A
light rain had begun falling while we were at Connemara, and it
continued as we drove southeast to Cowpens National Battlefield in South Carolina. This was the site of a stunning defeat of the British during the
Revolutionary War. Although the visitor center was nice, and had a
fairly nice electric map, we were not impressed with the Junior Ranger
program. Since it was raining hard, we couldn’t walk the battlefield,
so the program said we should drive around it to a cabin, and answer
questions about it.
Trouble was, the cabin was locked, and there was
almost nothing to be seen driving around the battlefield. It would have
been much better for the program to have the kids answer questions
about the electric map presentation, or the film, but it did neither,
and the Rangers working there weren’t exactly proactive – we didn’t even
realize they had a film until after the kids had finished the Junior
Ranger program, and I asked about it. We elected to skip the film so
that we could make it to another site before it closed.
We
had called ahead to Kings Mountain National Military Park on our way to Cowpens to make sure
they had a Jr Ranger program, and they had told us they did, so we were a
little surprised when we walked in to the visitor center and asked for
one, and were told they were out. On top of what happened at Cowpens,
we were a little frustrated, but luckily the Ranger was able to find a
quiz sheet they used for other school groups while we watched the movie.
The kids then walked through the exhibits to answer the questions and
earn their badges. The exhibits were pretty neat – they were set inside
fake trees, and each stop was started by a motion sensor and included a
multi-media presentation. I was pretty impressed. Kings Mountain was a
turning point in the Revolutionary War. A group of patriot irregulars
from the western areas of the southern colonies marched east and stopped
the advance of a force of loyalists under the command of a British
officer. Since we were the only ones there, after the kids completed
the program, we talked to the Rangers until well after 5 pm, even though
they were supposed to close. I would have liked to walk the trail to
the top of the mountain and see the monument there, but the lateness of
the hour and inclement weather prevented that. We camped for the night
at a state park adjacent to the national park, and the rain continued
into the night.
When we woke up this morning, the rains had stopped, and the sky was clear but breezy. We made our way southwest to Ninety Six National Historic Site. Ninety Six began as a small trading village where two major roads of colonial South Carolina met. It's name came from the fact it was 96 miles from the main Cherokee village. Later it was fortified against Cherokee attack by the British, and was the site of two battles during the Revolutionary War. The first was a small battle between Patriots and Loyalists in 1775, notable mainly because it resulted in the first southern casualty of the war. The second was a seige of the British fortifications in 1781. It failed, but coming as it did after the British losses at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, it convinced the British to abandon their plan to use South Carolina as a base to reassert their authority over the Colonies.
We walked through battlefield, which took about an hour, then watched a short film and viewed the exhibits in the small museum, which took another. The kids earned their Junior Ranger badges at that point, but we hung around for about another half an hour, chatting with the Ranger. As at Kings Mountain and the Carl Sandburg Home, we had the visitor center to ourselves. We then headed southeast to the outskirts of Columbia, where we stayed the night.
A
light rain had begun falling while we were at Connemara, and it
continued as we drove southeast to Cowpens National Battlefield in South Carolina. This was the site of a stunning defeat of the British during the
Revolutionary War. Although the visitor center was nice, and had a
fairly nice electric map, we were not impressed with the Junior Ranger
program. Since it was raining hard, we couldn’t walk the battlefield,
so the program said we should drive around it to a cabin, and answer
questions about it. 
We
had called ahead to Kings Mountain National Military Park on our way to Cowpens to make sure
they had a Jr Ranger program, and they had told us they did, so we were a
little surprised when we walked in to the visitor center and asked for
one, and were told they were out. On top of what happened at Cowpens,
we were a little frustrated, but luckily the Ranger was able to find a
quiz sheet they used for other school groups while we watched the movie.
The kids then walked through the exhibits to answer the questions and
earn their badges. The exhibits were pretty neat – they were set inside
fake trees, and each stop was started by a motion sensor and included a
multi-media presentation. I was pretty impressed. Kings Mountain was a
turning point in the Revolutionary War. A group of patriot irregulars
from the western areas of the southern colonies marched east and stopped
the advance of a force of loyalists under the command of a British
officer. Since we were the only ones there, after the kids completed
the program, we talked to the Rangers until well after 5 pm, even though
they were supposed to close. I would have liked to walk the trail to
the top of the mountain and see the monument there, but the lateness of
the hour and inclement weather prevented that. We camped for the night
at a state park adjacent to the national park, and the rain continued
into the night.
When we woke up this morning, the rains had stopped, and the sky was clear but breezy. We made our way southwest to Ninety Six National Historic Site. Ninety Six began as a small trading village where two major roads of colonial South Carolina met. It's name came from the fact it was 96 miles from the main Cherokee village. Later it was fortified against Cherokee attack by the British, and was the site of two battles during the Revolutionary War. The first was a small battle between Patriots and Loyalists in 1775, notable mainly because it resulted in the first southern casualty of the war. The second was a seige of the British fortifications in 1781. It failed, but coming as it did after the British losses at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, it convinced the British to abandon their plan to use South Carolina as a base to reassert their authority over the Colonies. 
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