Home Care In Salem, SC

The biggest playground in the Palmetto State, Lake Jocassee, is 7,500 acres and, in places, is 300 feet deep. The minute you arrive at this mountain reservoir, you’ll be impressed as this is the bluest, clearest lake in South Carolina. But, what can you do at Lake Jocassee in South Carolina? Is it really one of the best and clearest lakes in South Carolina? I’d have to say yes and there’s a good chance you’ll agree!

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The Most Remote Lake In South Carolina, Tugalo Lake Is Also The Most Peaceful

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No matter how much time you spend at or on Lake Jocassee in South Carolina, it is time well spent! The perfect staycation is waiting for you at the clearest lake in South Carolina. When can you go?

Devils Fork State Park offers the only public access to Lake Jocassee. Devils Fork State Park is open on a first-come, first-served basis. When the park reaches capacity, you’ll be directed to another park. For this reason, during the summer months, it’s especially important to get to the park as early as possible. To learn more about this state park’s hours, fees, policies, and more be sure to visit the official South Carolina State Parks website.

More to Explore

Michelle S. | June 19, 2023

What are the most beautiful lakes in South Carolina?

The most beautiful lakes in South Carolina can be found throughout the state. A few you'll want to visit first include:

Which state parks should I visit in South Carolina?

You should visit as many state parks in South Carolina as you possibly can! You can start with the following:

How can I prepare for my trip to Lake Jocassee in South Carolina?

Lake Jocassee is the clearest lake in South Carolina and the perfect destination for a relaxing getaway. However, to have a memorable and incredible experience, you want to come to the lake prepared. A few tips to prepare you for your trip to some of the clearest water in South Carolina include:

SALEM, MA — A collaboration between MSPCA-Angell and the Northeast Animal Shelter brought 32 rescue cats from South Carolina to the Salem shelter this past weekend in what will be the first of several relocations to help trim the rampant homeless pet population in the Southeast part of the country.

The program will not only look to find the cats forever homes in New England, it is part of a mentorship program with the Darlington Humane Society, which is experiencing a "large and increasing number of homeless animals."

"Expanding our mentorship program was a natural next step after the success we've had over the past year with (the Berkeley Animal Center of South Carolina)," MSPCA and Northeast Animal Shelter Director of Adoption Centers and Programs Mike Keiley said. "But there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to working to end animal homelessness.

"In Berkeley, we spent a lot of time sharing our experiences addressing the free-roaming cat population in Massachusetts to help them on the path to similar success. But with Darlington, we're sharing ideas and tactics to help manage a large and increasing number of homeless animals."

The new arrivals are mostly domestic shorthair cats that range from five months old to two years old. They will be available for adoption out of the Salem shelter after they clear a state-mandated 48-hour quarantine and receive any necessary veterinary care.

Find out what's happening in Salemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Those interested in adopting one of the South Carolina cats can monitor here to see when they become available.

The mentorship partnership between the Massachusetts and South Carolina shelters began in May with the goal to relocate animals when necessary, and also helping officials in that area set up a "trap, neuter, vaccination and release" program for feral cats in the areas of South Carolina's Berkely Animal Shelter in Moncks Corner and the Charleston Animal Shelter.

A six-person team made several trips to South Carolina in 2022 with the goal of sterilizing up to 150 cats per weekend and 1,800 cats per year.

There are an estimated 32,000 cats living outside in colonies across Berkeley County in South Carolina.

"Our No. 1 goal with this program is to reduce the population of community cats who cannot live in adoptive homes and, as a result, multiply quickly in every corner (of the state)," Keiley said.

Since beginning their affiliation in 2021, MSPCA-Angell and the Northeast Animal Shelter have relocated more than 5,000 dogs and cats from overcrowded shelters and storm-stricken areas of the country to New England, where demand for pet adoption remains high nearly three years removed from the onset of the COVID-19 health crisis.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

The Salem animal shelter is currently a temporary home to 20 dogs transported from South Carolina, including three animal cruelty rescues.

SALEM, MA — Twenty dogs brought to Salem from South Carolina last month are among those newly looking for their forever homes at the Northeast Animal Shelter.

MSPCA-Angell and the Salem shelter said the dogs were brought north through a partnership with the Charleston Animal Society to help alleviate shelter crowding there. Among them were two beagles and a hound mix in need of veterinary care after being rescued in an animal cruelty case.

Biscuit and Giblet, the beagles, and Hermes, the hound mix, were found emaciated with no access to food or water, and living amid their own waste. They are all undergoing medical treatment and will soon be available for adoption.

The other 17 dogs have no connection to the cruelty case.

The shelter said that while demand for dog adoptions remains high in the Northeast, shelters in other areas of the country are becoming overwhelmed with pet surrenders. Because of that, the Northeast Animal Shelter and MSCPA-Angell are working through partnerships around the country to bring animals to New England where they can more easily find their forever homes.

