Team fighting to preserve green space in one small Upstate town

SIX MILE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - One team is fighting to save what is left of the green space in Six Mile in Pickens County.

Councilman James Atkinson said there have been concerns about the town’s appearance.

Over the past two years, town officials have been working on preserving the 63 acres of green pasture land founded by the Cherokee in the 1700s.

One of the issues are squatters who leave behind lounge chairs, dumbed down aluminum cans and buckets which take away from what the town use to represent, according to Atkinson.

The home that Atkinson’s father grew up in sits on the corner of a developing area running right into Six Mile Elementary and the Bryson Children’s Nature Walk.

The Bryson Children’s Nature Walk was named after a couple who left a will that would go to the children of the town.

Scott Park with Upstate Forever said the organization’s main mission is looking after the water quality of the Upstate region. There is a stream near the Bryson Children’s nature walk that goes right to Six Mile Creek.

According to Park, a lot of development or a growing town, like the town of Six Mile, you want the water to be as clean as it can be before it heads downstream.

Preserving the property will remain through Upstate Forever, with the help of a private funder, creating opportunity, enjoying nature and keeping the Bryson Children’s Nature Walk a gift that is priceless.

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