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.

June 4, 2006:
Sparky's view from Mt. Pleasant

You can't imagine how pleasant it is to be back in Charleston and seeing Sparky's photos the same day he took them. Yesterday was a Katrina gathering for Sparky and his coworkers and what a nice opportunity to view the changes as seen from the Mt. Pleasant side.

The Cooper River - Cousin Arthur and a few Grace and Pearman piers and the beginning of the Mt. Pleasant observation pier

Where some pier unbuilding is happening

All the recycling at the Coleman center is complete

From the Motley Rice building

Just a couple of super structure skeletons at the Port

Sunset from the Motley Rice building

Sunset from the Motley Rice building (July 16, 2005)

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C. Frank Starmer

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