Congaree National Park United States

Legendary

The park preserves the largest area of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States.

Photo by Ken Lund

For a couple of weeks each May and June, thousands of fireflies in this forest flash their lights at exactly the same time. Whole sections of the trees blink on and off together, like someone is flipping a switch.

Only a few places in the world have fireflies that do this. Congaree is one of them.

The park sits in South Carolina, less than 20 miles from the state capital of Columbia. It protects the largest surviving patch of old floodplain forest in the United States.

Two rivers, the Congaree and the Wateree, flood the forest floor about ten times a year. That flooding sounds destructive, but it's the reason everything here grows so big.

Each flood drops a fresh layer of nutrients across the ground. The trees soak it up and shoot upward.

The result is a forest full of record-breaking trees. A tree judged to be the largest of its kind anywhere is called a champion tree, and Congaree has around 25 of them.

No other place in North America has so many packed into one spot. One loblolly pine here stands about as tall as a 17-story building.

People sometimes call this place the "Redwoods of the East." It's the tallest forest in eastern North America.

The forest almost didn't survive. Loggers cut down many of the biggest trees in the early 1900s, and more logging was planned.

A local newspaper editor named Harry Hampton started campaigning to save it. He didn't succeed on his own, but others picked up his cause, and Congress protected the area in 1976. It became a full national park in 2003.

Walk the Boardwalk Loop, a raised wooden path that carries you right through the swamp without getting your feet wet. Paddle a canoe down Cedar Creek, under trees hung with moss. Visit in late May for a chance to see the synchronized fireflies, though you'll need to enter a lottery for a spot.