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By lunchtime, the smell in the car got so bad we just had to stop. We voted for Devil’s Fork State Park. Located in northwestern South Carolina on the eastern edge of the Sumter National Forest, and situated along the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, t  he Park sits on the banks of the massive Lake Jacassee. The 622-acre park is one of the newest in South Carolina created in 1990. The boys tried to rent kayaks, but they didn’t have a credit card. Besides we had so far still to go that we thought we’d better eat and run. We thought it was going to be a very peaceful place to have picnic. Remember we said, we thought so. Once we got there we found out about the mysterious and spooky legend and how the park got its name. We wanted to tell you the story, but they told us we’d be haunted if we revealed it. So you’ll have to find out on your own. (But I’ll warn you we were shaking all the way to Charlotte!)
 In Charlotte, North Carolina we got to see the Discovery Place. This was pretty cool because we got to hear about chimpanzees, saw a butterfly exhibit, and then an animal and plant exhibit. But an even better museum was The Life Center. In there we got to see an actual human heart and it was still pumping! And there was also a huge human eyeball! Corin went inside and couldn’t get out. She started to cry and Andrew went for the Docent to help. You better believe we teased her about that one. We also learned about the human body but the beating heart was the best part!
We were surprised to find out about the long history of Charlotte. The Catawba Indians were the first people known to live in the Charlotte area in the 1600's and early 1700's. About 250 years ago, thousands of Scotch-Irish pioneers traveled the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia to the North Carolina Piedmont area and settled at the crossroads of two Indian trading paths east of the Catawba River. Charlotte is called the "Queen City" because in 1768 the town was named in honor of the wife of King George III, the reigning English monarch. During the Revolutionary War, the majority of Charlotte residents supported the patriots. In 1780, Lord Cornwallis arrived in Charlotte but left the area in a hurry when Carolina mountain men routed the British at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Presidents Andrew Jackson (served 1829-1837) and James K. Polk (served 1845-1849) came from Charlotte. During the Civil War, the people of Charlotte backed the Confederacy. Although no battles were fought in the city, the Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet held their last meeting here in April 1865. The cotton industry dominated the Charlotte economy during the late 1800's and early 1900's until the boll weevil made its appearance and the cotton culture died out. J.B. Duke, the tobacco giant, established the Southern Power Co. (predecessor to Duke Power Co.) in 1904 and dammed the Catawba River to create Lake Wylie. Hydroelectric energy generated there powered the textile industry and by 1920, Charlotte was home to textile mills, machinery and processing plants. Since 1980, the economy of Charlotte has been phenomenal, with airport expansion, new roads, office parks, a new coliseum, pro sports teams, a new convention center, a new football stadium, and hundreds of new neighborhoods. Whew! Well, one day to go. Happy landings, Group 9! Download 0.61 Mb. Share with your friends:
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