Property Description

This project represents a unique opportunity to connect existing conservation easements, protecting 1,332 additional acres to create a contiguous privately-owned conservation area covering 5,500 acres across headwater streams of Cuffeytown Creek. This "Mays - Epworth Conservation Area" is named for the historic Epworth crossroads and Epworth Camp Meeting site, and to honor a landscape significant in the early life and learning of Dr. Benjamin Mays, a champion of non-violent protest, mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, theologian, writer, and university president. 
The Mays-Epworth Conservation Area (Adams) features a mosaic of open field, pine timberland, and hardwood bottoms and will bridge a 1-mile gap between existing easements near Epworth and along Cuffeytown Creek. Federally-protected lands (Sumter National Forest and Ninety Six National Historic Site) and several additional easements are close by. One of South Carolina's rarest trees, the Oglethorpe Oak, was documented here in the 1980s and may yet exist in the deeper woods of the project area, where Iredell Clay soils represent unique habitats. The properties are drained by headwater streams of Cuffeytown Creek, important for the Carolina Heelsplitter's downstream habitat and downstream water quality as well. 

Property Map

A map for the Mays-Epworth Conservation Area has been provided in Google Map format.