After historic flood nearly washed plans away, Lexington finally opens Old Mill Pond trail

On Friday, a nearly decade-long renovation effort will reach its pinnacle. The town of Lexington is set to hold a ribbon-cutting for the new walking trail around the Old Mill Pond, which will cap a long road to restoring the historic pond that was drained after a dam failure during the 2015 flood.

The one-mile trail around the pond that stretches between East Main Street and South Lake Drive cost $4 million to complete and years of work to rehabilitate an area that sat dry for years after the “1,000-year flood” that damaged much of the Midlands.

The ribbon-cutting with take place at the trail head at 711 East Main Street at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Planning for the walking trail was well underway before the dam on the Old Mill Pond failed in October 2015, one of several across the Midlands damaged or destroyed due to heavy rains and swelling waters caused by the close passage of Hurricane Joaquin to the South Carolina coast.

“In 2012, the Town created a Vision Plan , envisioning what the Town should look like in the future,” Lexington Mayor Hazel Livingston said. “This trail is just part of that vision, to create walkability and open spaces for the community to enjoy.”

The 2015 flood pushed back that vision for a number of years.

It was a long road back for the trail and the pond itself, which sits next to and once powered the town’s 19th century mill. The 1890s mill structure has long since been converted into dining and retail space in the 1980s, where visitors once had pristine views of a pond that was occasionally frequented by a ski club. But until this year, visitors who parked in what was once the lakeside parking lot would peer over a steep ledge to the bottom of the pond below.

Dam owner Laban Chappell spent some $2 million completing an earthen dam on Twelve Mile Creek beside the old mill, which finished last year. Between 30,000 to 40,000 cubic yards of dirt was moved to shore up the dam, reinforced with a concrete sheeting anchored into the ground and the side of the mill building, and covered with an appealing green sod.

The town has installed trail lighting and security cameras for the new paved trail. The plan also includes the addition of a town parking lot at the base of the dam, replacing one that was washed away with the flood.

The trail will be accessible to the public from access points at the Old Mill’s upper and lower parking lots, South Lake Drive by New Bethel AME Church, the Reserve apartments and the Parker Street Commons.

The project is part of an extensive series of renovations across Lexington in recent years. The town recently completed a $7 million expansion of Virginia Hylton Park , on top of the dam renovations that allowed Lexington to reopen Gibson Pond Park , fed by the same Twelve Mile Creek that fills the mill pond.

“It all began with the construction and establishment of the Icehouse Amphitheater, which revitalized Downtown,” Livingston said. “It continued with the reimagining of Virginia Hylton Park which opened earlier this year, and now the Old Mill Pond Trail. Together, all these projects have truly transformed Lexington, making it the great place it is today.”