South Carolina

Salem -- Salem, South Carolina.  Salem is in the edge of the mountains, but we can see the Blue Ridge Mts. like a long blue wall to the north of us.  Sometimes in the winter we get to see snow on the mountains, but usually we do not get but 2 or 3 light snows here in the foothills.

Our flowers are very similar to NC, for we are almost in the same temperature range that you are.  We have had a drought the last four years, so we are short of rainfall, about 50 inches short over the last four year period.   We should have about 50 inches per year, but have not seen it recently. Right now the Pipsisewa are in bloom, and a few wild phlox, and a few late mountain laurel are still in bloom.  The lady slippers (moccasin   flowers) trillium and Jack in the pulpit have finished blooming.  A few Canadian violets are still in bloom, and the cohosh.

We have 25 waterfalls in this part of the state, and we enjoy walking to them.  Whitewater falls is just across the line into North Carolina, but it is only  10 miles from us, and we enjoy going there.  It is the highest water fall around.  We have a state botanical garden at Clemson University just 25 miles south of us.  Also there is a very nice geology museum, which is free to enter.  We often give them some of the fossils which we collect, such as whale ribs and vertebrae, marine shells, and trilobites, etc.  Even pieces of dinosaur bone we found in Wyoming, are there in the museum.   Another thing people come to see is the Nuclear Power Plant, 10 miles south of Salem, as it has a very nice visitors center, a nature walk, and programs.  We have several lakes, and many bring their boats to enjoy the lakes.  Lake Keowee and Jocassee are the main ones.  Lake Hartwell is south of us, and Clemson and beyond.

Salem produced textiles for years, but most of the plants are closed now.  A lot of logging is done still, most of it is shipped to the paper mills.  We produce mountain music.   Have festivals, like the Octoberfest put on by the German community in Walhalla,   the apple festival in Westminster.  We have a large flea market on Wednesdays in Pickens that draw people from several states.  Honey is sold at roadside stands here, and vegetables and fruits in the summer.  So we do not not have to go to the super markets. Many of us raise gardens and fruit and nuts of our own.  So it is largely a rural area.  The county is Oconee, which is an Indian name, as the Cherokee Indians used to use this area as their summer garden area.

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