Beaufort, Yemassee, Port Royal and Hilton Head Island were four of 70 applicants that received money through the state's Rural Enhancement Grant program this year.
Close to $10.6 million in grants were awarded throughout the state said Ron Joye, an assistant to the executive director of the Transportation Department.
"These enhancement grants spur tourism -- one of the biggest sources of revenue for the state," he said.
Eligibility for the grant is dependent on a municipality's demonstrated need for beautification and its ability to come up with a 20 percent match to the grant.
Yemassee residents worked hard to come up with the matching dollars for their $40,375 grant, said J.L. Goodwin, the town's mayor.
"This grant will put us on the right track," he said Wednesday.
Yemassee received the money to beautify its downtown area -- which will tie into the Lowcountry Revolutionary War Trail running through Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper and Colleton counties.
"In small areas it's almost impossible to do these projects without some type of support," Joye said.
Port Royal will use the $154,272 it received to fill a sidewalk gap on Waddell Road and connect it through the Casablanca neighborhood to Ribaut Road. Another section will run next to the Naval Heritage Park and connect to a pedestrian walkway on Old Shell Road.
Beaufort, which received $200,000, the largest grant the Transportation Department awarded, will use those dollars for streetscaping work on Bladen Street.
Since 1993, Beaufort has received more than $750,000 from the state program said Mayor Bill Rauch. Some of those dollars were used in the past to build sidewalks and landscape the downtown area.
"This program has been very good to Beaufort" he said. "Without it we wouldn't have the money to build streets and sidewalks downtown."
Hilton Head will use the $200,000 in grant money for construction of a foot bridge over Jarvis Creek on Spanish Wells Road.
