Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel

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Stumphouse Mountain (in Oconee County, SC) has an uncompleted railroad tunnel for the Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad; this is now a city park which also features nearby Issaqueena Falls.

The tunnel was first proposed in 1837 by residents of Charleston, SC as a new and shorter route for the Blue Ridge Railroad between Charleston and the Ohio river valley area which until then was only accesible by bypassing the mountains entirely to the South and then traveling up north through Georgia and middle Tennessee. In 1852, 13 miles of tunnel were proposed to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains through South Carolina, North Carolina, and into Tennessee. Construction on the railway was begun in the late 1850's and was successful through most of South Carolina until hitting the mountains around Wallhalla in Oconee County. There Stumphouse tunnel along with three other tunnels was to be built. Construction on Stumphouse tunnel began and was successfully excavated to a length of 4,363 feet of the planned 5,863 total feet until construction was halted by the Civil War. As a part of the planned Blue Ridge Railroad, two other tunnels were begun in the 1850's and are all connected by terrain at railroad grade. Middle Tunnel, a quarter mile from Stumphousewas successfully completed but mostly collapsed and was partially sealed off in the mid 1900's. It is only accesible by foot. Saddle Tunnel, the last of the South Carolina complex was also begun for a short distance 1.5 miles north of Middle Tunnel. Saddle is partially completed yet is mostly submerged by a small lake. Only the entrance to the tunnel is visible. Stumphouse tunnel had been used by Clemson University to grow blue cheese for serveral years however in the 1970's was relocated to a greenhouse where the tunnel environment was duplicated. Today, Stumphouse tunnel is operated as a public park along with nearby Isaqueena Falls by the town of Walhalla. It is open daily except Christmas day and during inclement weather from 10am til 5pm. Inside the tunnel the temperature is a constant 50 degrees with humidity of 85%. The tunnel is easily accesible by foot, a few yards from a gravel parking lot. The structural integrity of the tunnel is solid and almost no cracking is apparant minus an enlarged vent halfway through the tunnel. In 1999 this vent was impacted by a rock slide, however in 2000 the town of Walhalla re-excavated the tunnel and safely returned it to public use.