South Carolina Vacation Guide - SC 2025

REGION

Named for the area’s first residents — the Pee Dee Indian Tribe — this region is rich with the natural beauty of the outdoors: free-flowing rivers, wildlife-filled swamplands and blooming gardens. Time travel at Revolutionary War and Civil War sites, stroll through architecturally diverse historic districts and learn about the area’s agrarian past at tobacco and cotton farms and museums.

REGIONAL MUST SEES Marlboro County Museum Complex, Bennettsville | South Carolina Cotton Museum, Bishopville | Great Pee Dee Heritage Preserve, Darlington | Little Pee Dee State Park, Dillon | Palmetto Peddlers, Florence | Kalmia Gardens, Hartsville | Moore Farms Botanical Garden, Lake City | Big John’s Soul Food Restaurant & BBQ Grill, Marion

TO THE FINISH LINE

Can’t make it to the NASCAR Cup Series races on mid-May and Labor Day weekends? Not to worry, Darlington Raceway welcomes the community — and gives back to it — through Track Laps for Charity, when fans can drive their own vehicles around the 1.366-mile track for a donation of $25. While there, check out the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum.

With nearly two decades hosting races, Dillon Motor Speedway welcomes more than a dozen events annually, including fireworks shows, bike races and “kids riding in race cars,” nearly every other Saturday night. A dirt oval in the 1960s–70s, the 4/10-mile track was given new life — including asphalt — and reopened in 2007 by former NASCAR driver Ron Barfield and his family, proving racing truly is a family-friendly affair, and an affordable one at that: Tickets are only $12 for adults and free for kids, with discounts for seniors and members of the military.