Past the Arrant Community Center, the road goes down to the park office and across an expanse of grass, and before you is the startling sight of a wide lake studded with blooming white waterlilies and beyond that the submerged trunks of cypress trees with delicate green leafed branches high above.
As the Native American story goes, there was once a young boy who slept outside under the trees and the starry sky. A star appeared to alight in the tree's branches and to the boy's surprise, a beautiful maiden stepped down from the star.
She told him she was so enthralled with the beauty of the earth that she wished to take another form and come down from the heavens to reside on earth forever. The boy ran to the elders and told his story. The elders told him to let her know that she should come to earth as a flower.
The next morning, the boy awoke to find the lake strung with hundreds of white waterlilies. The maiden and her star sisters had come to earth to live forever in white blossoms floating on the clear water.
There is a 3.5 mile canoe and kayak trail in the cypress swamp where alligators reside. The trail is called Big Pine Tree Creek Canoe Trail, but the lake is Adams Grist Mill Lake. Canoes, Kayaks and a fishing boat can be rented for $7.00 for a half day and $12.00 for a full day. There are 3 kayaks and 6 canoes and one fishing boat. Colleen and John kayaked here often before James was born.
I took the 1.7 mile trail which runs off to the left behind the rental boats. This is a great trail which becomes a loop. It's surface is white sand, pine needles and leaves. The forest is shady all along the way with a ground cover of new green ferns.
This park was dedicated in 1952 as a Kershaw County Park of 2,000 acres. It's history can be read on a monument of pink granite from Flat Rock. The park was donated to the State Park System in 1973. R.N. Goodale was a local florist and civic leader in nearby Camden.
The park was actually closed today as far as the office being open, but fortunately, a ranger appeared carrying my phone which had been found close by.
I came to Goodale from Columbia taking I-77 North, the I-20 towards Camden (exit 98), passed the Revolutionary War Park on Broad St, the Robert Mills Court house and then right on DeKalb for 3 miles, right again on Stagecoach Rd. and shortly the park is on the right. Of course, from Charlotte, one way would be to take I-77 South and then I-20.
George Washing to came to Camden on Mary 25, 1791 and proclaimed that "Camden is a small place. It was much injured by the British whilst in their possession". (for 11 months in 1780).
There is no camping and no cabins at Goodale, and the office is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but you can bring your own canoe, kayak or fishing boat, your own gear, your own picnic.
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