I welcome you to our town, where we are committed to peace, performance, and prosperity through promoting our town’s future and our past.
Though Santee is a small town of fewer than 1,000 people, there are many reasons we attract more than 100,000 visitors annually from all parts of the globe — convenience for starters. Santee is located on the south shore of Lake Marion, the largest freshwater lake in the state of South Carolina, and Interstate 95 dissects our town. In Santee, we pride ourselves on good, old-fashioned Southern Hospitality: being able to provide the numerous visitors to our area with top quality products and services — along with laid-back lakeside living — at a fair cost.
Certainly, the Town of Santee has earned its reputation as a year-round golf destination. Among avid, budget-conscious golfers, we are best known as “America’s Value Golf Destination” — and for good reason. Within a mile of town, there are three outstanding courses that don’t cost a small fortune to play. This trinity has become sacred ground for golfers from all over North America. In addition, there are four other reasonably priced gems within 20 minutes of town and another 10 courses within 40 minutes.
Of course, with all that great golf to pick from, you’ll need to stay a while. Santee boasts more than a dozen accommodation properties designed to suit any taste or budget, from hotels and motels to well-appointed two bedroom deluxe villas. Once your round is over and it is time to kick back and relax you won’t have far to go. Our small-town charm means you are just a short walk from Santee’s famous southern hospitality and delicious cuisine.
Given our proximity to the Santee Cooper Lakes (Marion and Moultrie), Santee is also popular with fishermen and other sportsmen. There are tournaments for the serious anglers, or while you are passing through town, if you want to casually drop a line — or boat or anything else — we have companies that can provide you all the equipment and information you need. Similarly, our Santee State Park is a naturalist’s paradise, offering Cypress Swamp Tours, along with bird watching galore.
For the meeting and business traveler, as well as brides-to-be, I am pleased to introduce our Santee Conference Center, a 17,752 square foot, state-of-the-art facility hosting up to 1,200 people, with three breakout rooms for smaller meetings.The Conference Center has proven equally popular for conventions, conferences, corporate meetings, and weddings. With golf and fishing at your fingertips, you can maximize your business outings and still have some time for important teamwork sessions. Plan to have your next big event in Santee. Our staff will be here to help you make your visit the best it can be.
In addition, the Santee Recreation Center and Waterpark, which opened Memorial Day 2015, includes an aquatics center, basketball courts, softball fields, a soccer field, bocce ball courts, and recreation pavilions. The main feature of the aquatics center is a thrilling 300-foot slide that starts about 100 feet in the air and takes you on a tube down through three loops. Along with the big slide, the aquatics center includes an 80,000-gallon pool that is handicapped accessible, separated into three sections for all ages. Our new aquatics center is run by employees of the Orangeburg County YMCA, and is attracting both locals from surrounding counties and out-of-state visitors. We think you will find that the price is reasonable and the park is not as crowded as some of the other popular waterparks across the state.
Please come spend time with us and get to know our people. We are constantly striving to improve our services, recruit new businesses, commercial corridor. We welcome new ideas, and families to share in the exciting things that are available in our town. We want you to feel welcome the minute you come to our community. Santee provides you with a community spirit and safe neighborhoods.
All that we have done and all that we are working towards makes Santee an exciting place for you to visit and live.
Come!
Donnie Hilliard
Mayor
