A Traveler's Experience

Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway (SC)

My wife and I like to take driving trips off the Interstate. I received a Christmas gift book on driving trips throughout the US and the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Byway fit into another trip we were planning.

We started in Gaffney and followed the entire route in one day. We stopped briefly at Cowpens National Battlefield Park but we were really looking for two bridges.

The first was the Campbell Covered Bridge which is just off the byway. It's easy to find and located in an area being developed around the bridge and the ruins of a home and mill. It's a beautiful spot with lots of potential. As we left there was a sign directing us to the second bridge we were looking for but I went back to the byway and went the way I previously planned. We also stopped at a peach stand and took away some wonderful peach products.

We shortly found the Poinsett Bridge which is further off the byway but worth the trip. It's in a beautiful shaded woodland but watch the small parking lot. It's filled with furrows and can bounce your car a lot. The stone bridge is a wonderful spot with a lively brook flowing through it. As we were leaving some boys from the nearby scout camp came by for "slippy sliding time." There is a smooth rock slide downstream of the bridge and they had a great time sliding and splashing.

There are other things to do along the route but it's a very nice drive and really doesn't take you much out of the way from Charlotte to Atlanta so get off I-85 and explore.