Park Circle goes green

Park Circle St. Patrick's Day festivities, North Charleston, SC

The Park Circle neighborhood of North Charleston celebrates St. Patrick's day in a big way and they do it early! It's the first time I've been to this event and the streets were crowded with happy green people having a good time.

Rockabilla-Que Mural

David Boatwright mural, North Charleston, SC 

I took a detour to the Park Circle area of North Charleston the other day to track down mural artist David Boatwright's recent Rockabilla-Que mural and was not disappointed.

See more of the artist's work here: luckyboyart.com

Walk with me - North Charleston, Riverfront Park

Charleston Naval Base Memorial, Riverfront Park, North Charleston

Fog! I was not the only person with a camera enjoying yesterday's fog. I went to North Charleston's Riverfront Mark & Naval Base Memorial. Along the with usual sculptures they have rotating outdoor sculptures on display. I was pleased to see a few of the historic buildings under repair.

I hope everyone is enjoying the new year!

Park Circle

E.Montague, North Charleston, SC 

Many states and cities are better at the "neighborhood" concept than we are but we have a few successful ones off the peninsula. I had breakfast with my son this morning in Park Circle and I am always impressed with the thriving, walk-able old town on East Montague. Wonderful restaurants - Lotus, Madra Rua, The Codfather (new and enlarged), the Junction, Southern Roots, coffee shops and now a real book store and a Park Circle branch of Lava Salon. Well done North Charleston.

The Dead House

Dead House, North Charleston, SC  

Anything named the Dead House has to be mysterious, right? I can't find any real reason it is called that but the small brick structure on the old Navy base in North Charleston may be it's most historic structure. I sure do wish they would take off the No Trespassing sign since so many of us show up to take photos. Sheesh.

This information is from the Navy Yard Blog:

The Navy called it the Dead House, and that name “Dead House” appears on an 1895 survey of the area done prior to the design of the Chicora Park on the site by Olmsted Brothers. So the building pre-dates the Navy and Chicora Park. Before that the land was a plantation. Navy Architect Randy Guy’s research identified 15 different landowners from the first land grant in 1672 through 1895. There are many periods of local history when storing powder around the fringe of Charleston would have been called for, but no specific information has yet been found. Of the land owners, one stands out. His name was Sir Edgerton Leigh. He owned the property from 1767-1771. He was the first customs officer and the first postmaster for Charleston. In his customs capacity, it is thought that he assessed a tax on gunpowder carried by arriving ships. How this possible gunpowder connection may tie into the building on the Base is unclear thus far. Graduate student Chris Ohm from the College of Charleston has been researching a number of leads about the building and time will hopefully tell us more of the story.
Mr Hugh’s own theory on the Dead House name is that it stems from the use of the old powder magazine as a temporary place to put bodies until burial was arranged. On the old plantation grounds, this building would have been the coolest place.

Old Naval Hospital - North Charleston

Old Navy Hospital, North Charleston, SC    

I've brought you to the abandoned Naval Hospital in North Charleston before but this time I walked around the entire property and realized how large the facility was. It's a beautiful old Spanish style building and it is sad to see it falling into disrepair. Many people have memories of working or being inside the building when it was a lively and bustling healthcare facility. Now the lower windows are boarded and the outside is marked with graffiti.

The Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District is nationally significant as an example of the United States effort to mobilize medical support for the Navy during World Wars I and II and the Navy's ability to create a permanent and professional medical service for Navy personnel and their dependents. These healthcare facilities were placed at the Charleston Navy Base and planned in a manner consistent with military protocol to organize medical treatment, support services, and residential units. The district is also architecturally significant for buildings and structures that reflect the time periods in which they were constructed corresponding to large building periods at the Charleston Navy Base during the First and Second World Wars. The majority of buildings have a unifying architectural language which incorporates both Spanish Colonial and Mission style forms with Modern details and materials. Two residential buildings and support structures date from the First World War and exhibit Craftsmen Bungalow features. The Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District is an intact collection of thirty-two buildings located in the northwest corner of the former Charleston Navy Base. There are three groups of buildings that comprise the District: treatment facilities centered on the main hospital complex, service related buildings located to the east of the main hospital, and residential buildings largely located to the west and south of the hospital. The earliest extant structures in the district date from 1917 during construction of hospital facilities to serve an increased labor force at the base during World War I. 

