MYSTERY PHOTO: Pretty gazebo begs question, “Where am I?”

Here’s an interesting, modern gazebo somewhere in the Lowcountry.  Tell us where and something about any facet of the photo.  Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our most recent mystery, “Mysterious statue,” shows a bronze statue of Denmark Vesey in Hampton Park.

Todd Chas of Charleston called it a “very appropriate choice for this week’s mystery photo” with lots of talk in Charleston about taking down the statue of slaveholder John C. Calhoun.  As Calhoun was beginning public service, Vesey inspired a slave revolt that led to his death.

Congratulations to all who identified the statue:  Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; Jim McMahan, Cynthia Bledsoe, Chris Kenison, Delia A. Smith, Judy Hines, Paul Wood, Joseph Rotter and Frederick George, all of Charleston; Jay Altman of Columbia; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Archie Burkel of James Island; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va. 

McMahan explained that Vesey “was a carpenter and a leader of the African American community in Charleston.  He was accused and convicted of being the leader of an uprising in June of 1822 and was put to death on July 2 of that year.”  Kenison reminded that Vesey bought his freedom after winning a lottery.

Peel shared more insights about Vesey, who was a founder of Emanuel AME Church: “News of the upcoming rebellion was leaked to the authorities who where able to quell the revolt before it even started, when Vesey and 34 slaves, including some from the household of the state’s governor, were arrested, tried and hanged for ‘attempting to raise an insurrection.’

“The monument is a life-size rendering of Vesey and was created by Ed Dwight, a Colorado-based artist. It was unveiled on Feb. 8, 2014, some 18 years after the monument committee was formed in 1996 by then County Councilman Henry Darby and Curtis Franks of the Avery Research Center. The Black Lives Matter movement held a peaceful and silent moment of prayer around the statue on June 18, 2015, the day after nine parishioners of the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church were tragically and horrifically gunned down by a 21-year-old white supremacist. According to Jack O’Toole, the director of communications for the City of Charleston, the ‘statue of Denmark Vesey is a critical symbol of our citizens’ continuing commitment to racial reconciliation.’”

• 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.