Find out what's happening in Salemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"What we saw in regions with already high animal intake in the last year was a significant reduction in pet surrender and animal control services, combined with temporary closures of shelters due to the risk of COVID-19 to shelter staffers," said Mike Keiley, director of adoption centers and programs at the MSPCA-Angell and interim executive director at NEAS. "Simultaneously, spay and neuter services were reduced in many areas, creating a recent rise in animal populations across the country."

Adoptive families are especially needed for dogs, like Biscuit, Giblet and Hermes, which have medical needs, or are larger or older dogs.

Upon their rescue, Biscuit and Giblet were found to be suffering from severe dental disease, including a painful abscess in Giblet's mouth that needed immediate removal. Both dogs were transported to the MSPCA at Nevins Farm where they were to undergo dental surgery and — after a short recovery — will be made available for adoption.

A mass was also discovered on Hermes' foreleg, which was to be removed and biopsied this week at the time of his neuter surgery. Hermes will need a few days of rest and extra attention from shelter staff before he's ready to be placed in a new home.

Anyone interested in adopting Giblet and Biscuit can visit here, and anyone interested in adopting Hermes can click here.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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One hundred years after the witch trial in Salem, a woman in South Carolina was accused of being a witch.

WINNSBORO, S.C. — Many of us have heard of the Salem witch trials in 1692. Not as many know that, 100 years later, another happened about 920 miles south of Massachusetts in Winnsboro, South Carolina. This is the so-called discovery and trial of the First Witch of Winnsboro.

Winnsboro was established as a town in Fairfield County in 1799. According to the Fairfield County Museum Director, Pelham Lyles, before becoming a town, it was a frontier settlement. Today, the area is known for a few things, but a witch is not at the top of the list.

“Granite, Fairfield County is known for the longest continual running town clock,” she said.

Lyles said in the 1790s, being different could mean you were a witch.

“And during that period of time, if you happened to be a little bit different from the farmer down the road, you might be suspected of having caused his cow to die,” Lyles said.

According to the Fairfield County Museum Archives, one woman in 1792 was tried for this exact reason.

“A woman named Mary Ingelman was accused of causing people’s cows to die or natural disasters that they need to pin something on somebody,” Lyles said.

As a result of the accusations, Winnsboro residents decided to hold a mock trial. At the time, historians said there wasn’t concrete evidence submitted; instead, the court used what is now known as hearsay.

“Just cause so-and-so said, that was enough,” Lyles said of the evidence used against Ingelman.

But the elderly woman Mary Ingelman wasn’t the only one put on trial. She, along with others, were persecuted.

“They brought in two other individuals who also they wanted to accuse of being witches and decided they were witches and they pushed their feet to the fire of these people and burned the soles of their feet off,” Pelham Lyles said.

While the accusations were never proven, and the trial was determined to be illegal, historians said a trial like this marks a community.

“I think that marks a community in a way, well of course Salem Massachusetts with all of the money they make off of it of the Salem Witch Trials,” Gary Pender said.

According to a submission to the September 2012 Fairfield Genealogical Society Newsletter by Will Kale, Mary might have been a German Christian who came to America for religious freedom.

SALEM, S.C. —

Neighbors in Salem, South Carolina, are firing back against a local gun range. They are voicing that the gun range has ruined their peaceful neighborhood and that enough is enough.

Instead of a gun, they are using the courts and filed a lawsuit Friday morning.

"The lawsuit is really about property rights. It's about a person's right in this country, a fundamental constitutional right that you can own property and use it to your enjoyment as you need to," attorney Matt Ozment said.

The group of neighbors is suing for six specific reasons. They range from negligence to assault.

Forrest Moore is one of the nine people suing the gun range. He says not only is he worried about his horse's safety but his own.

"Every time I get on one, I'm getting worried of them shooting and a horse jumping out from under me," Moore said.

However, he wants to be clear this lawsuit isn't about owning a gun.

"No one here I know of is against the 2A. I am a life member of the NRA. This isn't about that. This isn't about that at all. This is about the comfortable enjoyment of my property," Moore said.

A year ago, Oconee County Councilman John Elliot said their hands were tied on this issue. Friday, he released a statement in support of the neighbors.

"I am 100% in favor of the second amendment but this gun range is in the wrong place. People who live around it live in constant fear of stray bullets. The noise is incredible and deafening on weekends. I have no ill will towards the Durhams but I hope this lawsuit ends the issue amicably with all parties getting what they want."

"Our clients have tried for years at this point to try to figure out something that could be done with this but really had no luck. I think this is kind of what they finally came to. It was going to take a lawsuit to get something done," Ozment said.

Neighbors said the only way this can end is if the gun range shuts down.

"When I am shoeing horses or riding horses, nobody knows it. I don't disturb anybody. However, when they start shooting, it disturbs everybody," Moore said.

We have reached out to the owner of the gun range for comments. We are waiting to hear back.

You can read the full lawsuit here.