Ogeechee Canal

Sunday, January 23, 2022

Hi Blog!

A lot can happen in a week. As we prepared to leave Rocky Mount, North Carolina, we checked the weather forecast for our next stop in Cheraw, South Carolina. The forecast was for snow and ice. After 12 inches of snow in Fredericksburg, VA and an ice storm in Enfield, NC, we decided to skip Cheraw and head directly to Savannah, Georgia. It was a long drive and the cats were not happy, but we managed to avoid the worst of the winter weather heading for Cheraw.

We landed in Savannah Oaks RV Resort and hunkered down while the cold and rainy weather passed over us. 

By Sunday, the weather started to improve, and we were eager to end our cabin fever.  It is not often we can start an adventure right from our campsite. The Historic Savannah Ogeechee Canal Museum was right next door. We decided to walk over and check it out. 

Here we are at the start of our adventure.

We stopped at the Visitor Center to check out the history of the old canal. They do have a video, but the volunteer working today was not able to get the video to run with sound. Lucky for us, the Internet knows all.

Chartered in 1842, the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal was constructed between 1826 and 1830 by African and Irish laborers who moved thousands of cubic yards of earth. A boon to Georgia’s economy, the canal moved cotton, rice, bricks, and natural fertilizer. The lumber industry revived canal usage following a Civil War-era lull, but a yellow fever epidemic, blamed on the canal, caused a further decline. The canal closed in the early 1890s as the Central of Georgia Railroad served transportation needs.

As we started our hike, we passed several relics of past industries. This unusual artifact is a sugar cane press. The juice is collected in the large copper bowls and dried.

Beginning at the Savannah River, the canal comprises six locks and travels 16.5 miles, ending at the Ogeechee River, near us.  Our trail took us from Lock 5 down to Lock 6 on the Ogeechee River.

A reconstructed lock gate gives a sense of the scale.

The bricks that line Lock 5 are now covered with ferns.

Just below the lock is a  dock where small boats and canoes can put in to travel down the canal to the Ogeechee River

There are several long stretches of boardwalk along the canal where the canal path has eroded.

Here is the view as the canal empties into the Ogeechee River. We realized our campground is just around the corner to the right. It might be possible for us to kayak from our campground to the canal. If the weather keeps improving, we might have another blog - Kayaking the Ogeechee Canal!

The trail leaves the canal and follows along the river bank.

Here is our first good look at the Ogeechee River. The Ogeechee River is a 294-mile-long blackwater river. It has a watershed of 5,540 square miles. It is one of the Georgia's few free-flowing streams.

Paleo-Indian societies arrived in the area of the Ogeechee River around 11,500 years ago, and the river was settled for several centuries by the Mississippians and Yuchi until the arrival of Europeans.  Though the origin of the name "Ogeechee" is uncertain, it may be derived from a Muskogee term meaning "river of the Uchees", referring to the Yuchi people, who inhabited areas near it. 

The Savannah Ogeechee Canal Museum and Nature Center is a part of Georgia’s Colonial Coast Birding Trail.  The 184-acre Nature Center consists of beautiful bottomland hardwood forests (i.e., swamps) as well as mixed pine hardwood forests that support a wide diversity of birds throughout the year.  To date, 146 different species of birds have been recorded at the Savannah Ogeechee Canal Nature Center. There are a number of these bird boxes all through the center.

From the river, we headed inland along another boardwalk. We headed for the Ridge Trail. It's amazing what a few feet of elevation can do for the surrounding forests. The cyrpress gives way to pine. The palmetto gives way to holly.

The Holly Trail and Sand Ridge Trails follow old farm roads. We came across a couple of old survey markers showing where the different property lines once were.

Much of our hike was just a walk in the woods. The copy of the trail map we had showed our trail falling off the page. We were unsure whether we would know when the trail ended or we would just continue on some unnamed road to some unnamed location. Our fears were soon put to rest.

 

On the way back to the Visitor Center, we stopped to check out the camping area. It is available for tent camping and is used mostly by scout groups.

 We hiked almost four miles when you count the 1/2 mile round trip walk from the campground. It's nice to be able to hike without having to drive to the trailhead. Looking forward to warmer weather and getting out and about. Stay tuned.