There Is A Unique Man-Made Wonder Hiding In This Small Town In South Carolina

There are so many incredible adventures hiding in South Carolina's small towns, including incredible places to eat, amazing sights, and fun things to do. You could fill up your bucket list just with small-town experiences! For example, have you ever visited the small town of Walhalla? With a 2021 population of just over 4,000, you may not expect to find much there. But that's where you'd be mistaken. In fact, we've recommended it before as an ideal day trip in South Carolina. It's full of wonderful options to satisfy your thirst for adventure, including a unique man-made wonder known as Stumphouse Tunnel, located on Stumphouse Tunnel Road in Walhalla, South Carolina, which has a fascinating history.

The Stumphouse Tunnel is now a part of a Walhalla city park which also encompasses Issaqueena Falls, the Stumphouse Passage of the Palmetto Trail, the Blue Ridge Railroad hiking trail, and Stumphouse Mountain Bike Park on 440 acres of land.

The tunnel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and you'll find a historical marker there telling part of its story.

The Stumphouse Tunnel was a project that began in the 1850s in an effort to connect the railway between Charleston and Knoxville, Tennessee, and eventually, Cincinnati, Ohio. About 1,500 Irish workers brought in by the George Collyer Company of London worked on the tunnel twelve hours a day, seven days a week. They only used shovels, pick axes, and dynamite and lived with their families in the area around the largest section of the tunnel, known at the time as Tunnel Hill.

The granite stone was relentless and, at peak manpower, workers were able to progress only 200 feet per month. It's been said that there were constant drilling and blasting noises around the clock from the work being done on the tunnel.

After only 1,617 of the proposed 5,863 feet had been excavated and over a million dollars had been spent on the construction costs, the South Carolina state legislature refused to continue funding the project in 1859. Then the Civil War began and the state's economy suffered, leaving the project abandoned with unsuccessful revival attempts a few times in 1875, 1900, and 1940.

The structural integrity of the tunnel today is solid, and it's easily accessible by foot, open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Christmas Day and during inclement weather.

Check out that stunning view of the fall foliage from inside the tunnel.

Do you have a favorite man-made wonder in South Carolina worthy of a feature? Send us an attraction nomination. We'd love to check it out.