COLUMBIA, SC – There’s now a 40-acre permanent “cloud” over Hickory Knob State Resort
Park. And that’s a good thing. The 1,100-acre park on the shores of Lake Thurmond in McCormick County is one of the first in the S.C. State Park Service to offer wireless Internet access to visitors.

At Hickory Knob, the service is in the form of a “wireless cloud” that covers the park’s
restaurant, lodge rooms, swimming pool area and meeting facilities, as well as the historic
Guillebeau House.

Across the state, free wireless Internet access is now available in and around the ranger
station at Myrtle Beach State Park, in and around the park store at Devils Fork State Park on
Lake Jocassee, in and around the Visitors Center on S.C. 11 at Table Rock State Park, in and
around the office at Santee State Park on Lake Marion, and at the Drummond Conference Center
at Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area.

“We’re putting this service in place to meet customer demand,” said Chad Prosser,
director of the Park Service’s parent agency, the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation &
Tourism.

“Wi-Fi service is important for guests who come to Hickory Knob for meetings and
events. A large part of our business at Hickory Knob is from the meetings market. That’s why
Hickory Knob is the first park to receive Wi-Fi service,” Prosser said.

“But leisure travelers and day visitors will also appreciate the ability to stay connected
while at the park if they so choose,” the PRT director said.

The Wi-Fi service also will make it easy for visitors to find out far more information about
the other attractions in the communities surrounding the parks than can be offered through rack
brochures and other printed information alone, said Phil Gaines, State Park Service director.
Gaines said other parks will be brought online as the opportunities become available. For
instance, he said, the service will be established in and around the office/bathhouse at Poinsett
State Park in Sumter County this summer.

The South Carolina State Park Service operates 47 parks comprising more than 80,000
acres of preserved and protected natural, cultural and recreational resources that attract more
than 7 million visitors a year. The parks offer more than 3,000 campsites, more than 200 cabins,
villas and lodge rooms, and 7/24 reservation service online at www.SouthCarolinaParks.com or
by phone at 1-866-345-PARK.