Thoroughbred Country

Thoroughbred Country covers the southwestern corner of South Carolina, the rolling Piedmont and sandhills country running from Aiken south to the Allendale flatwoods and west along the Savannah River. The terrain shifts from the rolling oak-and-longleaf pine country around Aiken (sitting at about 530 feet) south to the flatter coastal-plain country in Allendale and Barnwell. The region’s name reflects Aiken’s long history as a winter training ground for Thoroughbred racehorses. Three counties cover the region. Aiken holds Aiken (the largest city, with the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and the Aiken Triple Crown of horse racing each spring), North Augusta, and Graniteville; Allendale holds Allendale and Fairfax; Barnwell holds Barnwell and Blackville. The Savannah River Site (a former nuclear-weapons production complex), Hopelands Gardens in Aiken, Hitchcock Woods (one of the country’s largest urban forests at 2,100 acres), and the Edisto River corridor anchor the public lands and major attractions. Most trips here run horse-and-history focused. Aiken handles the largest single-stream visitor traffic — the Triple Crown races each March, Hopelands Gardens, the Aiken County Historical Museum, the Polo Field, and the Hitchcock Woods carriage trails; the Savannah River Site offers occasional public tours of the Cold War nuclear-weapons history; the Edisto River runs canoe and tubing trips through the southern counties.