On the corner of Vendue Range and Concord Street in Charleston, South Carolina lay the north entrance to the Waterfront Park. Since the park was dedicated on May 11, 1990 and open for the public, the park has received near universal acclaim. Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., who oversaw its whole production from 1977 to 1990, called the Waterfront Park "this generation's gift to the future." In 2007, the park won the Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Type in "Charleston Waterfront Park" on a search engine, and you'll be hard-pressed to find aggregate reviews under 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. The park is simply that astounding.
But there's more to the park than twelve acres of natural landscape. It took a lot of politicking, and a failed attempt for a major airport hub, before the park was completed.
How do I know? My father was an elected official for the Charleston City Council during that time, and he rubbed shoulders with Mayor Riley to see this park through. What follows is his account on how one of Charleston's biggest tourist attractions came to be.
