Palmetto Trail brings the nation to Newberry

Have you heard some unfamiliar accents in downtown Newberry lately? The Palmetto Trail attracts hikers and mountain bikers from near and far, many of whom challenge themselves to hike as many passages as they can. This brings a lot of people into Newberry who might otherwise miss all it has to offer.

But the Trail also brings young people from around the country in to work on the Trail. Recently, 11 members of the Palmetto Conservation Corps were in Newberry County working on the Enoree Passage and helping with the SC7 event at the Newberry Opera House. The Corps members, nearly all recent college graduates seeking adventure before settling down, hail from as far away as Washington State and as close as North Carolina. Not surprisingly, two come from neighboring North Carolina. Perhaps less expected are two members each from Iowa and Michigan. The remainder hail from Ohio, Louisiana, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Palmetto Conservation Corps is a South Carolina trail-based affiliate of AmeriCorps, supported in part by the United Way Association of South Carolina-AmeriCorps. Like the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, the Palmetto Conservation Corps was established to encourage values of community service, simple living and selflessness. Unlike the old Civilian Conservation Corps, our modern-day Corps includes women. Both the old and new Corps focus on building or improving public recreational facilities. South Carolina’s first state parks were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, as was Lynches Woods park here in Newberry.

The Palmetto Conservation Corps has the additional goal of giving young adults ages 18 to 25 a head-start on job skills and leadership training. They were inaugurated in 2016, and have since won awards and started many young people on careers in natural resource management, parks and recreation, and construction. As Palmetto Trail Director Mary Roe says, “they are phenomenal.”

At a recent welcome cook-out at Palmetto Trail headquarters in Columbia, new Corps members were adjusting to the heat with ice cream and lots of water. Their first days on the job were filled with learning trail building and related skills, along with leadership principles and some on-the-job environmental education. Corps members led a group of Girl Scouts on a nature hike along the newly-opened Saluda River walk above Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. Sharing knowledge about conservation and the environment is built in to the Corps experience around the state, and Corps members are often called on to participate in environmental education events.

Corps members loved their introduction to Newberry during the SC7 event on July 14. The small-town southern hospitality is always a treat for outsiders. Corps members were asked to help line up music for the presiding DJ, and one even led some dances. Travis Shelley, from North Carolina, was interviewed by the local radio station. All in a day’s work, right?

Not exactly. A normal workday for the Corps begins early and ends late, and involves a lot of hard physical activity. In the Newberry area this week, Corps members carried out a blitz repair of a boardwalk in such need of attention that people fell through it while trying to figure out how to fix it. That removed any doubt about the urgency of the work! With materials donated by the U.S. Forest Service and guidance from a private contractor, the Palmetto Conservation Corps and I were able to repair over 200 feet of boardwalk in just three days!

Although the work was completed in time for the SC7 expedition to come through Newberry, our long-term goal is to keep the passage safe and comfortable for anyone making the trek northward from Newberry. The Newberry Passage of the Palmetto Trail serves as the gateway to the demanding passages between the midlands and the mountains, and we want to make sure every user has a good experience, whether they begin at the coast at Awendaw, or in the mountains at Oconee, or somewhere in between, like Newberry.

After their stint in South Carolina, many of these young people will move on to another AmeriCorps project, hoping to see as much of the country as they can before going on to further education or settling down at more typical jobs. One young man has lined up stints in California, and then Hawaii. Newberry has left a lasting impression on them—one they will share with others wherever they go in this big nation of ours. Meanwhile, the Palmetto Trail will prepare to receive a new group of very diverse Corps members, bringing a variety of skills, beginning in the fall.

For information about the Palmetto Trail, visit www.palmettoconservation.org.