Entry: Exploring Unseen Charleston

Today was a real treat for me. I got to kill two bird with one stone. Firstly, I got to indulge my inner explorer (which I so rarely do these days). Secondly, I got to answer some questions that I've had forever regarding an old Charleston relic.

I was interested in checking out what is labeled in the above picture as "Abandoned building #1". You may be wondering just why. Well, for as long as I can remember, whenever I drive over the Cooper River from Mt. Pleasant to downtown Charleston, on the Charleston side of the river, there has always been some weird looking brick building out in the middle of the marsh. It has always piqued my curiosity and jogged my imagination. After doing some digging, I found out that the undeveloped area of land that I would need to walk over to get there is called "The Promenade". More information can be found here. I found out that this used to be the site of the Charleston powder magazine that was built in 1820 and later it was used as the city landfill. The abandoned building I wanted to visit was an old oil terminal built around 1900.

Now...on to the hike.

This is an aerial shot from Google maps showing the oil terminal.

A random view of the road leading into the area. My car was left parked by the recycling center.

It's always nice to be able to find a fire hydrant out in the middle of nowhere.

The pipes you see sticking up from the ground are the owner's attempt at bleeding methane from the ground from its days as a land fill.

A random shot of the marsh. I sure wish that the marshlands were easier to traverse on foot.

A shot of the bridge looking to the southeast.

Is it sad that I know not only which cemetery this is but the names on many of the graves that I can see from here? I've been around Charleston a while.

A shot of the building as I approach from the west.The thing that looks like a flagpole on the right-hand side of the picture is actually the mast from a sail boat.

Another shot of the bridge. You can see some construction/demolition equipment on the right hidden in some trees.

Another shot of the building.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the marsh between here and the building. It was pretty nasty. Fortunately, there was enough solid junk collected in the marsh and the tide had been out for a while. Hopscotch-ing my way to the building wasn't too difficult. My apologies to the fiddler crabs.

This is the building labeled "Structure #1". It's nothing but broken down brick, concrete and steel beams. Looking at this now, I'm wondering why I didn't climb that chimney and take a shot down into it.

Did I mention that the brick, concrete, and steel beams were on top of a bicycle?

This is a shot of the..."round thing"...between structures #1 and #2.

Same shot. Just panned to the right a bit. The well thing on the right was a good 12-feet (estimated) in height. The lack of things to stand on in addition to the soggy marsh around it made it a pretty easy decision to leave it alone.

A book of carpeting samples? (Oh...but it gets stranger later on.)

So, meandering over to structure #2. This one was pretty empty with a series of basket ball sized holes in the ground going straight down into the marsh below.

Looking out the window at "Abandoned building #2".

Another "round thing" in the water. The islands look a lot nicer from this vantage. They always look so sterile from the air or the bridge. It's a whole different perspective from down here. Makes me want a boat.

A shot beneath structure #1.

Ok. So, at this point, I figure it's time to make my way over to structure #3 and wrap the visit up. As I approach, looking through the window, I notice some clothes (really????) hanging from the ceiling. WTH? So, I call out a few times just in case this place is...."inhabited"...to give them some warning and not to be startled.

Upon entering structure #3 through a window, I find that it is full....literally a foot-and-a-half from the floor...with junk. And this isn't just ANY junk. It looks as though someone literally took the contents of their house (including many appliances), and dumped it all here. Talk about disappointing. Here I am, hoping to find hundred-year-old stuff and all I find is someone's house junk. And I can't help but wonder...I'm standing in a single, elevated, hundred-year-old brick building in the middle of a salt water marsh and there are NO easy ways into this thing without climbing. Just HOW did someone manage to get all this stuff here???

Weird.

...in NOT cleaning up.

There were plenty of God books to be found. And although you can't see it in this shot, those are doorknob samples behind that shoe. The heel of the shoe is up against a sample door.

Oh...and did I mention that the previous occupant covered the walls...all 360 degrees of them...with linoleum floor samples? 100+ year-old brick walls decorated like bad kitchens.

1999.

An autograph book. High school graduation, perhaps?

You know...I've mentioned the God books, but what I didn't mention was the porn. There was plenty of that as well. [Insert politically incorrect jokes here]. Don't worry...I only read the articles.

Anybody else miss this radio station?

It's like someone killed Chewbacca and left him to rot next to the door.

A Steven Spielberg-esque shot of the harbor.

Looking through the window at the other structures.

This is what I used to scurry my way in through a window that was way too high for me to reach.

One last look back as I left. That last room full of junk was a real image killer for me.

So, on my way out, I decided to take a romp through what I had labeled above as the "Random wooded area". One of the first things I spot is this track in the mud. Anybody know what kind of creature in Charleston has a paw the size of my hand with claws like that? Well...I couldn't think of any but, seeing as how the full moon wasn't out, I figured I'd go on ahead. I was interested to note several sets of deer tracks. Just in case, I whistled every few minutes so as not to startle anything that might be lurking around in this unlikely stretch of woods.

Thank God for random wood. I would have easily sunk in that mud up to my knee.

WTH??

Huh? Talk about layin' the pipe!

Ok...what is not captured very well in this pictures is the rope that is hanging around up in the trees. You can see it best on the right-hand side. It's thick rope, too. Like the kind you'd find on the deck of a ship. And long. Talk about long!

Anyone care to take a stab at just what THIS is supposed to be?

A...cage? A large one, too. Must be for the werewolf whose tracks I saw earlier.

Ok...a trash can...up in a tree. At this point I started wondering. With all the rope that looks like it was just casually tossed up in the trees and the various other junk up there, I'm starting to think. Storm surge? Hurricane? Hugo, perhaps? I'm guessing nobody's been around here for a while.

That same long-as-heck rope. Some on the ground. Some in the trees.

That same rope wrapped with...rubber tubing??

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, anyone?

A small (and I mean SMALL) portion of chain-link fencing. (Again, probably for the werewolf.)

That rope again. Wrapped around a tree with some...cargo netting??

I took a lot more pictures, but these are the ones that made the final cut. It was a strange day, but well worth it. I got a lot of questions answered. So next time you're you're on the Cooper River bridge heading downtown, take a gander to the right and you'll see what I'm talking about.