By SCOTT POWELLLedger Staff Writerspowell@gaffneyledger.com

More than 200 youngsters from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints spent a couple of hours Friday morning cleaning up the Lake Whelchel and Furnace Mill Dam sections of the Overmountain Victory Trail. More than 200 young people attending a 3-day retreat spent time Friday morning cleaning up sections of the Overmountain Victory Trail in Cherokee County.

Youth groups from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints cleared weeds, removed tree limbs and cleared other debris from around the Lake Whelchel and Furnace Mill Dam sections of the Overmountain Victory Trail. The trail retraces the route 1,000 Overmountain Men took beginning Sept. 25, 1780, from what is now Elizabethton, Tenn., to catch British Major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War.

The youngsters worked on the local sections of Overmountain Victory Trail while attending a retreat Thursday through Saturday at Limestone College, group leader Andy Smith said. Youth groups

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from Gaffney, Greenville, Spartanburg, Simpsonville, Lexington, West Columbia, and Orangeburg participated.

The service project was part of the retreat’s focus on teaching the importance of putting service above self, Smith said. The retreat’s theme was “The Road Less Traveled,” titled after the Robert Frost poem of the same name.

Another activity involved learning about the life of church founder Joseph Smith as the church celebrates his 200th birthday.

“We want the youth to think about going with Jesus Christ and taking the road less traveled.

We hope this service project and other activities will help these youth learn about the importance of serving others,” Smith said. “This lesson of service is something these youth can take with them for the rest of their lives.”

The efforts of the church youth will make local sections of the Overmountain Victory Trail more accessible to visitors, committee member Peggy Jolley said. The trail is normally maintained by volunteers as time permits.

This means the Furnace Mill and Lake Whelchel sections of the trail can sometimes go weeks without receiving attention, Jolley said.

“We are so excited to have this many youth helping us keep the trail clean. We are often at the mercy of volunteers when maintaining the trail so it can get overgrown really quickly,” Jolley said. “The youth got a lot of work done in a short amount of time. We are very appreciative of the youth for taking time from their retreat to help us keep the trail looking nice. We will be happy to work with them again in the future.”