Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Encyclopedia
Mount Pleasant is a large affluent suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina
, United States. It is a member of the Charleston
–North Charleston
–Summerville
Metropolitan Statistical Area, for statistical purpose only, as designated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. (OMB) . It is the fifth largest municipality in South Carolina, and for several years it was one of the state's fastest growing areas, literally doubling in population size between 1990 and 2000. The population was 67,843 at the 2010 census. Mount Pleasant is included within the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized Area and is the 3rd largest municipality in this metro behind Charleston and North Charleston.
At the foot of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge is Patriot's Point
, a naval and maritime museum, home to the World War II aircraft carrier
, which is now a museum ship
. The Ravenel Bridge, an eight lane highway that was completed in 2005, spans the Cooper River and links Mount Pleasant with downtown Charleston.
, and 0.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.33% of the population.
There were 19,025 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.9% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 24.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the town the age distribution of the population shows 25.1% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 35.3% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 92.0 males. For every 100 adult females, there were 88.3 adult males.
The median income for a household in the town was $61,054, and the median income for a family was $71,165. Males had a median income of $50,673 versus $31,640 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $30,823. About 3.2% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
Captain O’Sullivan had been granted 2340 acres (947 ha) which included not only the island that bears his name, but also the land that was to become Mount Pleasant. On the earliest map of the time this area was called "North Point."
In 1696, 51 new settlers arrived. Each family was allotted several hundred acres in the area that became known as Christ Church parish. In 1706 the Province of Carolina withstood several attacks by the Spanish and the French and were victorious in defeating French invaders in an area known as "Abcaw".
The area of "Abcaw" was Hobcaw Plantation, located between Shem Creek and the Wando River
. Later, it was also known as Shipyard Plantation because its deep water and abundance of good timber made it ideal for a prosperous shipbuilding enterprise. Lands adjacent to Hobcaw Point were owned at different times by several different families, many of which maintained ferries which served Mount Pleasant.
On September 24, 1860, a public meeting was held in Mount Pleasant that produced the first secession resolution of the state. The secession convention met in Charleston December 20, 1860. With the advent of the Civil War
, Battery Gary and an adjacent floating battery between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan's Island were instrumental in defense of the town, as well as attacks on Fort Sumter
. The town was also defended by a line of fortifications from Elliot's Creek at Boone Hall
to Copahee Sound. Mount Pleasant was also the secret training ground for the nine-man crew of the Confederate submarine . It was from Breach Inlet in 1864 that this small vessel was launched to attack and sink the .
As a result of the Civil War, slaves who worked the area plantations were free to seek their own enterprise. Of special note is Scanlonville, one of the first African-American communities to be formed in Charleston after the Civil War which still exists today in Mount Pleasant. Robert Scanlon, a former slave and freedman carpenter, purchased the 614 acres (248.5 ha) property known as Remley's Plantation bordering Charleston Harbor along the Wando River in Mount Pleasant. Robert Scanlon was the president and founder of the Charleston Land Company, formed by 100 poor African-American men of Charleston who paid $10 per share to purchase large tracts of land in the area. The Charleston Land Company then divided it up for possession by freed slaves seeking to own their own land. Remley's Plantation was divided into farm lots and town lots (which were smaller) to form the community of Scanlonville. The Charleston Land Company and Scanlonville are one of the only four known cooperative ventures among African-American freedmen after the Civil War.
West of Scanlonville was Riverside, the largest and oldest of five black beaches in Charleston County. Riverside "officially" opened in 1930 and featured a dance pavilion, athletics field, bathhouse, playground and a boardwalk along the Wando River. Riverside Pavilion was the only venue for black Charlestonians to see musical legends like Duke Ellington
, Count Basie
, Louis Armstrong
, B. B. King
, and Ivory Joe Hunter
. Music performances at the Pavilion spawned juke joint
s, or night clubs, in Scanlonville and eventually a hotel called White's Paradise – where James Brown was known to have frequented. After the original park owner died in 1975, operations of the Riverside property were taken over by Charleston County who eventually sold it to a company that developed it into a gated community.
On September 23, 1989, Mount Pleasant was hit by Hurricane Hugo
, a category four hurricane. While the town was spared from the worst of the storm (category 4 conditions were experienced further north of the town), it and its two barrier islands were still hard-hit. Children who lived through the storm were featured in an early episode of Nickelodeon
's Nick News along with children from Hurricane Andrew
. Ironically the town experienced its largest growth spurt a year after the storm as more people moved to the area, going from a population of roughly 23,000 in 1990 to one of roughly 47,000 in 2000.
