County brochure calls attention to tree-canopied streets, roads

There are likely hundreds of roads in Beaufort County bordered by tall, leafy trees that create natural canopies over the streets.

Now, 10 of the best examples -- deemed as such by county planning staff -- have a home in a new brochure and a new designation as official canopy roads.

"We hope the designation will help protect the roads in the future," said Amanda Flake, the county natural resource planner who applied for and won a grant in 2008 from the S.C. Forestry Commission to put together the brochure.

Flake presented the pamphlets -- which include photos of eachroad, historic facts and a large map for driving tours -- to Beaufort County Council members Monday. The brochures will be placed at visitors centers, county chamber offices and any area the public often visits, she said.

Still to come is an overall management plan to preserve the canopy roads, Flake said. When complete, the plan will be sent to the county Planning Commission, council committees and finally to full council for approval.

"If roads are widened, we'd like to see that canopy protected," she said. "We want to work with (the S.C. Department of Transportation) and (S.C. Electric and Gas) to manage things like spraying."

Council members were largely enthusiastic about the project.

"I appreciate you saving what we can," said Councilman Paul Sommerville.

Canopy roads featured in the brochure included:

• Old Sheldon Church Road in northern Beaufort County off U.S. 17 and U.S. 21. The Old Sheldon Church ruins, part of the National Register of Historic Places, can be spotted from the road, as can historic rice fields and live oak allées. It was designated a State Scenic Byway in 2003.

• Cotton Hall Road in northern Beaufort County. It was named after the Cotton Hall Plantation, which dates to the early 19th century.

• McPhersonville Road, a dirt road leading to the Hampton County line. It was once the main road to the village of McPhersonville, now in present-day Hampton County.

• Old Jericho Road in northern Beaufort County, one of two county roads included in the 1832 Mills Atlas. The Myrtle Bush farm house, built in 1921, is located on the west side of the road.

• Meridian Road, which connects Sea Island Parkway to Lady's Island Drive on Lady's Island. It followed the eastern meridian of Beaufort Township in a survey done during the Civil War.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Lands End Road, both on St. Helena Island. Historic sites visible from the roads include the Penn Center, The Brick Church, The Chapel of Ease, Edgar Fripp Mausoleum and Fort Fremont.

• Avenue of the Oaks on St. Helena Island, which leads to the private Coffin Point Plantation House, built in 1801. Coffin Point Cemetery also can be spotted from the road.

• Pinckney Colony Road in Bluffton. The first Catholic church on the road, St. Mary's in the Woods, was built in 1915. The current church, St. Andrews, was built in the 1930s.

• May River Road/S.C. 46, which leads to the Bluffton Historic District and is a State Scenic Highway. The historic district is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.