29 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com BY MARY COY CHARTING History Some things just improve with age. That adage seems to apply perfectly to Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, which turned 50 this year. What began as a venture to lure tourist dollars to the Charleston area in the economically-starved 1970s has become a place that visitors as well as locals can’t live without. That’s because it has something to please everyone. Five decades ago, the allure of Charleston was not yet known to the rest of the country. Sure, there were beaches and plantations, but few tourists. Most transplants to our area were active-duty service members or military retirees. The economy of the entire region relied on the Charleston Naval Shipyard in North Charleston, so it seemed reasonable that the notion of igniting a tourist-based economy might begin with focusing on military history. It started with a simple idea: take a mothballed naval vessel, sink it in the pluff mud and tourists would pay to come see it. Add a submarine and a Navy destroyer and they would flock here for the opportunity to board actual naval ships and learn how the U.S. Navy carries out its sea operations. There was plenty of space available on Hog Island on the east bank of the Cooper River to accommodate the project. Patriots Point celebrates 50 years of maritime memories
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