Mount Pleasant is separated from Charleston by the Cooper River
. For many years it was primarily populated seasonally by Charleston residents wealthy enough to afford summer homes across the river from the Charleston peninsula. The population of Mount Pleasant was centered in an area of the town now known as "The Old Village".
The county seat for Berkeley County
was located in Mount Pleasant from 1882 until 1895, when it was moved to Moncks Corner
.
In 1928, a bridge from the Charleston Peninsula to Mount Pleasant was built. Spanning Town Creek and the Cooper River and crossing the uninhabited Drum Island, the two-lane Grace Memorial Bridge
was opened as a toll bridge. A second and larger bridge, the Silas N. Pearman Bridge, opened in 1966.
On July 16, 2005, the eight-lane Arthur Ravenel Bridge opened for automotive traffic, replacing the two aging bridges. A week before the new bridge, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the western hemisphere, officially opened, pedestrians were allowed to cross the bridge, and commemorative coins were distributed. Also, a fireworks display was a part of the ceremonies leading up to the actual opening of the bridge. Several cars from the same time period as the Grace Memorial Bridge, including several restored Model A Fords, made a final crossing of the old bridges. The remaining portions of the old bridges were demolished. Local residents watched as the bridges were blown up in spectacular shows over several weeks, ending the following summer in 2006.
In 2004, Mount Pleasant became one of the first cities in the United States to pass a "pay-before-you-pump" gas ordinance.
, has adopted the Problem Oriented Policing philosophy of service delivery, which requires officers to work together with citizens to identify community problems, determine the underlying cause, and develop solutions which address these causes in order to resolve the problem. Led by Chief Harry Sewell, Jr, the police response time to the majority of the calls for service beats the national average. The Department has divided the Town of Mount Pleasant, which encompasses 55 square miles (142 km²), into seven patrol neighborhoods. Each patrol neighborhood is assigned to a specific officer on each shift, who is responsible for maintaining protection and problem resolution on a continuing basis. The Mount Pleasant Police Department was featured in the November 1996 issue of Good Housekeeping
as one of the Top Eight Suburban Police Departments in the nation.
Both Laing Middle School and Moultrie Middle School served as the town's high schools before Wando High School was built.
Charleston County, South Carolina
Charleston County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. According to a 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, its population was 330,368. Its county seat is Charleston. It is the third-most populous county in the state . Charleston County was created in 1901 by an act of the South...
, United States. It is a member of the Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
–North Charleston
North Charleston, South Carolina
North Charleston is the 3rd largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina with incorporated areas in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties. On June 12, 1972 the city of North Charleston incorporated and was the 9th largest city in South Carolina. According to the 2010 Census, North...
–Summerville
Summerville, South Carolina
Summerville is a town in the U.S. state of South Carolina situated mostly in Dorchester County with small portions in Berkeley, and Charleston counties. It is part of the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area as designated for statistical purposes by the U.S. Office...
Metropolitan Statistical Area, for statistical purpose only, as designated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. (OMB) . It is the fifth largest municipality in South Carolina, and for several years it was one of the state's fastest growing areas, literally doubling in population size between 1990 and 2000. The population was 67,843 at the 2010 census. Mount Pleasant is included within the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized Area and is the 3rd largest municipality in this metro behind Charleston and North Charleston.
At the foot of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge is Patriot's Point
Patriot's Point
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum is located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, at the mouth of the Cooper River on the Charleston Harbor, across from Charleston.-Museum ships and exhibits:...
, a naval and maritime museum, home to the World War II aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, which is now a museum ship
Museum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
. The Ravenel Bridge, an eight lane highway that was completed in 2005, spans the Cooper River and links Mount Pleasant with downtown Charleston.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,609 people, 19,025 households, and 12,860 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,136.5 people per square mile (438.8/km²). There were 20,197 housing units at an average density of 482.1 per square mile (186.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.17% White, 7.25% African American, 0.17% Native American, 1.18% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.39% from other racesRace (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.33% of the population.
There were 19,025 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.9% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 24.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the town the age distribution of the population shows 25.1% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 35.3% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 92.0 males. For every 100 adult females, there were 88.3 adult males.
The median income for a household in the town was $61,054, and the median income for a family was $71,165. Males had a median income of $50,673 versus $31,640 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $30,823. About 3.2% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
History
The site of Mount Pleasant was originally occupied by the Sewee Indians. The first white settlers arrived from England on July 6, 1680 under the leadership of Captain Florentia O’Sullivan.Captain O’Sullivan had been granted 2340 acres (947 ha) which included not only the island that bears his name, but also the land that was to become Mount Pleasant. On the earliest map of the time this area was called "North Point."
