The Reedy River Falls are Greenville’s most iconic landmark — can you believe they used to be covered from view?

The City of Greenville recently shared some throwback photos with us of the old Camperdown Bridge, and we realized many of our readers who aren’t native Greenvillians might not have never heard of the Camperdown Bridge.

The Falls didn’t look quite as spectacular hidden under the bridge | Photo provided by the City of Greenville

The Camperdown Bridge was a 4-lane bridge built in 1960, and it ran over the Falls, obstructing them from view.

How weren’t people upset about this? Well, when the bridge was first built, the Reedy wasn’t the icon it is today. The river was actually pretty dirty + polluted, and according to Friends of the Reedy River’s history on the Reedy, “foul.”

The Reedy peeking out from under what’s left of the bridge | Photo provided by the City of Greenville

With the Clean Water Act in 1972, the Reedy River improved substantially, and in 1973 the Reedy River Falls Historic Park + Greenway was added to the National Register. Then came the 1990s, where work on restoring the Reedy picked up speed surrounded by community support.

By 1996, the City of Greenville and the Carolina Foothills Garden Club established the Master Beautification and Development Plan for Falls Park.

The Falls now, in all their glory 🤩 | Photo by @james_simpson_photography

Fast forward to 2002, and the Camperdown Bridge is removed — finally exposing the picturesque Falls below. Falls Park as we know it officially opened in 2004 with the Liberty Bridge, designed to highlight the Falls, not hide them. 👏