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“P” is for Peachtree Rock

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“P” is for Peachtree Rock (Lexington County). Peachtree Rock is the namesake of a 305-acre South Carolina Nature Conservancy preserve located on the Sandhills of Lexington County, sixteen miles west of Columbia. The rock (an inverted triangle) was a highly eroded remnant of sandstone that was perched on a small, tapered base. Peachtree Rock and the surrounding sandstones were formed in a marine environment during the Middle Eocene epoch. The nature of the fossils found in the area give evidence that they were formed in shallow water near shore. By the Pleistocene epoch the sea levels had fallen, and the Peachtree Rock area was above water. In 2013 a hiker observed that Peachtree Rock had tumbled off its base and the decision was made to leave it lying on its side where it had fallen.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.