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Surprise in the City - Reedy River Falls Park

© Stephen Strother

In my opinion, the mark of a successful and thriving city is a downtown that has enough character and allure to draw people in from its suburbs at night and on weekends. Greenville, South Carolina has such a downtown. Greenville has blocks and blocks of fascinating shops and interesting restaurants and at the heart of it all downtown Greenville, SC has a very unique natural attraction – Reedy River Falls Park.

Reedy River Falls Park is located at the site where Greenville, SC began. A grist mill was built here in 1776 and eventually the city grew up around it. As the city grew bigger the Reedy River began to be used for more than just power and recreation – it began to be used as a dumping ground by the city’s industry. In 1967, Reedy River Falls Park was created (the site still includes a piece of one wall from the original grist mill) to help beautify this part of downtown Greenville. By 1982, all major industrial discharge into the Reedy River had been eliminated. Today, Reedy River Falls Park provides a beautiful natural setting which is an interesting contrast to the city scene that is visible around its borders.

I learned of this park’s existence in 1999 but I was only vaguely familiar with its location and features. I had seen views of the park from sidewalks and roadsides but had never actually been there. The following is a journal account of my first visit to the park just over a year ago.

I first visited Reedy River Falls Park on January 31, 2002. That day I was visiting a client in the area of the park. During past visits to Greenville I had been vaguely aware of the park’s existence although I did not know its name. I had not intended to visit the park on this visit to Greenville either but on this day the park seemed to call to me louder that it ever had. The biggest reason for this I think is that it was winter. My past visits had been in spring and summer when foliage would have partially blocked my view of the park. The second reason that the park called out to me louder than usual was that there had been recent rains and therefore the volume of water in Reedy River was heavier than usual. Therefore the focal point of the park, its waterfalls, literally did call to me with the loud roar of water cascading over rock. I had never realized that such a large waterfall existed right in the heart of Greenville, SC. As I walked to my client’s office location the sight and sound of the waterfall filled me with excitement at the thought of exploring this unexpected treasure when my business day was done.

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