Site Study and Analysis

SITE STUDY AND ANALYSIS

Landsford Canal is the best preserved example of numerous 19th-century South Carolina river canals built in the state. Today, remnants of all its major structural features exist. The canal is the uppermost of four canals constructed along the fall-line on the Catawba-Wateree river system during the period 1820 to 1835. The fall-line is the geological feature that separates the piedmont from the coastal plain and gives the Catawba River its elevation change, producing the shoals (rapids) in the river. At one time, the canal was the most important trade route between the foothills and the coastal plain. River boats and commercial shippers used the canals to bypass the rocky rapids while carrying goods to and from ports. The 460-acre Landsford Canal State Park includes the ruins and scars of canal-culverts, stone bridges, locks, historic mill site, and a lockkeeper’s house which contains interpretive exhibits about the canal system in South Carolina.

In addition to its rich cultural history, the canal site is abundant with natural beauty. The rocky shoals on the Catawba River are home to one of the world’s largest populations of Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies. The spider lily is best seen in full bloom from mid-May to mid-June. There is also a 1.25-mile trail that extends the length of the Canal, a nature walk and an American eagle viewing trail. The shoals provide good fishing for striped bass and bream; and there is river access for canoeing and kayaking. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A historic marker at the lifting lock reads as follows, “Crossing the river at Land’s Ford was the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road (Great Indian Warrior Trading Path). It was the most heavily traveled road in colonial America. The road linked areas from the Great Lakes to Augusta, Georgia. The road was laid on ancient animal and Native American trading/warrior paths. Treaties among Governors of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the 19 Chiefs of the Iroquois League of Five Nations in 1685 & 1722 opened the colonial backcountry for peaceful settlement and colonization. In South Carolina, the path forked – going west through Rock Hill, Chester and Newberry and east through Camden on old animal salt trails.”