Langley Pond thrives in its new mission

Many longtime residents of Aiken County can recall when Langley Pond was anything but a recreational area. Nearby mills utilized the pond as a dumping site for chemicals used in the textile manufacturing processes. The pond was essentially a dead body of water when officials decided to try and clean it up.

A few decades later, the pond is being touted as one of Aiken County's recreational jewels. It has already been the site of team training for rowing in the 1998 Olympics and is regularly in use for training and regattas. Langley Pond is part of a 406-acre recreational and conservation tract under the ownership of Aiken County and the Aiken Land Conservancy.

A ribbon cutting last week celebrated this joint venture which gives Aiken County more green space for use of its citizens for generations to come. Rather than being a lifeless body of water, Langley Pond is now an integral part of the recreational facilities owned by the people of Aiken County. The rebirth of Langley Pond has been the story of environmental reclamation that speaks well for those who had a vision for the pond and were unwilling to allow it to remain a blight in the middle of Horse Creek Valley.

As with the purchase of Boyd Pond Park - the former ORA recreational facility - the addition of land to the Langley Pond Park has been a collaboration involving Aiken County Council and the Aiken Land Conservancy. Cooperation among organizations with like-minded goals will help Aiken County's appetite for green to be satisfied.