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heartland towns
Aiken, SC
Bennettsville, SC
Camden, SC
Cary, NC
Chapel
Hill, NC
Charlotte, NC
Cheraw, SC
Columbia, SC
Durham, NC
Fayetteville, NC
Florence, SC
Greensboro, NC
Greenwood, SC
Hartsville, SC
Hickory, NC
High
Point, NC
Lexington, SC
Lincolnton, NC
Manning, SC
Marion
County, SC
Newberry, SC
North
Augusta, SC
Orangeburg, SC
Pinehurst, NC
Pittsboro, NC
Raleigh, NC
Research
Triangle, NC
Sanford, NC
Santee, SC
Sumter, SC
Vance
County, NC
Winston-Salem, NC
Books About The
Carolinas
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If you like the natural look,
Santee can oblige. Woods, water and wildlife keep the locals happy.
Fishing, boating and hunting are prime in this part of South Carolina,
where Lakes Marion and Moultrie provide recreation year-round.
Photo courtesy of
Santee Cooper County Tourism |
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| Santee Cooper Country |
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ever underestimate the power of azaleas. When Roseann Oziemblo drove through
Santee Cooper Resort in March two years ago, they were wildly abloom.
“I just started
crying because I was thankful to find such a beautiful place to live. And therefore I started
going to church, and my husband with me.”
Today, Mrs. Oziemblo and her husband Anthony are members of the new, close-knit Santee
Roman Catholic Community church.
They meet for Saturday evening mass in the nearby
Santee Outlet complex, and are raising money to build a church of their own. Before
retiring here, they’d given up church in their rush-rush lives in New Jersey.
“Up there, the second the light changes, everybody blasts their horn,” Anthony Oziemblo says.
“Here, people just wait for it to change again.”
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he Oziemblos have no regrets about their move. They golf four times a week, at the
course within the resort. Before, Mr. Oziemblo spent the night in his car in the golf course
parking lot, because they were so crowded. “Private courses were quite expensive to join,”
he says, and his wife concurs about the reasonable cost of living here. “I always thought when
Tony retired, I’d have to continue working, but we’re able to afford to live here and me not work.”
There are plenty of leisure opportunities in these parts, particularly if you enjoy the outdoors. The Santee
lakes of Marion and Moultrie are a paradise for anglers. Expect fulsome catches of bream, crappie,
catfish and its most famous inhabitant, the landlocked striped bass. The state record fish
is a 109.4-pound blue catfish. Lake Marion is the larger lake, with a 315-mile shoreline and 96,400 acres
of water. It’s one of the few lakes in the United States you can see from space, reports Joanie Schneider,
Santee’s tourism director. It’s also so deep in places that the bottom hasn’t been found.
Three golf courses within six miles keeps players challenged, and the aforementioned outlet mall
satisfies bargain-hunters. Meanwhile, the nearby towns of Elloree and Summerton offer quaint,
restored downtowns with antique shops and restaurants. Eutawville percolates with Revolutionary
War history and a nationally famous barbecue hut and steak restaurant.
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For those who like their water in long, thin pathways, the Edisto offers canoe trips under Spanish
moss, by wildlife, and through dark, winding forests.
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Santee makes its living on tourists, many stopping to enjoy the golf, fishing and restaurants (there are 2,000
restaurant seats) on their way between Florida and Canada. But the town remains small, with
less than 800 residents. “You can zip to the grocery store in three minutes instead of 30,
and there’s no problem with parking,” Mrs. Schneider points out. “But there’s hardly anything
you would need or want that you can’t find. We have a hardware store, doctors, lawyers, a Jiffy Lube.”
If you must have Walmart, that’s 23 miles away in Orangeburg, the county seat.
While Orangeburg doesn’t have the lakes of Santee, it does have the Edisto River.
For those who like their water in long, thin pathways, the Edisto offers canoe trips under Spanish
moss, by wildlife, and through dark, winding forests. Closer to town, the Edisto Memorial Gardens provides history dating back to the Civil War. Today, the South Carolina Festival of Roses, a “Top
Twenty Tourism Event in the Southeast,” covers the gardens in thousands of rose blooms and about 40,000 visitors each April.
“Orangeburg is very different from Butte, Montana,” says Randy Snell, who
moved here to become corporate director of training and benefits for Zeus
Industrial Products. “I also lived in Baton Rouge and Houston for a
while, and I can say that this is by far the best climate of any of
them!” Mr. Snell likes the small town feeling of Orangeburg, but he also
enjoys having larger communities nearby. “I have only a short drive to
work, which is great,” he says, noting that the next best thing about the
Carolinas is the abundance of golf courses.
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Three golf courses within six miles keeps players challenged
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There are 16 in the five-county Santee region, along with three state parks and the
Santee National Wildlife Refuge, with its trails and boat landings. Natural beauty and a
sense of history are intertwined, especially at Mepkin Abbey, a monastery in Moncks Corner.
The former plantation home of Revolutionary statesman Henry Laurens, Mepkin is famous for
its chapel, fresh eggs and lush gardens.
More history is apparent in Orangeburg, settled in 1704 and named for William, the Prince of
Orange, the son-in-law of King George II. The site provided a river outlet to the port of
Charleston, and gave settlers abundant wildlife and fertile soil. Although cotton fields still
dot the countryside, and hunters flock to the area, today’s residents are just as likely to enjoy
hunting for a tiny white ball down a long green corridor.
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Aida Rogers has worked in newspapers, magazines, legal newsletters and television. The
USC graduate and Lexington, SC native currently is managing editor of Sandlapper,
The Magazine of South Carolina, for which she writes a column about the
most popular restaurants in The Palmetto State. Call her with your favorites
at (803) 808-1664.
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