What Greenville is known for

The Greenville Region is located in northern South Carolina near the Georgia and North Carolina borders. The area has large cities, parks, and many historical monuments and museums.[9] Caesars Head State Park is known for its fly fishing, hiking trails, and variety of wildlife. The park is located in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area. Cedar Falls Park is a ninety-acre park on the Reedy River that features a two hundred-foot-wide waterfall. There are multiple trails, boardwalks, and scenic lookouts over the river and waterfall. Chimney Rock State Park is known for its Appalachian Monolith. Visitors can also spend time at the Devil's Fork State Park. The park has access to Jocassee Lake, where visitors can spend time fishing, swimming, and boating. There are multiple marinas on the lake, and lake tours are offered daily. Jones Gap State Park is located in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area along with Ceasars Head State Park. The area is forested with many trails and wildlife sanctuaries.[1] 

In the city of Greenville, the Kroc Center is a popular attraction among families and younger visitors. The center features a water park, fitness center, a two-story waterslide, and multiple professional tennis courts. The United Community Bank Ice on Maine is a sizeable ice skating rink open during winter and a large common area with stone statues and well-groomed gardens during the summer.[3] Kings Mountain State Park is located just inside the city borders. The historical park features a farm replica from the nineteenth century, a lake, and many easy hiking trails. Ziplining, white water rafting, renting bikes, and spending time at waterparks are all popular activities within the region.[1] 

The city of Greenville is known to be the state of South Carolinas cultural entertainment center, with the area's most significant major performing art center. The art center has over seventeen thousand seats and a thirty-four thousand square foot convention center. The city also has many nationally recognized museums and over thirty-nine parks and rec centers. The Greenville County Museum of Art and Upcountry History Museum features artists and history from several centuries. The city has a population of 377,737 people.[3] Westminster is another city within the destination. The city has over one hundred 1800s homes and a preserved olden-day style main street. The city has a population of 35,366 people.[12] The city of Anderson is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Anderson is known as the "Electric City" for its use of hydroelectric power.[11] 

Around five and a half million visitors spend time in the Greenville Region every year. Summer is the most popular time for tourism because of the warm, humid weather. During March and May, there are many lush gardens and flourishing nature-oriented activities attracting visitors. Tourists spend time hiking mountainsides, visiting waterparks, history and art museums, and exploring state parks in the area. Visitors come from neighboring cities, Tennesee, Georgia, and North Carolina.[2]

Geography

The Greenville Region is covered in fertile hills, rivers, mountain ranges and peaks, wooded hills, pine barrens, waterfalls, and river swamps. Countless hiking trails of all levels of difficulty cover miles of mountainside and multiple state parks spread across the territory. The Blue Ridge Mountain Province reaches into the Greenville Region, along with the Sassafras Mountains. The boundaries of the destination reach down to Anderson, Honea Path, and the northern corner of Lake Hartwell along the southern borders. Walhalla and Lake Keowee are in the west. The cities of Greenville and Greer cover the north area of the region. The remaining land is covered in forest and agriculture fields.[9] 

Summers in the Greenville Region are hot and muggy. The season lasts for almost for months, from May to September, and an average temperature of eighty-two degrees. Winters are cold and wet, lasting three months from November to February. The average temperature during the winter months is fifty-nine degrees. The destination sustains 4.2 inches of rain and 1.5 inches of snow annually. The skies are partly cloudy half a year.[4] The peak time for tourism is during the summer, early fall, and late spring. These times are popular because the weather is warm, but not too hot. In the area, visitors can spend more time exploring state parks, mountainsides, and fishing in lakes and rivers throughout the area.[2] 

The Greenville Region supports a variety of wildlife, including bats, beavers, black bears, bobcats, coyotes, deer, weasels, and river otters.[5] The state flower is the yellow jessamine. Other common plants are the loblolly pine, mockernut hickory, magnolia, white oak, tulips, Carolina desert thorn, Carolina silverbell, and the Carolina geranium.[6] The destination is covered in miles of farmland, including tobacco, soybeans, cotton, corn, peanuts, wheat, hay, oats, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, squash, beans, and sweet potatoes.[7] Broilers are the number one cash crop in the territory, raising chicken and beef, along with loblolly pine, kaolin a natural clay, mica, and vermiculite a plant insulator.[8]

History

People arrived in the Greenville Region over fifty thousand years ago. Native American tribes dwelled there for thousands of years, including the Cherokee, Creek, and Santee. Over one hundred thousand people live in the destination. Cherokee lived in the area that the city of Greenville inhabits. The namesake of the Greenville Region, the city of Greenville was named after General Nathanael Greene, the hero of the southern American campaign.[3] The city was named in 1786. The area was first discovered in 1670, English settlers made a large settlement in the territory, and in 1710 the territory was divided into two colonies, now North and South Carlina. After the development of the two states, more European settlers came to build plantations to grow rice and indigo. South Carolina is one of the thirteen original colonies. The American Revolution began in 1775, and the colony of South Carolina became a state in 1778.[10] 

Almost immediately, the city of Greenville was established. Settlers took the area in 1777, and Richard Pearis established a trading post and grist mill at the base of a waterfall in the town. He bought fifty thousand more acres of land for other agricultural purposes. Vardry McBee, a famous philanthropist, bought eleven acres and built a church, school, and college.[3] Ironworks Gower, Cox, and Markley Coach Factory were significant businesses for years. There are also numerous sawmills, a paper factory, an armory, grist, and corn mills that are still run today.[8]