Anderson is a good base for the upstate South Carolina region, with several worthwhile day trips within an hour's drive.
Table Rock State Park (about 45 minutes north) has the most dramatic mountain scenery in South Carolina — granite domes rising above a hardwood forest, with challenging trails to the summit of Table Rock Mountain and shorter walks past waterfalls. The park is uncrowded by Appalachian Trail standards and genuinely beautiful.
Oconee State Park and Oconee County to the northwest have waterfalls, trout streams, and the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River, made famous as the filming location for Deliverance. The Chattooga is one of the best whitewater rivers in the East.
Clemson University (45 minutes east) is worth a visit for the South Carolina Botanical Garden and the Fort Hill plantation house, which was the home of John C. Calhoun. The campus is attractive and the Clemson Tigers football games in the fall draw enormous crowds.
Greenville (30 minutes north) is the most dynamic city in upstate South Carolina, with a revitalised downtown, the Swamp Rabbit Trail along the Reedy River, and the Greenville County Museum of Art, which holds the largest public collection of Andrew Wyeth paintings outside of Pennsylvania.