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.
Home Meeting St East Bay Drum Island Mt. PLeasant Pearman Stories Grace Stories Implosions Enginnering Insights Stories of unbuilders Learning Links Bridge Video Bridge Blog Unbuilding Archive All Unbuilding Segments Building the Ravenel Bridge Photo Essays About me
October 31, 2006: Mt. Pleasant Pier and a Charleston Sunset

Things are winding down with our unbuilding project, but I continue to need a bridge fix. I phoned Michael, Ken and then Sparky. I managed to find Sparky also in need of a bridge fix. And what a fix. Here is the Mt. Pleasant fishing and observation pier - and one of those priceless sunsets.

Looking over at the Port - it doesn't get much better than this.

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Significant progress on the pier as you can see. What used to be the supports for the Pearman ramp are now supports for the pier. This is clearly recycling at its best.

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A couple of workers making their rounds

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The worksite beside the pier

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The pier - maybe that is Manny's or Chris' crane?

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Freshly poured concrete curing. Remember when this was a fast paced process during the last days of completing the Ravenel Bridge

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Another view

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Looking south - more fantastic colors

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Looking over the north corner of the pier

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and a last look at the sunset

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

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