Postcard - U.S. Naval Hospital, Charleston

It appears they left a few patients inside when it closed.

North Charleston Riverfront Park Sculpture Exhibition

Outdoor sculptures, North Charleston Riverfront Park, North Charleston, SC   

I love wandering the old Navy base area in North Charleston and catching up on the latest sculptures added to the exhibition area at the Riverfront Park. We don't have too much modern sculpture in Charleston and this is a treat. I met a few friends this morning for fish and chips at the CODfather on Reynolds Ave. and then enjoyed the park. 

More details on the artists and their award winning work here. You too can submit a piece of art and win prizes! 

Sculptors from across the nation are welcome to submit an application for participation in the National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition. Up to 14 sculptures are juried into the exhibit and compete for cash prizes totaling up to $19,750. The deadline to apply for the 2017/18 exhibition has passed (February 25, 2017). Call the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at 843-740-5854 for more information, or to be added to the application mailing list for 2018/19.

This one is actually the performance stage

If you like it put a blanket on it

North Charleston, SC  

Lucky for her we've had a warm fall and winter so far but I'll keep my eye out for a snugly jacket before we get a real chill. North Charleston Riverfront Park hosts a national outdoor sculpture competition that brings some interesting work to our area and is well worth a visit. Here is the full version of our gal standing on her poor victim.

Holiday parties continue at work - the Ambulatory Surgery nurses cook an amazing feast and invite all their volunteers to an annual feast. They could publish a cookbook based on this meal alone - ham, crockpot mac & cheese, potato salad, deviled eggs spread out all over the conference room. No wonder their volunteer team works so hard. 

Old Navy Base - Quarters H-I

Charleston Navy Base, North Charleston, SC   

My last post left everyone so sad seeing the fading glory of the building on the old Navy Base that today's photo is intended to be a more positive view. This is the neighbor of yesterday's photo.

Lovely! In my recent visit I noticed that the walkway and driveway at Quarters H-I was all new, the landscaping was fresh and lovely and the building looks in good shape. Happy day!

This particular building was often featured in the series Army Wives. Here is a 2012 article from the Post & Courier by Robert Behr:

Old Navy Base's Best Building Renewed: It may be the finest architectural work on the former Charleston Naval Base, and a $1.5 million renovation is putting Quarters H-I back into use after remaining vacant for more than a decade.
Built in 1905, this Renaissance Revival work is a highly eclectic blend of classical, arts and crafts and Italianate flourishes -- a Beaux Arts beauty built of first-rate materials.
While the old Navy base has industrial buildings far grander in scale, none of them match this for attention to detail, befitting its original use as the offices of the Commandant, his staff and for the Captain of the Yard.
Its grandeur also fits its prominent site. The 8,000-square-foot rectangular building sits atop one of the base's most prominent hilltops and on axis with the Cooper River in Frederick Law Olmsted's Chicora Park design (Charleston briefly created its own equivalent to New York's Central Park here before President Theodore Roosevelt and the U.S. Navy got interested in the land).

Old Navy Base - North Charleston

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Something is different every time I walk at the old Navy Base property in North Charleston. Some buildings are gradually getting fixed up, sidewalks and parking lots pop up and new businesses move it. Other buildings sadly fall into worse and worse shape.

In other and unrelated news, I have been watching an odd but entertaining BBC series called A Young Doctor's Notebook starring John Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe on Netflix about a young doctor in Russia in the early 1900's.

Sculpture Competition & Exhibition

I visit sculpture gardens in other cities - most recently St. Louis and Seattle and have actually complained that we fall short on large dramatic art installations. Hello! I saw a picture of this fun bicycle piece on facebook and knew it was time to go for my morning walk at the North Charleston River Front park again. Isn't this fun?!

This is ithe link to information on the National Outdoor Sculpture Competition information. They are currently featuring fourteen sculptures by established and emerging artists from across the nation and are on display for eleven month. I learned that the colorful bike art is by Meuller & Charzewski and that I missed some described on the site and will need to go back. Thank you North Charleston!

Edit: forgive my typos! I hope not too many people read it before I fixed them. Blogging in a hurry, multitasking. Shame on me. No spell check in the title box apparently.

Park band stand - art in it's own right!