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.
May 27, 2005 18:29
Town Creek Segments
June 04, 2005 12:06
From the top of the Ravenel west tower
June 22, 2005 17:23
Grace and Pearman main spans
July 07, 2005 8:10
From the Ravenel bicycle lane
August 05, 2005 7:18
Early morning - The Grace, Pearman and Ravenel Bridges
August 05, 2005 16:23
Ravenel Approaches
August 22, 2005 17:59
At the beginning of the superstructure
August 23, 2005 9:28
Dropping road segments (from Sparky Witte)
August 27, 2005 19:45
Stonehenge
September 02, 2005 15:00
Town Creek Segment
October 05, 2005 12:31
Dropping a Pearman column just like dropping a tree - almost
October 22, 2005 8:21
An early morning look at progress over Drum Island
October 25, 2005 7:56
Clearing Grace and Pearman structures from Drum Island
November 27, 2005 14:20
Preparations of the Pearman Piers
November 30, 2005 15:53
Imploding Pearman Pier D-25
January 07, 2006 9:45
The jackup barge at work
January 21, 2006 9:05
Cleaning up the remains of T-4
February 16, 2006 14:20
A bit of building going on in the yard and other stuff
February 17, 2006 10:12
Jim Grier and his A team fells the last Grace segment on Drum Island
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
C. Frank Starmer