MYSTERY PHOTO: The sea life

It won’t be long before we return to beaches from Hilton Head Island to the Grand Strand.  Here’s a pier somewhere along the state’s coast, but where? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

The last time we published a Mystery Photo was on Jan. 20.  It showed the Rose Pavilion at Hampton Park in Charleston. Congratulations to several sleuths to correctly identified it: 

Phil Avery, Stephen Yetman, Catherine LaFond and Marian Greely, all of Charleston; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Charlie Morrison of James Island; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Don Clark of Hartsville and Jay Altman of Columbia.

Peel shared, “Hampton Park is one of Charleston’s largest city parks and contains the largest number of floral displays of any park in the city. Many of the park’s flowers are planted and maintained by the Charleston Horticultural Society. The building depicted in the photo was originally a concession stand for the park that had been shuttered for many years, but was renovated in 2019 and renamed the ‘Rose Pavilion’ and now serves as a public gathering place. 

“The park’s origins began in 1906 and was named in honor of Confederate General Wade Hampton III who, at the time of the Civil War owned one of the largest collections of slaves in the South. A zoo was added to the park in 1932, but by the mid-1960’s the zoo had become run-down, eventually closing in 1975. Redevelopment of the park, including the addition of the concession stand, began in the early 1980’s, focusing its efforts on landscaping and floral displays. The refurbished park re-opened in June 1984.”

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.