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Residents starting to discover Lake Conestee Nature Park

Hidden 'jewel' is county's largest park

By Nathaniel Cary • Staff Writer • December 11, 2009

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Nearby, the Conestee Foundation plans to build a nature center on the eastern bank of Lake Conestee.

The foundation partnered with the Greenville County Recreation District and numerous other organizations to plan, fund and build the park. Recreation district board member John Arrowood said the park would be a “model” to the entire Southeast because it ties multiple recreation components together in one massive park.

“This is going to be one of our largest projects,” he said. “It’s going to end up being over 450 acres.”

Lake Conestee Nature Park now offers three miles of paved trails, 2.1 miles of natural surface trails, two large observation decks overlooking wetlands and several boardwalks crossing wetlands.

Eventually the park will serve as the southern endpoint to the Swamp Rabbit Greenway Trail that will stretch 17 miles from Travelers Rest, connecting northern and southern Greenville County.

Within the next year construction should start on a five-mile trail that will hitch Conestee Park to the Swamp Rabbit Trail near I-85. That trail will follow the Reedy River through property owned by ReWa, the former Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority, Beacham said.

Once a 130-acre lake held in place by a 115-year-old dam near the former Conestee Mill, 200 years worth of chemicals, trash and sediment filled the lake to its current 20-acre size, he said.

“The Industrial Revolution is buried below the forest in the lake,” Beacham said. “This was a forgotten place and in terms of environmental stewardship our goal was to make sure that it was safe for the public, and it is.”

What’s left of the lake still serves a purpose as storm-water collection for the city of Greenville, Beacham said. After heavy rains, what is one day a dry forest fills chest-high with water before it dissipates.

That’s all part of the lake’s history and purpose, one that the Conestee Foundation wants to share with the public through the park.

“It’s a great story of recovery,” Beacham said.

Staff writer Nathaniel Cary can be reached at 864-616-4209.

 

 

This bridge, which opened Thursday, connects an area behind the former Greenville Braves stadium with property on the west side of the Reedy River.

This bridge, which opened Thursday, connects an area behind the former Greenville Braves stadium with property on the west side of the Reedy River. (GWINN DAVIS/Staff)