Altamont Ridge

Paris Mountain offers an iconic view to everyone living along the Swamp Rabbit Trail, sitting on Furman’s campus, or driving down the Poinsett Highway. We have worked to protect that view for many years and, with the Bank’s help, have protected a significant portion of the mountain’s face that looks out over these public viewsheds. Three of these projects are soon to be transferred to the state for inclusion in Paris Mountain State Park. When rare opportunities arise to protect more of this mountain we frequently act because Paris Mountain contains one of the most important and popular urban forest blocks left near downtown Greenville. The rising popularity of Paris Mountain has made it difficult and costly for the State Park to purchase more land to serve its growing audience. As a more flexible organization, we step in when it’s not immediately feasible for the state agencies to do so.

This is exactly what happened with Altamont Ridge, a 9.5-acre parcel on the face of Paris Mountain that was subdivided into four potential homesites. Four hours before the property officially went on the market, we made an offer that was accepted, $80,000 below appraised value. The sellers would not entertain a long closing timeline and we were certain the property would have been developed given the trend that is ravaging what’s left of the empty lots on the mountain, so our board voted to take the risk and borrow the funding to close on the property. What immediately intrigued us about the property was it was built on previously protected land and hosted a significant wooded footprint of the mountain’s southwestern face.

Altamont Ridge immediately adjoins the 58-acre Furman Face property we protected several years ago with the SCCB’s help. The property contains impressive mature trees and, along popular game trails, on the property are ample signs of bear, turkey, and deer. PRT has visited the site and determined it would be an important addition to the State Park. We have seen what happens to the parts of the mountain that are not protected and our collective wish is to maintain as much green space as possible, to protect the viewshed of greater Greenville, and to serve the thousands of people who come to Paris Mountain State Park each month and those who will eventually come as the region continues to grow.