NPS Unit Count: 85
Hey there Adventurers! Continuing on Bark Ranger Maisy’s grand summer tour, we find ourselves at Ninety Six National Historic Site, located near the small town of the same name, in South Carolina.
This particular park is even more noteworthy for our Bark Ranger adventure because one of the moderators/admin of our #USBarkRangers facebook page is a volunteer in the park and created their Bark Ranger Program! How cool! Ninety Six National Historic Site is indeed an odd name, and to boot, the origin of the name is not entirely certain! The most accepted origin of the name is in reference to the distance from the town to the Cherokee town of Keowee….which is 78 miles… Another possible source of the name has something to do with the creeks and streams in the area. Whatever the origins, this site was a town of loyalists with a star fort providing protection. The first South Carolina battle of the US Revolution was fought here. Patriots tried unsuccessfully to take ammunition that the loyalists had seized. Later the British fortified the site during the war and patriots again tried to take the town but were unsuccessful.
Today, the site consists of a 1 mile interpretive trail starting at the visitor center, crossing through the woods and over the old colonial road bed, and meandering past the earthen remains of the star fort. From there, the path loops back around through the old town site (there are no remains of buildings – they were burned down by the British when the town was abandoned), past a stockade fort, past the Logan Log House – the oldest house in the area, built in the 1700s- and back around to the visitor center.
The Bark Ranger program here is very well done, of course! The member of our mod team who put the program together did an amazing job and you can find the details here! Miss Maisy and I got to meet her and take a nice tour of the area with her. The Bark Ranger activity guide lists several places to stop for photo ops and to reflect on the area’s history with your furry Ranger friend! After we completed the loop and returned to the visitor center we met with the human ranger who worked with our mod on the program, for a certificate and tag!
Ninety Six is, of course, one of the smaller units of the National Park System. However, this is a neat historical site and worth the stop if you are in the area, and if you have your Bark Ranger, a must stop! Logistically, it fit in nicely with my trip. The site is a bit to the west of Columbia and my route here was Columbia to Ninety Six, then due north to Cowpens National Battlefield, and then up and over to the Carl Sandburg House, the next stops on the trip!
The Parks Adventurer 
Happy New Year to you and Maisy and thanks for sharing your adventures!
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Thank you! She’s a really sweet, loving girl and I hope we get many adventures together!
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