The Charleston Parks Conservancy celebrated the opening of the Ashleyville-Maryville Food Forest with a May 16 ribbon-cutting, revitalizing a historic West Ashley green space with roots in agriculture and community gardening to create a long-term neighborhood asset that provides free produce for residents.
The Ashleyville-Maryville neighborhood and the site selected for the food forest share a long history tied to agriculture and community gardening dating back to the 1800s. Before sitting vacant, the property along the West Ashley Bikeway served as farmland and later as a neighborhood-led community garden. Today, the revitalized space includes fig, peach, lemon, and grapefruit trees; blackberry and strawberry plantings; shiitake mushroom logs; herbs; and pollinator-friendly plantings designed to provide free, seasonal organic harvests for residents while supporting biodiversity and long-term sustainability.
Remarks during the ribbon cutting were provided by Jason Kronsberg, executive director of the Charleston Parks Conservancy; Wendell Gilliard, South Carolina state representative; neighborhood representatives; Conservancy board members; and project sponsors.
“Parks are some of the most visible and accessible public spaces in a neighborhood,” said Kronsberg. “This project shows how they can also become places that feed people, teach new skills, and bring communities together.”
The project builds on the success of the Mulberry Food Forest, launched by the Conservancy in 2024 as the first public food forest of its kind in South Carolina. The Ashleyville-Maryville Food Forest expands that model into another Charleston neighborhood while reinforcing the Conservancy’s vision for parks as active public spaces woven into daily community life.
The site also features the Harvest Hub, a free-standing educational resource with tools and information to help visitors learn how to harvest from and care for the food forest through future workshops and volunteer opportunities.
The Ashleyville-Maryville Food Forest proposal was brought to the Conservancy by community member Tyler Corsello in late 2024 and progressed through design, City review, community engagement, infrastructure and site preparation, and a fall 2025 installation before culminating in the ribbon-cutting celebration. Key project partners include the City of Charleston, which provided the land, the Ashleyville-Maryville Neighborhood Association, and Bank of America and the Volvo for Life Fund, whose grant funding supports the project.
"At Bank of America, we believe that economic opportunity and community health are inseparable," said Mark Munn, President, Bank of America Charleston. "Investing in a place like the Ashleyville-Maryville food forest provides pathways to opportunity. It is the kind of investment that empowers our communities and guides our work across the Lowcountry."