By Bonnie & Bill Neely
Stumphouse Tunnel near Walhalla, SC, is a perfect way to spend a pretty day, as we discovered this week on our first day out of winter weather! If you are visiting or live in Upstate South Carolina or in North Carolina or Tennessee, where the three states share their borders, this outing is really worth the outdoor adventure and is the most visited historic site in South Carolina.
Fascinated by the unusual name, we selected the Stumphouse Tunnel area because of its intriguing historic legend. In 1853 before the Civil War the Blue Ridge Railroad Company decided to attempt three routes through these beautiful blue granite mountains. The Stumphouse one was to be a link from Anderson, SC, to Knoxville, TN, by tunneling into Stumphouse Mountain on its SE face. 1,500 Irish miners settled in the Tunnel Hill Village on top of this mountain and began with hand drills, hammers, chisels, and dynamite to cut into the tough granite to make a tunnel large enough for a train. They created ten shafts so that they could attack ten rock faces at once. Although the miners worked 12-hour days six days a week and the intended tunnel was to be 5,863 feet long, only 1,600 hundred feet into the mountain had been cut by 1859 and the work ceased because it was so expensive. In 1861 the Civil War began and the tunneling was never resumed, we suppose, because the Industrial Age began after the War, and no one wanted to dig a tunnel by hand.
Now the tunnel is closed to all but foot traffic and is a favorite hiking attraction. There is an adequate parking lot with good picnic tables and restroom nearby. However, be advised to bring a jacket and hat or rain gear. The temperature in the tunnel is always a chilly 56 degrees with 85% humidity, so water drips from the ceilings and stands in shallow puddles within. In the 1940’s Dr. Paul Miller of Clemson decided the conditions were perfect for curing blue cheese, and classes used the tunnel for doing so, for awhile. Now Stumphouse tunnel is an irresistible and intriguing tourist curiosity, and you can trek all the way to the end, which is blocked. But do bring flashlights to see the walls and find your way.
GPS was helping us search for points of interest around this area near Mountain Rest. We learned from the Tourist Center Visitor Brochure “Waterfalls of the South Carolina Upcountry” that a lot of beautiful hikes of varying degrees of difficulty and length are in this vicinity leading to murmuring waters. Little pictures of hiking boots of different colors indicate the degree of effort needed for the hikes: green for easy and short; yellow for moderate in length and sometimes strenuous terrain; an orange boot warns of difficult and longer miles to be considered in your choice of hikes.
Issaquena Falls is a beautiful part of your adventure to Stumphouse area. We had read of the beloved young Indian girl who was immortalized in an 1898 poem, “Cateechee of Keowee,”by J.W. Daniels. It is a love story of the Creek maiden, Issaqueena, who fell in love with a white trader, Allan Francis. She was captured by the Cherokee tribe and given the name “Cateechee.”
While in captivity she overheard a plot of the Cherokee to attack the frontier settlements. Very alarmed, she determined to warn her lover, so she stole a horse and escaped, riding 96 miles to his trading fort as fast as the horse could carry her. Along the way she named the landmarks that guided her, and they have retained the names to today: “Six Mile Mountain”, “Twelve Mile River”, “Eighteen Mile Creek” and others. She finally arrived at the intended place where Mr. Francis was: “Fort Ninety-Six.”
She was afraid to return to the Cherokee, so she remained at Fort Ninety-Six and she and Francis were married. Later with their new baby, they moved to Stumphouse Mountain and built their simple home. When the Cherokee chief learned where she was he sent his braves to re-capture her, but she saw them at a distance and ran to hide. She knew there was a hidden ledge at the top of the nearby high waterfall. She crouched there unseen, knowing the Cherokee would not come to that location because they believed this waterfall held evil spirits, so she narrowly escaped and was able to return to her family. The repeating of this story prompted people to name this the Issaqueena Falls.
A footbridge and walkway with wooden handrails lead visitors to a good viewing place for photographs of the lovely waters. Of course, numerous visitors are nearly always there with cameras. The forests there are pretty and inspiring even when bare in winter, and the southern trees and native blooming bushes and undergrowth in spring and summer are wildly beautiful and fall color all around is spectacular in this Natural Heritage Corridor of Upcountry South Carolina.
Nearby are many other waterfalls, a long Rails to Trails hike, Lake Keowee, and Lake Hartwell, and a few miles away is the South Carolina Biological Gardens at Clemson University Campus. The very clean and enticing little town of Walhalla has unique shopping and restaurants, and the police department is tasked with keeping the Issaqueena Falls and Stumphouse Mountain area safe.
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