Dennis Chastain to receive Extraordinary Achievement Award

Dennis Chastain is being honored with the Extraordinary Achievement Award at the 2019 ForeverGreen Awards Luncheon. The award recognizes Mr. Chastain for his 40+ years of work as a writer, historian, botanist, guide, and conservation advocate.

Dennis Chastain is an award-winning outdoor writer, historian, tour guide and interpretive naturalist. Once described by the Greenville News as a “modern day Daniel Boone,” he has spent most of his adult life exploring, photographing, and writing about the the South Carolina Mountains. 

Along the way he has made a number of important discoveries, including wildflowers never recorded in Pickens County, the remnants of long forgotten roads and Native-American trails, and numerous prehistoric rock carvings on Pinnacle and Table Rock Mountains that he and archaeologist Tommy Charles first documented.

Each spring, Dennis leads popular tours in the Nine Times area to view rare mountain plants. He has also conducted several members only field trips for Upstate Forever through the years. 

Dennis currently serves as the Blue Wall Vice-President of the Pickens County Historical Society and is working to secure funding for a historically accurate reconstruction of the colonial era Fort Prince George. Dennis and his wife, Jane, live on his family’s homeplace in the shadow of Table Rock where his ancestors have been deeply rooted since 1796. 

The Extraordinary Achievement Award recognizes an individual who, through dedication and leadership, has made an extraordinary contribution to conservation and/or sustainable growth in the Upstate.

Tickets are on sale now for the luncheon, which will take place Feb. 19, 2019 at the Embassy Suites in Greenville. You can read about the other award recipients at our blog. For more information about this event, please contact Murray Dorn at murray@smoakpr.com.