SOUTH CAROLINA SEVEN touring Blackstock Battlefield
July 12, 2021
Statewide SC7 expedition getting exclusive tour of Blackstock Battlefield
Global expedition leader Tom Mullikin is leading the second annual SOUTH CAROLINA SEVEN (SC7) expedition across South Carolina in order to showcase the unique natural beauty of the Palmetto State and to raise greater awareness of environmental threats (resulting from disastrous storms and flooding) to the most vulnerable areas of the state.
The month-long expedition – primarily hiking, but also rafting, kayaking, and SCUBA diving – will get an exclusive tour of the newly restored historic Blackstock Battlefield, Monday, July 12. State legislators and others are scheduled to attend.
Located near Enoree, S.C., the Blackstock Battlefield is the site of a decisive American victory over British forces during the American Revolution in 1780.
The SC7 expedition which began in the Upstate, July 1, will conclude in Charleston, July 30. Along the way, Mullikin and other experts will describe the state’s seven geographic wonders explored and observed along a unique trek closely paralleling several hundred miles of the famed Palmetto Trail from the mountains to the sea.
“This is an expedition that will not only introduce South Carolinians and others to the myriad pristine geographic wonders our state has to offer, but how do we protect these wonders and the magnificently unique albeit fragile environmental systems that surround them,” says Mullikin, a former Army officer and retired two-star commander of the S.C. State Guard who in 2018 was tapped by Gov. Henry McMaster to lead the S.C. Floodwater Commission. “Last year’s SC7 was enormously successful, and we are building upon that success with additional on-trail features this year like our destination-stop green carpet premiers of HIGHER GROUND.”
A documentary film based largely on the 2020 SC7 expedition, HIGHER GROUND will be shown at three of the expedition’s destination stops along the route.
The initial premiere of HIGHER GROUND was held at the Walhalla Performing Arts Center in Walhalla, S.C. following a day hike through the Oconee Passage beginning at Oconee State Park, July 1. Additional receptions and showings will be held at the Newberry Opera House, this Wed. evening, July 14; and at the historic Charleston Visitors Center, July 30.
Throughout the month of July, Mullikin and other experts are leading trailside fireside chats and site-explanation discussions ranging from conservation, resiliency, adult and childhood fitness, outdoor therapy, floodwater-mitigation issues, even ecological theology.
SC7 participants are spending time in-and-around S.C.’s various State Parks and experiencing the seven designated wonders of S.C., including Sassafras Mountain; the Jocassee Gorges; the Chattooga River; the Congaree National Forest; the Edisto River; the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Basin – universally referred to as the ACE Basin; and Bull Island-Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge: “Each one a unique geographical treasure,” says Mullikin.
Throughout the month, state and national dignitaries – Medal of Honor recipients, the Governor, Lt. Governor and others – as well as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, special operations military veterans, business leaders, and state and local officials plan to participate along the trail and at the many destination-stops planned for SC7.
ABOUT MULLIKIN
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Tom Mullikin, SCSG, is an author, award-winning film producer, energy-environmental attorney, and university professor who has spent much of the last four decades traversing every continent on earth, climbing mountain ranges of the world’s seven tallest peaks (including reaching the summits of more than 20 mountains across the globe) and logging SCUBA dives in all the world’s oceans.
– For additional information, please visit http://southcarolina7.com.
