For information about
The Highlands-Cashiers
Land Trust please write to:
info.hitrust@earthlink.net

Tom and Georgene German, on the top of Laurel Knob, granted a conservation easement in December 2006 to the HCLT.

If you stand at Rhodes Big View located at the Jackson/Macon County line on NC Route 28/64 and look at the skyline to the east and a little north you cannot miss the vertical cliff face of Laurel Knob. Laurel Knob is part of a belt of granite domes that range from Whiteside Mountain to Looking Glass Rock.

On February 15th, 2006, the Carolina Climbers Coalition (CCC) purchased the approximately 50 acres that make up the face of the knob and this area is open to the public for climbing. However, Laurel Knob is a remote area with serious multipitch climbing. If you're going to climb here, you must respect and follow the CCC rules, which can be found at http://www.carolinaclimbers.org.

In December 2006, Laurel Knob reached another milestone: 32.5 acres was placed into a conservation easement that will protect the sensitive rock outcrop community from development. This portion of Laurel Knob is not open to the public and is privately owned by Tom and Georgene German, from Savannah. In a conservation easement, the owner gives away their development rights, not their ownership, to a third party, in this case the Highalnds-Cashiers Land Trust. In exchange for these development rights the owner gets a federal income tax deduction and lowered property taxes.

Rock outcrops like Laurel Knob are uncommon and sensitive ecosystems. Some of the plants and animals found here are only found on a few rock outcrops in the southeast or their nearest neighbor is far to the north in New England.

The knob contains a montane oak-hickory forest, with dwarfed white oak, pitch pine, and table mountain pines that are nearly 200 years old. Dan Pittillo, an eminent botanist, noted Laurel Knob is one of the best examples of this forest type in the region. Mr. and Mrs. German note they see lots of wildlife, including bobcats, from their home at the top of Laurel Knob.

To learn more about Conservations Easements, contact the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust.