Beaufort County Greenspace Program
Get to know the Green Space Program’s protected lands and project types.
Located at the headwaters of the Port Royal Sound, this 4,400 acre peninsula is forever protected from development.
Gregorie Neck is an undeveloped 4,400 acre peninsula located in Jasper County. It’s bounded by the Tulifinny and Coosawhatchie Rivers, which drain into the salt marshes at the headwaters of the Broad River and Port Royal Sound. The property has direct access to Highway 17 and Interstate 95, conveniently connecting the property to the economic centers and ports in Charleston and Savannah.
Such conditions made Gregorie Neck highly valuable land for residential and commercial development. Fortunately, the Nature Conservancy took swift action to purchase the property, and working with the Open Land Trust secured funding through the South Carolina Conservation State Bank, the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program, and the Beaufort County Green Space Program to place a permanent conservation easement on the entire 4,400 acres.
This project was the first project the Beaufort County Green Space Program funded. The County’s share in the conservation easement totaled $1,000,000, only a 7.4% of the total cost of the $13M easement. With the easement in place, Gregorie Neck is protected in perpetuity from development of any kind, saving several homesteads as is allowed through the conservation easement terms. Even though the property is located in Jasper County, preventing residential, commercial, and industrial development on Gregorie Neck provides invaluable benefits to Beaufort County citizens because of the property’s location in Port Royal Sound and along transportation corridors that serve the County.