Indian Maiden Legends, Medal of Honor Valor, and the Tunnel to Nowhere

Hi and welcome back to the Traveling Fool . Issaquena , whose name likely comes from the Choctaw wordi Okhina , which means Deer Creek , was a young Native American woman living in what is now Pickens County , south Carolina .

You know , most versions of the legend say that Isi Quina fell in love with a white settler but learned that her tribe was planning a surprise attack on the white encampment . In an attempt to warn the settlers , issaquena set out on horseback , naming the landmark she passed for the distance she had traveled .

Issaquena successfully warned the settlers , but when the tribe

learned of her betrayal , they swore to hunt her down . So they chased her to what is now Issaquena Falls , where she pretended to plunge to her death and actually hit on a ledge under the fall . Assuming she had died , her tribe gave up the hunt and Issaquena lived out the rest of her days .

Well , today , that 200-foot falls is one of over 300 recorded waterfalls in Oconee County , south Carolina . The county also has four large lakes , four state parks and 80,000 acres of Sumter National Forest . Oconee County is definitely an outdoor paradise , with fishing , boating , hiking and more .

It's located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina . It's got the towns of Seneca , walhalla , westminster , salem , long Creek , mountain , rest , tomasi , fair Play and a few others . None of them are very big towns and the whole total population of the county is only about 80,000 .

And I had the opportunity of visiting there a few months back when I went to the Southern Travelers Explorer Conference . I actually took a couple of days ahead of time just to wander around on my own and explore the place . I found some great places , one of them Patriots Hall in Walhalla , formerly known as the Old Rock Building .

It was built in 1933 from black granite rock and was removed from the Stumpp House mountain tunnel , which I'll tell you about in a minute . Now that site is the Oconee Military Museum . Louis Watkins , whose name was Slim , dropped out of high school to join the Navy during World War II . Now he survived the war , but his brother , Frank , did not .

Frank Watkins died of tuberculosis after coming home from a POW camp in Germany . After Lewis returned home , there weren't many jobs available to him , so he decided to get a GED . However , in September of 1950 , shortly after the Korean War broke out , he took a leave of absence to join the Marine Corps .

Watkins told his family he wanted to do his part as a staff sergeant assigned to Company I , 3rd Battalion , 7th Marines , 1st Marine Division , at the Battle of the Hook in action against enemy aggressor forces during the hours of darkness on the morning of 7 October 1952 .

His platoon was assigned the mission of retaking an outpost which had been overrun by the enemy earlier in the night . Staff Sergeant Watkins skillfully led his unit in the assault up the designated hill , although painfully wounded . When a well-entrenched hostile force at the crest of the hill engaged the platoon with intense small arms fire and grenade fire .

He continued to lead his men , obtaining an automatic rifle from one of the wounded men . He assisted in pinning down an enemy machine gun , holding up the assault .

When an enemy grenade landed among Sergeant Watkins and several other Marines , he immediately pushed his companions aside and placed himself in a position to shield them , picked up the deadly grenade and , in an attempt to throw it , mortally wounded when the grenade exploded in his hand .

Staff Sergeant Watkins , by his great personal valor in the face of almost certain death , saved the lives of several of his comrades and contributed materially to the success

of the mission . For this he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor . Now , that actual medal was presented to his parents , but it is on display at the museum and his brother , frank , is also honored at the museum . And it's a great little museum . It's a two-story museum .

It tells not only about the heroics of Staff Sergeant Watkins , but other military members of the Navy is there as well . If you ever get a chance , take some time and visit it . You won't be disappointed .

There's also a couple other museums on that same street , right nearby the Oconee County History Museum , which tells the entire history of Oconee County , and the Museum of the Cherokee . They're all located right there together in Walhalla . Now we were talking about Stumpp House Tunnel a second ago . Well , construction on Stumpp House Tunnel began in the 1850s .

It was intended to be a railroad tunnel that would serve as a connector between Charleston , south Carolina and the Midwest . By 1859 , the state of South Carolina had spent over a million dollars on the tunnel and they just flat refused to spend any more on the project and the tunnel was abandoned . And , of course , about that time the Civil War happened .

