A color photograph of a parade float sponsored by the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, Charleston County Department of Natural Resources, and the Charleston Agricultural and Industrial Fair (November 11-16, 1929). The three are 'Partners Promoting Progress.' The float participated in a parade celebrating the opening of the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge (also known as 'the old Cooper River Bridge'). Five girls dressed as field hands ride the float alongside a pyramid decorated with vegetables: Julia Frampton, Annette Remington, Rosa Belle Blank, Louise Brown, and Isabel Frampton (one may not be pictured). Special attention is paid to the iodine in vegetables and its health benefits.
In this interview, Rovena Owens relates the story of her family on Sullivan’s Island beginning with Vincent Peter, whose father was a slave trader. According to Owen’s family tradition, one of the captured African women became both Vincent’s slave and his wife. They arrived on Sullivan’s Island around 1812-13. Owens then traces her family history through succeeding generations, many of whom were free people of color, including Louis Peters, her second great-grandfather, her great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Pezant, and grandmother, Margaret Etta Pezant, who married Alan Perry Jones. Their daughter, Rovena Agnes Jones, married Walter Hazel, a member of the prominent Manigault family of Charleston. Walter was “kicked out” of his family for marrying a woman of color. Rovena Agnes Jones and Walter Hazel were then the parents of Rovena Owens. While discussing her roots on Sullivan’s Island, Owens discusses the topic of racially mixed families and their general acceptance on the island. Owens contrasted this sentiment with the attitudes of those who came from other parts of the country, such as the Fort Moultrie soldiers. Owens recalls island life as “paradise” where black and white children enjoyed playing, boating, and crabbing. Sundays were always popular times for the family on the island. Her grandmother had a pot of okra soup ready for whoever appeared. Some of Owens’ fondest memories were those Sundays with the ladies in the kitchen and the men out working on some kind of “project.” Owens also discusses the efforts made on the island to preserve its historic cemeteries. She also relates her family’s struggles with major storms such Hurricane Hugo. Through all of the storms, the Owens family homestead at Station 23 and Myrtle Avenue on the marsh side of the island, locally known as the “back beach”, remains intact. To Owens, Sullivan’s Island is “home,” where she’s comfortable.
A Photographic Record of the Construction of the Cooper River Bridge; Charleston, South Carolina - 1928-29; Volume I; Showing the erection of the West or Charleston approach, the Town Creek Cantilever Span, the Drum Island Viaduct, and the Deck Truss Spans in the Cooper River. Steel for viaducts furnished by the Virginia Bridge & Iron Co. Steel for truss spans furnished by McClintic-Marshall Co. All steel erected by McClintic-Marshall Co., Pottstown Erection Dep't. Small photos by E.L. Durkee. 5" x 7" Photos by James Smyth ("Irish").;Title Page, 6.75" x 10.125"
Image #1 (2.75" x 4.5"): "11-9-28. Building office in the Atlantic Coast Line R.R. Yard."; Image #2 (2.75" x 4.5"): "11-9-28. Erecting Span Traveler 'A' at and of West Approach, using 30 ton stiffleg derrick."; Image #3 (2.75" x 4.5"): "11-9-28. Raising boom for Span Traveler. Length of boom 100ft., & weight, 11 tons.";Three 4.5" x 2.75" B/W photos numbered 1, 2, 3
Image #4 (4.5" x 2.75"): "11-15-28. High Boom! Minimum reach with main falls is about 5 ft. Note the slack backstays. Weight of traveler complete = 122 tons, including 31 ton; 150 HP gas. engine on the upper deck and 60 HP aux. gas hoist on platform below."; Unnumbered Image (5" x 7"): "Span traveler A erecting on the Charleston or West Approach. Rear boom of traveler not yet erected.";One 4.5" x 2.75" B/W photo and one 5" x 7" B/W photo. Smaller photo numbered 4.
Image #5 (4.5" x 2.75"): "11-15-28. Front view of Span Traveler on the Charleston Approach."; Unnumbered Image (5" x 7"): "Erecting steel viaduct bent at 97 ft. reach.";One 4.5" x 2.75" B/W photo and one 5" x 7" B/W photo. Smaller photo numbered 5
Unnumbered Image (5" x 7"): "Unloading girders from R.R. cars and loading onto trucks on top of viaduct, to be pushed out to traveler by an 8 ton gasoline locomotive (extreme left.) Max-load handled = 97 ft. girder weighing 16 tons up 6% grade. Stiffleg derrick S.O. H383 - Capacity 30 tons. 70 ft. boom."; Image #6 (4.5" x 2.75"): "11-15-28. Rear view of Span Traveler on West Appr. 8 ton Vulcan gasoline locomotive in foreground.";One 4.5" x 2.75" B/W photo and one 5" x 7" B/W photo. Smaller photo numbered 6.
Images #8, 10, 12 (2.75" x 4.5"): Caption under all photos: Dec. 2, 1928. Three views of pneumatic caisson for anchor pier #10, Cooper River Span, which tilted to an angle 29 [degrees] from the vertical. Seven negro 'sand-hogs' trapped and drowned.";Three 4.5" x 2.75" B/W photos numbered 8, 10, 12
