Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges
For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.
And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
Can you believe a year ago this was the Coleman Recycling Center - the place where the Pearman and Grace girders, roadway etc was prepared for recycling?
And here is the beginning of the Mt. Pleasant pier, with the sun setting over the port
Looking back toward Mt. Pleasant
Here is the rebar grid ready for pouring with the concrete pouring machine in the background
and the metal base upon which the rebar grid will rest
Girders for the next extension of the pier - and then one more to go??
Another look at the pier worksite
as the sun says bye bye
Sunset in and aound Charleston is simply unique
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
C. Frank Starmer