The state of South Carolina has bought 106 acres of mountain land along S.C. 11, a scenic highway at the foot of the southern Appalachians, to protect the forested property from future development.
The state recently approved $495,000 for the acquisition near Eastatoee Creek in Pickens County. South Carolina is getting the acreage from the Naturaland Trust, a conservation group that acquires and holds property, then provides it to the state for long-term protection.
The acquisition will preserve views along S.C. 11 by limiting development, according to a document presented last week to the S.C. Joint Bond Review Committee. Trails also could be established there, the document said. The land is in the Jocassee Gorges area of the state’s Appalachian mountains northwest of Greenville…