See the Hiking Trails web page for a trail map.
Length: 2.1-miles from the Visitor Center (trail itself is 1.5 miles long)
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Flat and easy
If you are a history buff, the Gouedy Trail at Ninety Six National Historic Site is not to be missed. It is an easy 1.5-mile loop trail that starts from the historic Ninety Six town site on the Historical Trail. If you want to hike the Gouedy Trail by itself and not as part of a loop with the other park trails, the quickest way to get to it from the Visitor Center is to hike the Historical Trail in a counterclockwise manner. If facing the Visitor Center, go to your right and head towards Logan Log Cabin, then continue over a footbridge towards the Stockade Fort. It is a .3-mile hike to the trailhead, which adds .6 mile round trip to the overall hike. The Gouedy Trail is the second hiking trail you will come to as you travel along the Historical Trail, with the first being the Cherokee Path Trail.
Be sure to pick up a trail brochure at the Visitor Center. There is a brochure holder on the sign at the trailhead, but it may be empty. The brochure has information about six stops along the trail, all of which are marked with numbered posts.
Park literature calls the trail a “loop” trail, but it is actually a “lollipop” trail, meaning that you walk out a short distance along the same trail you return on (the “stick” of the lollipop”) before coming to the loop portion of the trail. In this case, the stick is the original Charles Town Road, which is a wide, gravel path.
About .2 mile from the start of the hike (at the Historical Trail) is an intersection with the Cherokee Path Trail. Keep straight to stay on the Gouedy Trail. If you were to turn left on the Cherokee Path Trail, you would head to the Star Fort Pond; a right takes you back to the Historical Trail and the start of the Cherokee Path Trail (which you passed on the way to the Gouedy Trail from the Visitor Center).
A tenth of a mile past the Cherokee Path Trail intersection is where the loop portion of the Gouedy Trail begins. It is marked with a sign that points to the right. Being a loop, you could continue straight and walk the trail in a clockwise direction, but it was intended to be walked in the counterclockwise direction so that you come to the numbered stops in the correct order. Once you turn off the Charles Town Road, the trail becomes a traditional hiking trail. The surface is fairly smooth, with only a few roots here and there to watch out for.
The first historical site that you come to is that of Robert Gouedy’s original trading post. Nothing remains, but there is an information panel marking the site. Gouedy opened his post in the early 1750s. He was not the first settler in the area, but he went on to become the most prominent.
The grave site of Robert Gouedy’s son, James, is another five minutes farther down the trail (.5 mile from the start). Nobody knows where Robert Gouedy is buried, but it is believed he is somewhere in the area.
An unidentified cemetery is located just a few minutes’ walk from James Gouedy’s grave site. The graves are marked with fieldstones: rocks without inscriptions. Had the cemetery not been identified with a sign, it is doubtful that anyone would have noticed it. However, once you know it is there and know what to look for, the graves are quite evident. Sunken depressions indicate a body lies below. There are far more depressions than fieldstones.
Shortly after passing the cemetery, you reach the half-way point on the trail at Ninety Six Creek (Stop #4 on the trail brochure). The Gouedy Trail makes a U-turn as it heads back to the start of the loop. The portion of the trail that runs along the creek (bottom part of the U) is also part of one of the horse trails at Ninety Six National Historic Site. After only a few yards the two trails split. Take the fork to the left to stay on the Gouedy Trail. There are a number of places where the hiking trails in the park cross the horse trails, and most intersections are not marked on the trail map. Just so you know, whenever you come to an unmarked intersection with a horse trail, always follow the “No Horses” sign.
Not long after making the turn back towards the Historical Trail, you will see the Charles Town Road to the right of the Gouedy Trail—you could almost jump over to it, that’s how close it is. In fact, if you don’t want to hike any farther on the Gouedy Trail for some reason, feel free to make your way onto the road. The two trails eventually merge just up ahead anyway, and you end up hiking all the way back to the Historical Trail along the road. Take a left on the Historical Trail to get back to the Visitor Center.
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Last updated on October 15, 2019