DATE: April 15, 2009

CONTACT: Jim Frederick, 843-662-3526
jfrdrck@clemson.edu

WRITER: Peter Hull, 843-554-7226, ext. 118
phull@clemson.edu

Celebrate rural heritage at Clemson’s Outdoor Educational Trail in Florence

FLORENCE – From fiddling and fishing to grits and grass-fed beef, Clemson University’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center opens its doors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 25 for the 2009 Rural Heritage Celebration at the center’s Outdoor Education Trail.

The annual outdoor event – free and open to the public – includes a live show of ETV’s “Making it Grow,”  the best of South Carolina’s home-grown foods, exhibits on how our rural heritage was shaped and displays on renewable “green” energy and how it will help power South Carolina’s future.

Interactive learning centers located throughout the 1.5-mile-long trail explain the importance of natural resources found in the ecosystems of our region. The trail offers information on how these resources are used and the role society has in resource conservation.

Follow the trail and learn about Clemson’s research projects as you move from longleaf pine restoration to bird house row, through the corn maze and into the butterfly garden, among many others areas.

For more information and to download a map of the trail, visit http://www.clemson.edu/oet.

Clemson’s Pee Dee center is at 2200 Pocket Road in Florence, just 1.5 miles off Interstate 95 exit 169.

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