The Stumphouse Mountain (South Carolina) railroad tunnel is just a short distance from Issaqueena Falls. I have been to the falls a couple of times but this is the first time I walked up to the tunnel and the very first time Cocoa has ever stepped inside something so dark and wet.
After a short distance inside she slowed down, and I could tell she was wondering, Where are we going and when will we turn around and get out of here. In the mid 1800’s, southern industrialists dreamed of a railroad connecting the American Midwest with the port of Charleston. They believed a tunnel through Stumphouse Mountain would be a vital link to that railroad.
The work began in 1852 and was scheduled to be completed by 1861, but the Civil War halted the effort. After the war ended, the tunnel was abandoned. The tunnel measures 17 feet wide and 25 feet tall, and at 5,863 feet, the tunnel would have been the world’s longest.
Issaqueena Falls, which is at the opposite end of the park, is a beautiful 200-ft. cascade.
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