk and the Bluff, Firefly and Longleaf trails stay above it. Mosquitoes are about from mid-spring until mid-autumn.

What to arrange ahead. The park does not rent canoes or kayaks; outfitters in Columbia do, and some hold permits to guide paddling trips in the park. Cell reception in the park is unreliable.

Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. Water levels on Cedar Creek and the river, and current flood alerts, are on the park’s conditions page.

## Common questions

#### Is Congaree National Park a swamp?

Mostly a floodplain, which is not quite the same thing. At Congaree National Park the bottomland forest is covered by floodwater from time to time, about ten times a year, while a true swamp has water flowing over it all year; parts of the floodplain are swampy, but not all of it.

#### How tall are the trees at Congaree?

Very tall: the canopy averages more than 100 feet. Congaree National Park holds the highest concentration of champion-sized trees in North America, and its tallest, a loblolly pine, measured 170 feet.

#### How often does Congaree flood?

About ten times a year. With almost 80% of Congaree National Park in the floodplain of the Congaree River, floods regularly close the backcountry trails and parts of the boardwalk.

#### Can you canoe at Congaree National Park?

Yes, on Cedar Creek. A marked canoe trail of about 15 miles winds through the Congaree wilderness from Bannister’s Bridge to the Congaree River; paddlers bring their own boats or rent them in Columbia.

#### Where is Congaree National Park?

In the Midlands of South Carolina, south-east of Columbia. Congaree National Park is about 30 minutes from Columbia Metropolitan Airport, reached from exit 5 of Interstate 77 by Bluff Road and Old Bluff Road.

#### Who was Harry Hampton?

The newspaperman who first fought for Congaree. Harry Hampton, a member of a hunt club on the land, wrote columns arguing that the old-growth forest of the Congaree floodplain should be saved; the park’s visitor center is named for him.

#### Why is it called Congaree?

For the Congaree people. Congaree National Park and the Congaree River take their name from the Congaree people who once lived in this part of South Carolina, about whom little is known.

What to pack: the Road trips kit

## Related places

Shenandoah National Parkalso in The US National Parks · about 560 km away
New River Gorge National Park and Preservealso in The US National Parks · about 470 km away
Everglades National Parkalso in The US National Parks · both tagged wildlife
Charlestonabout 140 km away · same region
Blue Ridge Parkwayabout 270 km away · same region

Notes on sources. Congaree National Park is in the United States, so no State Department advisory applies. The National Park Service’s pages for the park, read directly on 13 November 2026, supplied: the canopy height, the champion trees and the loblolly pine, the floodplain and swamp difference, the canoe rentals and the Boardwalk Trail (questions page, updated 19 July 2023); the largest intact old-growth bottomland forest in North America and the UNESCO biosphere region (Congaree Biosphere Region, updated 11 June 2025); the Congaree people, the 10,000 years, the Spanish and their hogs, Beidler’s 15,000 acres and the end of logging in 1917, Harry Hampton, “Congaree Action Now”, the 1976 monument, the 2003 park, the 26,000 acres, the designations and the maroons (history and culture, updated 7 January 2026); flood and flame, the upland pines, their animals and the 30 and 90 million acres (nature, updated 6 October 2024); the Bates Ferry Trail (places, updated 5 February 2025); the floods ten times a year, the 80%, the mosquitoes and the gauges (current conditions, updated 20 July 2026); the canoe trail and its wildlife (canoeing, updated 10 September 2025); the trails, the cypress knees on the Weston Lake Trail, the Sims Trail clearing and the trails above flood level (trail information, updated 30 October 2026); the boardwalk (boardwalk, updated 27 August 2025); the routes, address, airports and the COMET bus (directions, updated 13 February 2024); and cell reception (basic information, updated 28 May 2020). The coordinates are the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, from the park’s linked data. Checked 13 November 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 13 November 2026.