Nothing was going on with the digging of the tunnel . After the war there were several efforts to restart the 1,600-foot tunnel , but they all failed and the tunnel was just abandoned . Beginning in the 1950s , stumppel's tunnel was used by Clemson University , which is very nearby , to grow blue cheese .

They found the tunnel to be the perfect temperature , so they would grow it , store it in the tunnel , and they did that until the 1970s . In the 1970s the blue cheese operation was relocated to an air-conditioned cheese ripening room on the grounds of Clemson University , so the tunnel was abandoned again .

Well , today it's operated by the nearby town of Walhalla and it's a tourist attraction . You can wander around inside the tunnel , the tunnel that was built and went nowhere . Right outside the tunnel there's a park located on the stream there , great for picnicking and all kinds of good stuff . You know Oconee is rich in history .

Oconee Station was built in 1792 as one in a series of militia blockhouses along the South Carolina frontier . The town named Oconee Station at the time was along the Cherokee trading path , so it's one of the oldest locations in Oconee County . Now Oconee Station stays a historic site .

Like I said , it was established as a military compound in 1792 during tensions between white settlers and Creek Indians . It served as a small frontier post until about 1799 . The William Richards House was built nearby in 1805 . The house was a private residence and trading post for many years . Now . Those two buildings are the only ones that are still standing .

But if you visit Oconee Station's state historic site , it's possible to tour inside the buildings on Saturdays and Sundays . It's possible to tour inside the buildings on Saturdays and Sundays and there are hiking trails and waterfalls and all kinds of stuff there at the state historic site . I toured it . Well , I didn't tour it .

I went there right as it opened early in the morning . There was nobody around , so I just walked around and took some photos and looked at the place . Unfortunately , they weren't open to go inside the buildings when I was there . Another place I visited while I was in Oconee Chattuga

Bell Farms and Distillery . You heard that distillery . You know I was interested . Well , chattuga Bell Farm is a 200-acre working farm distillery and event barn located in Long Creek , south Carolina .

Bell's Bistro is located there and you can have a drink at the distillery there , you can shop at a general store that they have , play disc golf and even pick your own fruit . During the 1960s , long Creek was the largest apple-producing area east of the Mississippi River .

Long Creek is also home to the Chattooga River , the first river in the southwest to be designated wild and scenic by Congress . Now the farm grows the fruit . They also ferment it , distill it , bottle it , label it and sell it all right there at Chattooga Bell Farm Distillery , and the distillery's open for tours and tastings .

The Chattooga Bell Farm Distillery is , or was , I guess , the first legal distillery in Oconee County , south Carolina . When I went there I met the master distiller , ben Wesley , who got his start by learning the craft working there and he worked his way up . He's now the master distiller .

That man is passionate about producing some great spirits , rums , brandies and whiskeys all grown from the fruit right there on the farm . They use all and he's always experimenting , coming up with stuff . I tasted quite a bit the day I was there . He was like try this one out . Yeah , sure , and it was all really good .

I brought a couple of bottles home with me . Another distillery you might want to visit is located in Seneca , called Two Horse Distillery . It was founded by Brian and Tony Massey , two former rodeo stars on the rodeo circuit Now .

Brian Massey spent over a decade competing on the rodeo circuit and he's won all kinds of world championships , earning a reputation as one of the toughest competitors in the sport . Now Tony was successful in her own right . She was a barrel racer and earned multiple awards and titles across the region .

Well , after retiring from the rodeo circuit , brian had various successful ventures and wanted to create something you know , kind of honor their legacy in the rugged spirit of the West . So he decided to establish Two Horse Distillery . Now Two Horse Distillery , like I said , is in Seneca . The location is a restaurant , bar and distillery all under one roof .

They have a real large bar and seating , with additional seating on the second level , and the distillery is located in the back room behind the bar . They use locally sourced grains and pure mountain spring water , ensuring that every bottle reflects a unique character of those Blue Ridge Mountains .

The distillery's name Two Horse is a nod to their rodeo days and the spirit of the West , and he's got a few of his rodeo belt buckles there on display as well , with their whiskey , bourbon , vodka and gin . They offer up some really good craft cocktails along with some really good food .

