Dozen Hills

Creeks, Hills, and Wildlife

Dozen Hills Tract is a great recreation property located north of Hwy 9 between Lowrys and Lockhart in a quiet, rural area of northwest Chester County.

The property is a mix of habitats for wildlife. Creek bottoms are filled with mature hardwoods. The uplands are rolling hills covered by a mix of open, young pines and older, thinned pines. Steep slopes are found in places overlooking the creek bottom. Large streams, Susybole Creek and Mill Creek flank the tract on two sides.

About 128 acres are forested, with loblolly pine planted in 2022. These trees are now in their third growing season. The area is open with abundant grasses and little hardwood competition, making an open habitat that supports deer, rabbits, and quail. Long views across the property are abundant. A prominent hill near the center of the tract gives a 180-degree vista of the countryside for miles around.

About 49 acres on the eastern side of the tract were planted with loblolly pine in 1999. These trees were fertilized in 2003, thinned in 2014, and fertilized again in 2016. Trees are well-spaced. Blackberry, grasses, and other wildlife food sources are common.

Susybole Creek is a large, sandy bottom stream that runs the northeast property line for about 2,500 feet. The bottomland is wide in places and dominated by large yellow poplar, red oak, black walnut, and cottonwood. Paw paw and switchcane are common in the understory. White oak and American beech shade the hillsides which overlook the creek bottom. Mill Creek is another large, sandy stream that cuts across the southwest corner of the land for about 800 feet, surrounded by large hardwoods. The bottomland here is narrower, but a few acres of oaks and other hardwoods stand on a hillside across the creek in the property corner. In all, about 30 acres are covered by mature hardwood.

The soils are mostly sandy loam and productive for timber and wildlife openings. The topography is strongly rolling over most of the tract. Some ridge tops lay gently and would be useful for larger wildlife openings. The shape of the tract, along with the terrain, allows for many trails and the opportunity to improve or add others to make an ATV playground. The topography shows multiple places where shooting lanes or target ranges could be set up to extend a quarter mile and, in at least one place, up to 1,500 feet.

Internal roads and trails give access across the land but need work in some places. Small openings of around a quarter to half an acre are scattered along the roads. These are sites once used as logging decks. There are big tracts and no houses for miles on three sides of the property. Two floodplains that flank the property ensure no homes will be built near the property line in those areas.

The property has more than 200 feet of frontage on Mt. Pleasant Church Road. A powerline along the road ends just beside the property line near a neighbor’s home. There are no public waterlines nearby. The immediate neighborhood is mostly wooded tracts. Houses are widely scattered in the area. A couple of residences are within sight of the property near the road frontage.

The town of Chester is a 15-to-20-minute drive away and offers restaurants, doctors, churches, and groceries. There are local favorites like Broad River Mercantile and Nova Donuts Café, as well as chains like Ace Hardware and Tractor Supply. The little town of Lockhart is only a stone’s throw away. The tract is about six miles from Lockhart, 13 miles from Chester, 38 miles from Spartanburg, 27 miles from Rock Hill, and 53 miles from Charlotte. All distances are approximate road miles to the center of town.

The property is timberland with no improvements and does not have an address. It is on Mt. Pleasant Church Road (GPS = “State Rd 54, Chester, SC 29706”), about two miles north of its junction with Millwood Road. County tax map # 027-00-00-035-000.