Smith Ford
Big outdoor playground
Smith Ford Tract is a big outdoor playground rolling across the hills and hollows of western York County. It lies on Smith Ford Road a couple of miles west of the small town of Hickory Grove. Broad ridges covered with young pine give views of the surrounding hills. Guyonmoore Creek is big, year-round stream with a rock and gravel base that flows through the land and along its boundary for more than 8,000 feet. Patches of hardwood stand along the creek and on hillsides. Almost half the land is covered by mature forest with pines around 40 years old and hardwoods that are older. Wood ducks can be seen dabbling in the pools along Guyonmoore Creek. Quail are heard calling among the youngest pines. Wild turkeys are common and whitetail deer are abundant. The land is all forested except for woods roads and a few small openings and trails. About 131 acres are covered in loblolly pine now 3 or 4 years old. These trees are healthy and growing fast. About 130 acres are in loblolly pine now 10 to 11 years old and about 128 acres of pines were planted in 1986. Another ±150 acres or more is forested with a mix of mature pine and hardwood standing on steeper slopes and near streams. Almost three miles of woods roads and additional ATV trails give good access to the property. Soils are mostly sandy clay loam or sandy loam and productive for timber and wildlife openings. The highest point on the property sits at about 600 feet elevation. The immediate neighborhood is mostly wooded tracts and pastures. Houses are widely scattered in the area. The property has about 5,000 feet of frontage on Smith Ford Road, a rural 2-lane highway. About 70 acres lie north of Smith Ford Road with good access and a potential building site on a prominent hill. Topography along the road is gentle and easily accessible in some other places providing a few more potential building sites. Soil mapping for septic drain field potential looks favorable for these areas. Powerlines and fiber optic cable run near the road. There are no public waterlines in the area. A home would require well and septic. Worth Mountain Wildlife Management Area is a 1,643-acre area of public land owned managed by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The WMA lies to the south sharing over a mile of common boundary with the property. Its lands are open year-round daylight hours. The WMA has long frontage on Broad River and provides river access via Dalton’s Landing, to the south off Scenic View Road. Special WMA rules may apply to hunting activities in addition to general licenses and game zone rules. The property is shown on two plats. A plat from 1957 describes 100 acres and a plat from 1978 describes 457 acres including 3 acres of highway right-of-way. York County tax parcel numbers are 0110000002 and 0130000001. The town of York is about a 20-minute drive away and offers restaurants, doctors, churches, and stores. There are local favorites like Garden Café, York Coffee Roastery, Black’s Peaches and Bush-n-Vine farm store, and chains including Tractor Supply, Lowes, and Food Lion Grocery. The tract is about 2 miles from Hickory Grove, 14 miles from York, 29 miles from Rock Hill, and 52 miles from Charlotte. All distances are approximate road miles to the center of town.
