"S" is for Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel

"S" is for Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel. The Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel is an unfinished nineteenth-century railroad tunnel located near Walhalla. In the 1850s planners contemplated cutting a one-and-one-half mile railroad tunnel through the heart of the mountain in order to link the state’s rail lines with the Blue Ridge Railroad coming from Knoxville, Tennessee. If successful, this enterprise would have linked Charleston with the commercial heartland of the new nation. Unfortunately, the cost proved prohibitive and the project was abandoned in 1859.  Briefly revived in 1876 and discussed as late as 1940, the tunnel was never completed. In 1951, Clemson College purchased the tunnel and experimented with curing blue cheese in its cool, damp environment. In 1970, Clemson leased Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel to the Pendleton Historic District and it was opened as a public park.