DNR News
** Archived Article - please check for current information. **
Dec. 20, 2012
Clemson University graduate students create new Sassafras Mountain overlook
A team of Clemson University graduate students in architecture and landscape architecture recently designed, constructed and installed a new overlook at Sassafras Mountain in northern Pickens County.
The collective motivation was to provide a universally designed viewing platform accessible to all who visit the highest point in South Carolina, Pickens County and the Foothills Trail, according to Dan Harding, associate
professor of architecture and director of the Community Research and Design Center at Clemson University.
“The concept hinged on an idea that used a primary wood structure with a light, sky-blue-painted steel railing designed to leave visitors feeling as if they are floating over a wonderful rock out-cropping while remaining safely contained by the railing, which disappears into the expanding horizon,” Harding said.
Built entirely on the campus of Clemson University employing best practices associated with sustainable construction and resource management, the pre-fabricated overlook platform and the project components were transported and mobilized to the job site by the design team with assistance from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR). At the Sassafras parking area, about 80 feet in elevation below the top of Sassafras Mountain, the parts were efficiently re-assembled over several days. Currently, work is still being performed to sculpt the existing trail to improve the connection and access to the overlook.
The student design team, from Clemson University’s School of Architecture and Department of Landscape Architecture, includes Nick Barrett, Thomas Campbell, Priyanka Jagsdale and Thomas Punzo. Project professors are Harding and Paul Russell, assistant professor of landscape architecture. Funding was provided by DNR.
A fund-raising campaign to build an observation tower atop Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina, is currently underway.
More News
- Brick at base of Sassafras Mountain observation tower would make unique Christmas gift
- Harry Hampton Fund kicks off Sassafras Mountain tower fundraiser with $25,000 donation
- Clemson University graduate students create new Sassafras Mountain overlook
- National Geographic names Jocassee Gorges one of ‘50 of the World’s Last Great Places’
- State wildlife, fisheries group meets Jan. 8 at Styx Receiving Compound
- Commercial shad fishing season opens two weeks early in Georgetown area
- Upstate mobility impaired deer hunts have another big year in 2012
- New state temperature record set in 2012
- DNR Law Enforcement donates 300 toys to Toys for Tots
- 2012 Environmental Awareness award nominations sought
- Freshwater fishing trends
- Saltwater fishing trends
- S.C. weekly tidetable
- DNR video
Follow DNR on the Web:
