June marks the 200th anniversary of the onset of the War of 1812. While there was no significant combat on South Carolina soil during the two-and-a-half- year conflict, soldiers in Mount Pleasant played an important role early in the war. First a little background. In June 1812, the fledgling United States of America was embroiled in an ongoing conflict between longtime … [Read more...]
A Stormβs Unwelcome Visit to Sullivanβs Island: Sergeant David J. Priceβs Tale of Survival
If Sullivanβs Island Police Sgt. David J. Price could erase a period of his life, he would certainly eliminate the last two weeks of September and the first two weeks of October 1989. During those four weeks, Price lost 99 percent of his worldly possessions, protected a devastated jurisdiction, shared the grief and sorrow of his fellow islandersβ losses and worried about … [Read more...]
The Voyage Back to an Island Rocked by Hugo: One Resident Remembers the Hardest Ride of His Life
Itβs 8 a.m., Sept. 25, four days after Hurricane Hugo. Following an all-night drive from Atlanta, Iβve boarded the harbor-tour boat at Patriots Point for a return to the devastated Isle of Palms. Standing there in a gloomy downpour of rain, weβre a ragtagΒ crowd gathered from all points of shelter. Iβve run the curfew gantlets, dodged fallen trees and avoided dangling … [Read more...]
A Look Back on Hurricane Hugoβs Devastation
Directly after Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Publisher Bill Macchio revealed his limited-edition magazine entitled βHurricane Hugo: Storm of the Centuryβ to residents of Mount Pleasant and the surrounding islands. Take a sneak peek at some of the articles here, and then head over to our website, mountpleasantmagazine.com, to continue reading these awe-inspiring, sometimes … [Read more...]
Step Through the Garden Gate
A Peek into Old Village Homes Have you ever glimpsed beauty through a wrought iron gate or a white picket fence? Did you feel like an intruder as you stopped and admired the brilliant color in a private garden beyond? To my great delight, we have been invited inside β to take a delicious long look at the beautiful homes and gardens of Old Mount Pleasant. The fifth … [Read more...]
Our Founding Father: Charles Pinckney
George Washington ate here. βI must apologize for asking you to call at a place so indifferently furnished and where your fare will be entirely that of a farm,β wrote Charles Pinckney in his 1791 invitation to the president. Washington stopped at Pinckneyβs farm during his tour of the South, before continuing to Charleston, where he met with the proprietor β a man he knew … [Read more...]
Our Village Library, Mount Pleasant
Similar to others nation-wide, the first library in Mount Pleasant was started by a group of women as a lending room. The Kingβs Daughters operated it out of their hall on Whilden Street in what is now known as the Old Village. The first official Mount Pleasant Library opened on June 19, 1931, as a branch of the Charleston Free Library. It was housed in a small one-room … [Read more...]