UrbanGreen

I am travelling from the UK to stay in Atlanta in early August and really want to cross the border into SC just to say I've visited. Does anybody have any good recommendations for a day trip? I'm quite interested in history and the civil war. Also looking for authentic experiences and not just touristy ones. All suggestions welcome and gratefully received. Thinking of heading towards the town of Anderson on Interstate 85 as that's the shortest journey.

PrairieHikerI

About 2.5 hours away near historic Clemson is the Old South Ashtabula Plantation (1790) you can tour. You can almost visualize the slaves singing spirituals as they picked cotton. On the way back you could stop off in Madison, GA which is an antebellum Old South town featuring 50 antebellum buildings downtown. There are picturesque antebellum homes in the historic district.

tomfuller

It is possible to get to two states (South Carolina and North Carolina) using the Amtrak Crescent from the station in Atlanta. It is only 2.5 hours by train from Atlanta to Clemson so you would want to go from Atlanta to Charlotte NC and spend the day there and get on the southbound Crescent back to Clemson arriving early in the morning. See the plantation and then find a hotel. Take the early morning train back to Atlanta arriving in Atlanta before 9AM. The northbound train leaves Atlanta at 11:30PM when on time (sometimes).

UrbanGreen

Thanks for the suggestions. These look great. Will look closely at them this weekend. Keep them coming everybody!

PrairieHikerI

If you take the train, Clemson does have a bus system but to reach the plantation you would have to take Uber or Lyft.

Sassafrass

How much time can you allot to a trip from Atlanta?
Is it possible for you to do an overnight?
Will you have a car or must you use public transportation, which is really limiting in the US?

Gretchen

If you wanted to do a loop with an overnight you could drive up to Charlotte (3 hours) and do some sightseeing there. Latta Plantation is a country plantation on the Catawba River that shows life in the late 1700s. There is the Charlotte Museum of History with a log home en site. There are several museums downtown including the world class collection of modern art at the Bechtler or another world class collection of Wedgwood at the Mint Museum (near downtown). if you wanted a bit of Americana in downtown Charlotte you won't see anywhere else, there is the NASCAR Hall of Fame. There is also the Harvey Gantt Museum of Black History... GREAT places to eat for dinner!!
You could stay overnight and drive to Clemson the next day for that planttion and then back to Atlanta.
Trains in the US are for those not on a rigid schedule plus their cost and then renting a car or Uber. Sad to say but truth be told to beware.

UrbanGreen

I will have a car. I think what I will do is drive to the plantation then drive to Clemson for a wander round. This sounds perfect. Thanks everybody.