MYSTERY PHOTO: Gold top

The only clue we’ll give you to this week’s Mystery Photo is it is not in South Carolina.  So what is it and where is it?   Send your guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com with “Mystery Photo” in the subject line.   Please make sure to include your name and contact information.

Last issue’s mystery

The April 2 Mystery Photo may have been the best ever (so far) because it was one of three of the same thing.  Last week’s photo shows the top of a “standpipe” water tower in Walterboro. But wait, there are two other similar structures in South Carolina — one in nearby Allendale and another in the Upstate in Belton (we didn’t know about the Belton one.)

Hats off to those who correctly identified the Walterboro tower: George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Joe Mendelsohn of Charleston; and Tom Tindall of Creston, N.C.

Graf provided some more detail: “According to altlasobscura.com, it took a Boston engineering firm a couple of years to build the 133-foot tower, which was completed in 1915, and it employs what’s known as a standpipe system. 100,000 gallons of water is stored in the top and, using plain old gravity to pressurize the water up above (with a little help from hydro pumps), the water is pushed down through the pipe system and out to homes and businesses. The Walterboro Water Tower is one of only three standpipe systems in the state of South Carolina.

“There is a small door at the base of the tower that leads to a space that was once used as a county jail. Long since out of penal service, there are six small cells, and just a couple of windows. Some say that these cells later served as sleeping quarters for stranded travelers who needed a place to stay for a night.”

Tindall provided similar information, including, “The Walterboro Water Tower is included in the National Register as a part of the Walterboro Historic District.”

• 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.