Brian gave me a tour of the place , told me how they got started and what they were doing with it . They had just opened , not too long before I got there , and they were moving the distillery actually

to that location . Up until then he had somebody distilling the spirits for him at a different location using his recipe , but they were moving all the product and everything there so they were going to start actually doing the distilling on site and bottling it right there . I can tell you they're off to a great start and the whiskey it was really good .

You know I said earlier Oconee County is an outdoor lover's dream . Well , they have Lake Jocassee . That thing spans 7,500 acres and it was made when Duke Power damned up the valley for hydropower . It swallowed up farms , homes and the whole town of Jocassee Valley Under 300 feet of water .

In fact , divers have said there's a church steeple and old bridge piling still down there from when the town was there . There's a church steeple and old bridge piling still down there from when the town was there .

They have Lake Keowee , 18,000 acres and 300 miles of shoreline , which is popular for fishing , water , skiing , swimming , camping , picnicking , you name it . They also have Lake Hartwell , which is in Fairplay . The lake borders Georgia and South Carolina . It covers 56,000 acres and over 950 miles of shoreline .

And there's also Lake Togalo in Long Creek or Tugalo , I don't know how you pronounce it . It's in Long Creek and it's popular for fishing and boating , all kinds of outdoor stuff there . As far as dining goes , man , they had some good food there and I tried out a lot of different places .

I like to go to these locally owned places instead of chain restaurants and stuff when I travel , and places like the Lighthouse on Lake Kiowee or Traditions on the Lake . Those are two really good places to eat there .

Two Rivers Public House in Seneca is another good one , vangelis Bistro , strickland's , demas Brothers All really good places to eat , along with some really cool coffee shops and just a whole lot of other places . You know they have hiking all over the place in Oconee County

as well . Chow Ram County Park near Westminster's got a 40-foot waterfall , a two-mile trail with suspension bridges and a campground by the Chowga River . Oconee State Park is where the 77-mile Foothills Trail starts . You can try the two-mile lake trail to a swimming hole , the four-mile Hidden Falls hike or the six-mile Raven Rock Loop .

Chattooga River offers Class 3 and 4 whitewater rafting . You can book with Wild Water Rafting out of Long Creek , south Carolina or Southeastern Expeditions . They call it the Deliverance Stretch because that's where they filmed that part of the movie . They have top-notch fishing there as well .

Keowee's got largemouth and spotted bass , hartwell's loaded with crappie and catfish . Devil's Fork State Park rents all kinds of fishing gear . And don't forget you got Sumter National Forest there that you can explore those 80,000 acres . You know one thing I didn't expect going into South Carolina .

I had never been that part of the country , I'd never been up in the northern part of South Carolina and this is in the far northwest corner of the state . But it was just how much the past just kept showing up everywhere I looked .

You know Cherokee names on roadsides , german churches from the 1850s got moonshine caves from the 20s dotting up in the hills and the mountains . There they have a tunnel that doesn't go anywhere . I mean it's like every piece of time left a footprint and it makes you realize that the US has stories everywhere .

You just have to look where the tour buses don't bother going , and Oconee is proof of that . They have a lot of great places to visit , a lot of great stories , and it's not really off the beaten path but it's pretty close .

I mean , there's a lot of people figuring out that Oconee County is the place to go visit for outdoor activities , but it's not overcrowded yet . I don't know how long that will last , but hopefully it lasts for quite a while , because everybody was friendly , everybody was helpful . I never met anybody there that when I asked them a question they just weren't .

Oh yes , sir , let me tell you what to do here . Whether I was asking for directions somewhere or asking for something to do or a good place to eat or whatever , they were all just friendly as all get out , and it was just a lot of things to see and do there . I had an absolute blast .

I wish I could have stayed there longer , but that's Oconee County , South Carolina , for you . Now , if this got you thinking about a trip of your own , well , head to thetravelingfoolcom and check out some of the places I've been and some of the reviews I've done . Leave a review on this podcast or tell me about a place I missed in Oconee County .

That's your favorite . I might use it next time or bring it up in a future podcast . Until then , I wish you safe travels . Thank you , you .