Come Hike and Explore at the Stumphouse Tunnel

Bonnie and Bob Neely on Jun 21, 2025

Stumphouse Tunnel near Walhalla, South Carolina, is a perfect way to spend a day, as we recently discovered. If your travel plans include upstate South Carolina, North Carolina or Tennessee, where the three states share their borders, this outing will provide a day of adventure along with a visit to the most-visited historic site in South Carolina.

We decided to explore the tunnel because we were fascinated by the unusual name and intrigued by its historic legend. In 1853, before the Civil War, the Blue Ridge Railroad Co. decided to attempt three routes through these beautiful blue granite mountains. The Stumphouse one was to be a link from Anderson, South Carolina, to Knoxville, Tennessee, by way of a tunnel through the southeastern face of Stumphouse Mountain.

Some 1,500 Irish miners settled in the Tunnel Hill Village on top of this mountain and began with hand drills, hammers, chisels and dynamite to cut into the tough granite and make a tunnel large enough for a train. They created 10 shafts so that they could attack 10 rock faces at once. But although the miners worked 12-hour days six days a week on a tunnel that was intended to be 5,863 feet long, only 1,600 feet into the mountain had been cut by 1859. Work ceased because it was so expensive. The Civil War began in 1861, and the tunneling was never resumed. With the advent of the Industrial Age after the war, no one wanted to dig a tunnel by hand.

The tunnel is closed now to all but foot traffic, but it is a favorite hiking attraction. An adequate parking lot, good picnic tables and restrooms are nearby. When you come, be sure to bring a jacket and hat or rain gear. The temperature in the tunnel is always a chilly 56 F with 85% humidity, so water drips from the ceilings and stands in shallow puddles within.

In the 1940s Paul Miller of Clemson decided the conditions were perfect for curing blue cheese and classes in how to do it. Now the tunnel is an irresistible and intriguing curiosity where you can walk all the way to the blocked-off end. Bring flashlights to see the walls and find your way.

We found other places we wanted to see in this area near Mountain Rest. We learned from a brochure we picked up at the visitors center about the "Waterfalls of the South Carolina Upcountry." Here are many beautiful hikes with varying degrees of difficulty and length that lead to murmuring waters. Pictures of hiking boots in different colors indicate the degree of effort required.

Issaqueena Falls has been immortalized in a poem, "Cateechee of Keowee," written by J.W. Daniels in 1898. It is a love story of the Creek maiden, Issaqueena, who fell in love with a white trader, Allan Francis. She was captured by the Cherokee tribe and given the name "Cateechee."

While in captivity she overheard a plot of the Cherokee to attack the frontier settlements. Alarmed, she determined to warn her lover, so she stole a horse and escaped, riding 96 miles to his trading fort as fast as the horse could carry her. Along the way she named the landmarks that guided her, and they have retained the names until today: "Six Mile Mountain, "Twelve Mile River," "Eighteen Mile Creek" and others. She finally arrived where Francis was: "Fort Ninety-Six."

Afraid to return to the Cherokee, she remained at Fort Ninety-Six and married Francis. Later they moved with their new baby to Stumphouse Mountain and built their simple home. When the Cherokee chief learned where she was, he sent his men to recapture her, but she saw them at a distance and ran to hide.

She knew there was a hidden ledge at the top of a high nearby waterfall. She crouched there unseen, knowing that the Cherokee would not come to that location because they believed the waterfall held evil spirits. She narrowly escaped and was able to return to her family. The repeating of this story prompted people to name this the Issaqueena Falls.

A footbridge and walkway with wooden handrails lead visitors to a good viewing place for photographs of the lovely waters. The forests there are inspiring, even when they are bare in winter, and the southern trees and native blooming bushes and undergrowth in spring and summer are wildly beautiful. Fall color all around is spectacular along this Natural Heritage Corridor.

Nearby are many other waterfalls, a long rails-to-trails hike, Lake Keowee and Lake Hartwell. Just a few miles away are the South Carolina Biological Gardens on the Clemson University Campus. Walhalla is itself enticing with its shopping and restaurants.

----

WHEN YOU GO

Stumphouse Tunnel: visitoconeesc.com/stumphouse-park.

Walhalla: discoversouthcarolina.com/walhalla

========

Bonnie Neely is the author of "Real Ventures: Did We Really Do That?" which is available at www.amazon.com. She and her husband Bill are freelance writers. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.