Stumphouse Tunnel
N 34° 48.598 W 083° 07.415
17S E 305756 N 3854024
Stumphouse Tunnel park is open daily, year-round except Christrmas Day or during inclement weather. The park hours are 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM. All vehicles and people must be out of the park by 5:00 PM.
There is no fee except for reserving the large picnic shelter for group outings.
Waymark Code: WM2WYW
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 01/02/2008
Views: 164
Stumphouse Tunnel represents the failure to complete a railroad system from Charleston, South Carolina to Cincinnati, Ohio after the Civil War. One big reason for not completing it was because of financial difficulties they had and didn't continue. A main reason why they wanted to build the railroad was to make transportation easier and faster. The Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Company was founded in 1837 by the citizens of Charleston and Cincinnati. The rail line was only completed to Anderson, Pendleton and West Union by the late 1850s, but Stumphouse Mountain was to be the stumbling block and before the company could recoup, the nation was divided and had gone to war.
In 1852 the original idea of crossing the mountains by rail was revived. The railroad would connect South Carolina's railway system to existing Midwestern railways systems. In this second attempt, the Blue Ridge Railroad Company was formed to complete a railway across the Blue Ridge Mountains from Anderson, South Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee and later Cincinnati, Ohio. To cross the Blue Ridge Mountains would require 13 tunnels. Three of the tunnels would be in South Carolina.
The two other tunnels that were to be built with the Stumphouse Tunnel in South Carolina would make three in all. The Saddle Tunnel was never completed. The Middle Tunnel was completed but was closed by land slides, and the Stumphouse Tunnel was meant to be 5,863 ft., but in 1859 with only 4,363 ft. completed, the state refused to send more money.
The Stumphouse Tunnel was closed due to rock slides and then the tunnel and the park were turned over from the Pendleton District Commission to the city of Walhalla. Walhalla now operates the park and re-opened the tunnel in spring 2000.
The Stumphouse Tunnel is today used as a recreational site. Because the temperature is around 50 degrees and the humidity is about 85 percent year-round, a doctor at Clemson University decided to temporarily store and age blue cheese. The environment of the tunnel was later duplicated in the Clemson Agricultural Center and the cheese making was moved there.
Construction: Natural - No lining
Condition: Blocked Off
Rail Status: No
Current status: Recreation Path
Original Use: Freight
The "Other End": Not Listed
Tunnel Length: 4,363.00
Suggested Parking Area: N 34° 48.452 W 083° 07.294
Terrain: 
Website: [Web Link]
Date Built: 1856
Date Abandoned: 1859
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