The 2nd Annual Black River Rumble River Race Oct. 11/25

The Black River is one of the greatest and least-known natural treasures on South Carolina’s East Coast. Its biological diversity is unsurpassed, with banks that are lined with stirring ancient cypress and tupelo trees that clean the river while infusing its translucent waters with dark, organic tannins.  For centuries, the river was a conduit for economic vitality, spanning from the early 1700s Native American trading posts, and to the prosperous antebellum water-dependent rice industry. 

It is said that at one point there were more than 2,000 pirates in the area at the height of the era that included the infamous Blackbeard, along with Anne Bonney, Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham. Sailing into the deep waters of the Black River, these swashbucklers were known to dye their sails in the tea-colored waters to aid their stealth in approaching ships at night.

This area is loaded with historical significance and historical figures, including local planter Francis Marion, the legendary "Swamp Fox", along with a ragged band of followers, who almost single-handedly defeated the British in this area.