In 1972, then-Damyang County Chief Kim Ki-hoe made a forward-looking investment despite the county's difficult financial circumstances. Along roughly five kilometers of National Route 24, stretching from Damyang-eup to the Wonyul intersection in Geumseong-myeon, he had 1,300 five-year-old metasequoia saplings planted. It was a decision made not for immediate results, but with an eye toward decades ahead.
After these trees grew into a lush, tree-lined road, a plan emerged to widen the roadway. In response, the residents of Damyang launched a "Save the Beautiful Street Forest" campaign, voicing active opposition. Their efforts ultimately succeeded in protecting the road: rather than altering the existing Metasequoia Road, a new bypass road was built alongside it, leaving the original fully preserved. The road went on to win the 2002 Beautiful Street Forest Grand Prize, jointly organized by the Korea Forest Service and the Forest for Life Movement Headquarters, and in 2006 received the top award in the Ministry of Construction and Transportation's selection of "Korea's 100 Most Beautiful Roads." Tree-planting that began with one county chief's decision became, once those trees had grown, a heritage protected by the very residents who lived alongside it.