Released on = December 19, 2006, 9:45 am

Press Release Author = SC Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Tourism

Industry =

Press Release Summary = The South Carolina park has installed an audio tour system
on its history trail for visitors to understand where the first permanent European
settlement in South Carolina was established.

Press Release Body = CHARLESTON, SC - Take a South Carolina vacation and visit our
newly renovated Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site and hear history come
alive as well as see it.

The South Carolina park has installed an audio tour system on its history trail to
help visitors better understand the 665-acre site where the first permanent European
settlement in South Carolina was established in 1670 on a secluded, marshy point
just off what is now the Ashley River.

The mile-and-a-half trail goes from the new visitor's center to Albemarle Point on
Old Town Creek and past the Legare-Waring House, the home of Ferdinanda
Legare-Waring, the pioneering horticulturist and preservationist who sold the
property to the state to create the park that opened in 1970 to mark South
Carolina's tercentennial.

There now are 22 marked stops along the South Carolina trail where visitors who rent
the MP3 players can hear detailed accounts of what they're seeing, such as
archaeological digs, reconstructed palisade walls, full-size, working replica
cannons, a trial crop garden and the sailing ship Adventure.

The audio players rent for $5 and are available during regular park hours of 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. daily. The recordings total about 90 minutes and the tour generally takes
about an hour and a half.

Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site is undergoing a $19 million renovation
also highlighted by a 12-room museum inside the visitors center that tells how the
settlers, their slaves and servants and local Native Americans came together to
create a community that would become a major port city and the birthplace of the
plantation system of the American South.

The South Carolina park also includes Animal Forest, a naturalistic zoo that's home
to animals the settlers would have encountered, including bears, otters, pumas and
bison.

Programs that include cannon and musket firings and other living history
demonstrations are regularly scheduled. The park's entire program lineup can be seen
on the State Park Service Web site at www.SouthCarolinaParks.com. The audio
recordings from the history trail also can be heard there.


Web Site = http://www.SouthCarolinaParks.com

Contact Details = Marion Edmonds
SC Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Tourism
803-734-1370
medmonds@scprt.com
www.SouthCarolinaParks.com