Steph's View: Discovering Peak

Discovering Peak and part of the Palmetto Trail

It's Wednesday, January 30, 2013 and we are heading to Jenkinsville to see an old church that Steph has read about. But she's marked a couple of cemeteries along the way that she wants to investigate. The day is overcast and chilly and there are threats of a severe storm heading our way. Since we have decided to give it a try, we hope the weather holds out and we don't freeze.

The first place we stop is at an unnamed cemetery on Mike Stuck Road. I've passed the place for years and have always wanted to stop. I'm glad Steph mapped it on our route today.

Notice that Sallie R. is all the name she gets and it lists who she married. To me, it seems that she was more important as J.W. Summer's wife than as an individual. Speaks to the times.

His gravestone makes no mention of Sally.

Many have lots of writing but are hard to read because years of weather have worn them down some. Because of this, we are talking about learning how to do gravestone rubbings.

Someone was buried recently and there is no headstone or dates, just this fallen wreath of flowers and a piece of wood with her name are all that remain to tell of her existence.

We've noticed in the larger cemeteries and here, that some gravestones hold up much better than others. This one is white and clear and dates back to the 1850s. We wonder if it has something to do with the quality of stone used.

I find it interesting that we find so many stones from the 1800s to early 1900s with Masonic symbols on them. It seems that Masonry was very popular in early America.

Another great name, Icola Stuck.

We saw enough and decided to move on to the next destination.

Peak is a very small town in SC, population 64.This is the town's only cemetery.

Even though the sign says this cemetery was erected in 1933, gravestones have much older dates. Therefore we imagine this sign is speaking about the wall surrounded the cemetery.

We found a lot of name variations of George at this cemetery including Georgia and Georgie (here named).

Love the name.

Directly to the right of the cemetery sat this old barn and truck. We couldn't resist photographing it before we moved on.

Since we were already here, we decided to have a look around Peak before finding the church in Jenkinsville that would be our final destination. Peak is small and old and interesting. Peak was founded in 1853, a railroad station town between Greenville and Columbia. In 1865 Federal troops destroyed the rail tracks here which we later discover can still be seen when the Broad River is low. (We got lucky because it was low today and we photographed the old rail depot.)

This is the entire downtown of Peak. It consists of a post office, a pharmacy, Dr. Pinner's office, and a fire station. There is a little bar or store on the corner, but it appears to be closed.

This is the sign from the old bar or store. Everything about this little town is quaint. But what seems to be a sleepy little town (we only saw a few people the entire time we were there) is really a treasure trove of history and beauty. We spent so much time exploring Peak that we never made it to our destination.

We believe this is an old storage shed of some type.

My partner-in-crime is very adventurous and while I stood on the outskirts photographing the storage shed, she decided to go in for a closer look.

She found a ravine on the other side of the building (what I thought might be an empty river bed) and climbed down. She said it was beautiful down there and finally convinced me to brave the brush and steep slope to join her. I am not as adventurous, but I'm learning.

A photo of the storage shed I snapped as I made my way to a clearing in the slope so that I could climb down.

Once I made it down (I was still not sure how I was going to get back out of this ravine), I was almost giddy with the view. Steph was right. It was amazing down here. It wasn't a dried up river bed, but the old rail tracks that once ran through Peak.

This is the view we came upon after walking down the path of gravel rocks and grass. This is absolutely breathtaking and we could not believe what we had stumbled upon.

This is Steph photographing the bridge. I like for you to see our journey with us.

We couldn't resist snapping lots of photos as we walked the bridge.

We found lots of graffiti on the iron posts.

We watched an otter swim around as we looked for the ruins destroyed by the Confederates. We wished we had brought along our telephoto lenses to get a better shot, but neither of us had.

You can just make out a rectangle here beneath the water. This is the remains of the trestle burned by the Confederates in February 1865 in an effort to delay the advance of the left wing of Sherman's army during their march from Columbia to Winnsboro.

Another old building visible from the trail.

We finally made it out of the ravine. As we walked back to the car, we saw this old sign posted on a tree asking people not to pick the wildflowers. We laughed about the need for this since we saw none anywhere. Perhaps a trip back this summer might tell a different story.

Peak is chock full of old buildings. We decided to walk around and take photos instead of moving on just yet.

It somehow feels right for these old buildings to be in sepia.

After photographing all the old buildings within walking distance we headed back to the car and drove towards Jenkinsville again.

We spotted this old church up a hill and behind some houses. It was clearly on private property so we didn't stay long. And we wondered about the history of this church and if the homes built here belonged to family members of the former pastors. My husband knows the mayor of Peak and has agreed to ask him about the history of this place for us. When I find the answers, I will post them here.

More of the church.

 

We once again headed towards Jenkinsville and the church we set out to photograph when we noticed more trails and another bridge. Steph pulled onto a dirt road and parked the car and we walked through brush and shrubs and thorns to get back onto it. We were sure glad we did. This is the bridge, but we needed to find a way to get on it.

Another view.

We found natural and man made tree art along the path.

These appear to be mimicking bird nests.

Nearby was this tag hanging from a branch.

This tree art, further down the path, appears to be doilies mimicking spiderwebs.

Again, a tag hung nearby.

We finally made it to the bridge.

Our view on the bridge. But as we neared the other side, we saw some really cool things in the woods below. At first, we didn't have a clue as to what they were. Steph said they burn witches here. From the looks of it, that was a possibility. To me, they looked like some kind of giant nests. Very cool find though and we were giddy again as we made our way down to them.

This is the first one. It looks like a giant birds nest but large enough to sit in the center. What a strange thing to find in the woods.

Here's a closer look.

This is the spot Steph was heading for. What a strange structure to be in the woods. We wondered if these were used for secret ceremonies.

Here is the third one. All different. All strange. Then we found a sign telling us what these structures are and what their purpose is. They are resting nests, taking the idea from bird nests, to encourage hikers to sit and enjoy their surroundings.

And that's just what we did!

We hiked a good distance more across roads and into the woods, following the trail to see what else we could find. But it was getting late, so after a good hike and finding nothing else of interest, we decided to turn back and call it a day. We never made it to our original destination, but we really didn't mind. We felt we found a treasure trove of history and unique spots in Peak. It you ever get a chance, this place is definitely worth your time to visit. I'm sure this sleepy little town has many more treasures just waiting to be found.