It amazes me that I spent the first 24 years of my life in the Upstate of South Carolina, yet there is so much there that I never saw, did, or explored. Once I did start exploring more on my own thanks to geocaching, I never ended up at Cowpens NB, probably due to the fact that at the time, geocaches were not permitted on land managed by the National Park Service. (They can be placed now, with explicit permission from the appropriate ranger.)
But today was finally the day to pay this site a visit. We me our friends Kimberly and Andy with their two boys Nicholas and Timothy, who live over in the Rock Hill area. (They previously met us for some fun at Andrew Jackson and Landsford Canal State Parks.)
It was a beautiful day for a park visit. The weather was a bit chilly (in the 40s in the morning), but the sun was shining, and many trees were blooming. Since we each had driven a bit to get to the park, the first thing we did was set out and walk the trail that went around the battlefield.
The battle here occurred in January of 1781, one of the last battles in the South as part of the American Revolution. The tl;dr version of this story is that the Patriots (that’s us) won, and it helped propel the Patriots to ultimate victory. For a more thorough version, check out this article from the NPS.
The battlefield loop first took us through where the Patriot troops would have been lined up. Along the way, the girls were trying to complete a Junior Ranger activity in which they had to keep their eyes and eyes peeled for various wildlife, including squirrels. I’ll have you know that we didn’t see a single squirrel the entire time we were out there. So odd!
When we reached the area where the British/Loyalist forces would have been lined up, the trail turned into a slightly more wooded area. Here, there was a sign that indicated that they are attempting to bring the natural environment a little closer to what it would have been at the time of the battle. Part of this is reintroducing cane to the area. (I read a book earlier this year talking about how extensive cane breaks used to be across South Carolina.)
Once we made it back to the visitors center, Teagan and Sage finished up their Junior Ranger book. This VC had the best thing for kids: an area with toy soldiers to play with while mom/dad/grandparents looked at the exhibits. What a great idea!
The museum had some neat artifacts, including a cannonball that probably was fired during the battle. Teagan learned about the different uniform colors (and I learned the word ‘dragoon’, which refers to someone in the British cavalry). She and I also enjoyed seeing such things as an old toothbrush with a handle made from bone.
Both girls finished their book, took their Junior Ranger pledge, and then we headed out to drive to the other side of the park. There, there is a wonderful little picnic area, with picnic tables and a charcoal grill on concrete pads. There’s even a shelter with bathrooms. This is also where a nature trail begins, but we didn’t walk that.
After a lovely picnic lunch, we made a quick stop at the Scruggs House, which is a house built in the decades after the battle. From what I read, people would stop here to talk with the Scruggs family about the battle, making it essentially the first unofficial visitors center. If memory serves me correctly, one of the cannonballs in the VC was donated by the Scruggs family.
We stopped at the sign on the way out for a quick picture, then it was eastward along the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (i.e. Highway 11 leaving the park) as we headed towards Kings Mountain National Military Park. One quick bit of trivia: Cowpens NB is part of the Overmountain Victory NHT because the militiamen stopped briefly in Cowpens on their way to Kings Mountain in October of 1780, just a few months before the battle here at Cowpens. But more on this in my write-up of our trip to this park.
This is a great place to learn about an important bit of American History. Check out more of our pics by clicking below. The last three pics are compliments of Kimberly!
Beavers in the Park 