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.

December 15, 2006:Progress with the Mt. Pleasant pier

Here is the Mt. Pleasant worksite - with the Bidwell paving machine in the background

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The paving machine up close and personal

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A view of what I call the smoother - driven by a worm gear to level the surface (anyone with a better description - don't keep it a secret)

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From under the paving section

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Checking on something

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The new surface - to be cured

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Fixing a few places

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Cousin Arthur - checking for quality control

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Looking back

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A view of near the end of the pear

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Looking east

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and looking west

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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