Lyman Preserve

ALC’s first major conservation easement was donated by Mrs. Arthur T. Lyman in 1994. This 94-acre easement includes a large hay meadow that sweeps down to a wetland seep containing spring azaleas and other interesting plants. The wetlands and bluffs above ponds and an Lyman meadow adjacent stream contain ecologically important plant communities and offer valuable wildlife habitat. The Lyman Preserve is connected to the Parkman Reserve by the Jantzen-Pickett Preserve, providing a continuous large tract of land on the south side of Aiken that is permanently protected from large-scale development. Because of these land donations and easement protections, a large tract of protected land is available for equestrian and pedestrian use, and passers-by on Silver Bluff Road and Richardson’s Lake Road are afforded a view of land maintained in its rural state forever

Conservation Conversations
Rich and Sara McNeil, Lyman Preserve

“Rich and I are the very lucky beneficiaries of the foresight that Timmy Lyman had to preserve her land. She was one of the first in Aiken to put her property into conservation easement with Aiken Land Conservancy in 1994.

We never could have acquired the Lyman Preserve if it hadn’t been under conservation easement because the price would have been prohibitive. We are sure that our 100+ acres just 10 minutes from downtown Aiken would now be a housing development similar to the ones that are adjacent to us in the map.

The Lyman Preserve is a habitat for wild turkeys, deer, hawks, foxes and a myriad of other wonderful creatures. Every spring, a pair of geese shows up to have their babies almost exactly on Mother’s Day.

We feel so fortunate to have this beautiful property and we pledge to be good stewards to the land as Timmy Lyman had intended.”

– Sara McNeil