Charleston Currents

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PHOTO ESSAY: Calhoun statue comes down in Charleston

Staff reports | Contributing photographer Rob Byko captured the moment Wednesday (above) that a statue of John C. Calhoun cracked away from its pedestal after workers sawed and chiseled for 17 hours to free it.

After Charleston City Council voted Tuesday night to take down the statue, work crews arrived shortly after midnight Wednesday to start the removal process. Originally, officials thought it would take a few hours to unattach the bronze statue from the 115-foot pedestal at Marion Square, but workers discovered they had to saw through a metal rod inserted more than a century ago to provide stability, particularly from hurricane-force winds.

Throughout the day, hundreds stopped by to watch the workers’ progress. Just after 5 p.m., the statue came down. It then was loaded onto a truck and taken away. Read more about what happened Wednesday.

by Rob Byko · 06/29/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Photo Essay, Photos

MYSTERY PHOTO: Marine scene

Here’s a scene somewhere on the water. 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, “Pretty gazebo begs question, ‘Where am I?,” is located on Race Street in Charleston in a park adjacent to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

by Charleston Currents · 06/29/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

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.

by Charleston Currents · 06/22/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

MYSTERY PHOTO: Mysterious statue

Here’s a Lowcountry-area statue, but who does it depict, where is it and what’s his story (briefly)? 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, “Beautiful sunset,” featured a pink glow along Savannah Highway in the West Ashley part of Charleston near the Early Bird Diner.

by Charleston Currents · 06/15/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

MYSTERY PHOTO: Beautiful sunset

Look at how the setting sun casts a pink glow above trees on this stretch of highway on a recent evening. Beautiful. But where is this general location? 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, “Pipes and stuff,” showed some of the material being used in construction to make the Low Battery taller. This photo was taken along Murray Boulevard near the U.S. Coast Guard station.

by Charleston Currents · 06/08/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

FOCUS: Peaceful protest followed by looting, clean-up and curfew

Staff reports | Saturday brought a pretty peaceful protest of up to 1,000 people marching through the streets of downtown Charleston. But as night fell, looters ransacked stores and eateries already suffering from weeks of closure due to the novel coronavirus.

Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd as rioters, generally thought to be a different set of people from protesters, threw bricks, rocks and furniture through windows along King Street, particularly causing damage north of Calhoun Street. By 10 p.m., a countywide curfew was in effect.

Just before midnight, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg released the following statement: “The murder of George Floyd has rightly caused outrage here and across the country. And while we as Charlestonians strongly support all of the good men and women who are peacefully and lawfully protesting that terrible crime, we cannot and will not condone acts of violence and vandalism in our city. …

by Charleston Currents · 06/01/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Photo Essay, Photos

MYSTERY PHOTO: Pipes and stuff

Got any idea where these pipes and building materials are? 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, “Another old picture of an old building,” shows historic Strawberry Chapel in Berkeley County along the Cooper River.

by Charleston Currents · 06/01/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

MYSTERY: Another old picture of old building

Here’s another old, somewhat blurry, image of an old building in what obviously is the Lowcountry (witness the Spanish moss). Where is it? And for the bonus, what importance does it have? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous mystery, “Old picture of old place,” showed Middleburg Plantation in a Library of Congress photo from the 1930s. Middleburg, located near Huger on the Cooper River in Berkeley County, is reportedly the oldest wooden house — circa 1697 — south of Virginia.

by Charleston Currents · 05/25/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

MYSTERY PHOTO: Old picture of old place

Here’s an old picture of an old place in South Carolina. What and where is it? For bonus points, what’s its significance? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous mystery, “Maybe our most difficult mystery yet,” must not have been that tough, thanks to anyone who knows how to do an image search via ye olde Internet. The mural of Anthony Bourdain, Albert Einstein, Jimi Hendrix and Salvador Dali is on the side of the empty Roumillat’s antiques building on Savannah Highway in West Ashley.

by Charleston Currents · 05/18/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

MYSTERY PHOTO: Maybe our most difficult yet

It’s not often that you see a mural mixing the images of Salvador Dali, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein and Anthony Bourdain. But if you know where to look, you’ll find it somewhere in the Lowcountry. Where? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous mystery, “Big water,” showed the Beaufort River with the Woods Memorial Bridge to Lady’s Island in the background.

by Charleston Currents · 05/11/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos