Moonshine Still (Boardwalk Stop 15)

Moonshine Still is an old iron still visible in the distance from Boardwalk Tour Stop 15, among Congaree's old-growth bottomland forest. It's a short history stop along the raised boardwalk, not an artifact you can walk up to. Stay on the path and look for it from the marker.

Stop 15 is part of the easy, flat 2.6-mile Boardwalk Loop from Harry Hampton Visitor Center. The route has benches and is wheelchair and stroller accessible. Pick up the self-guided brochure in the visitor-center breezeway if you want to follow the numbered stops. Along the way, the boardwalk crosses old-growth hardwoods, including bald cypress and tupelo in low spots, with loblolly pine, oaks, maples and holly elsewhere.

The 18th Amendment was passed in 1919 and prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol. Moonshiners and bootleggers used the Congaree River floodplain as a place to work and hide; its difficult terrain and tall trees helped conceal their stills. The process described for the period mixed corn squeezings and water into mash, then heated it and distilled it through copper tubing. The iron box at Stop 15 is a surviving reminder of that trade.