In 1696, 51 new settlers arrived. Each family was allotted several hundred acres in the area that became known as Christ Church parish. In 1706 the Province of Carolina withstood several attacks by the Spanish and the French and were victorious in defeating French invaders in an area known as "Abcaw".
The area of "Abcaw" was Hobcaw Plantation, located between Shem Creek and the Wando River
Wando River
The Wando River is a tidewater river in the coastal area of South Carolina. It begins in the town of Awendaw and empties into the Cooper River at Charleston Harbor. Its drainage area is . -External links:...
. Later, it was also known as Shipyard Plantation because its deep water and abundance of good timber made it ideal for a prosperous shipbuilding enterprise. Lands adjacent to Hobcaw Point were owned at different times by several different families, many of which maintained ferries which served Mount Pleasant.
On September 24, 1860, a public meeting was held in Mount Pleasant that produced the first secession resolution of the state. The secession convention met in Charleston December 20, 1860. With the advent of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Battery Gary and an adjacent floating battery between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan's Island were instrumental in defense of the town, as well as attacks on Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
. The town was also defended by a line of fortifications from Elliot's Creek at Boone Hall
Boone Hall
The Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens is an antebellum plantation located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
to Copahee Sound. Mount Pleasant was also the secret training ground for the nine-man crew of the Confederate submarine . It was from Breach Inlet in 1864 that this small vessel was launched to attack and sink the .
As a result of the Civil War, slaves who worked the area plantations were free to seek their own enterprise. Of special note is Scanlonville, one of the first African-American communities to be formed in Charleston after the Civil War which still exists today in Mount Pleasant. Robert Scanlon, a former slave and freedman carpenter, purchased the 614 acres (248.5 ha) property known as Remley's Plantation bordering Charleston Harbor along the Wando River in Mount Pleasant. Robert Scanlon was the president and founder of the Charleston Land Company, formed by 100 poor African-American men of Charleston who paid $10 per share to purchase large tracts of land in the area. The Charleston Land Company then divided it up for possession by freed slaves seeking to own their own land. Remley's Plantation was divided into farm lots and town lots (which were smaller) to form the community of Scanlonville. The Charleston Land Company and Scanlonville are one of the only four known cooperative ventures among African-American freedmen after the Civil War.
West of Scanlonville was Riverside, the largest and oldest of five black beaches in Charleston County. Riverside "officially" opened in 1930 and featured a dance pavilion, athletics field, bathhouse, playground and a boardwalk along the Wando River. Riverside Pavilion was the only venue for black Charlestonians to see musical legends like Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, and Ivory Joe Hunter
Ivory Joe Hunter
Ivory Joe Hunter was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid 1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording, "Since I Met You Baby" . He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The...
. Music performances at the Pavilion spawned juke joint
Juke joint
Juke joint is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African American people in the southeastern United States. The term "juke" is believed to derive from the Gullah word joog, meaning rowdy or disorderly...
s, or night clubs, in Scanlonville and eventually a hotel called White's Paradise – where James Brown was known to have frequented. After the original park owner died in 1975, operations of the Riverside property were taken over by Charleston County who eventually sold it to a company that developed it into a gated community.
On September 23, 1989, Mount Pleasant was hit by Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo was a classical, destructive and rare Cape Verde-type hurricane which struck the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and the USA mainland in South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane during September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season...
, a category four hurricane. While the town was spared from the worst of the storm (category 4 conditions were experienced further north of the town), it and its two barrier islands were still hard-hit. Children who lived through the storm were featured in an early episode of Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
's Nick News along with children from Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
. Ironically the town experienced its largest growth spurt a year after the storm as more people moved to the area, going from a population of roughly 23,000 in 1990 to one of roughly 47,000 in 2000.
Mount Pleasant is separated from Charleston by the Cooper River
Cooper River (South Carolina)
The Cooper River is a mainly tidal river in the U.S. state of South Carolina. These cities are located along the river, Mt. Pleasant, Charleston, North Charleston, Goose Creek and Hanahan. Short and wide, it is joined first by the blackwater East Branch, then farther downstream, the tidal Wando River...
. For many years it was primarily populated seasonally by Charleston residents wealthy enough to afford summer homes across the river from the Charleston peninsula. The population of Mount Pleasant was centered in an area of the town now known as "The Old Village".
The county seat for Berkeley County
Berkeley County, South Carolina
Berkeley County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 142,651. The 2005 Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 151,673. Its county seat is Moncks Corner....
was located in Mount Pleasant from 1882 until 1895, when it was moved to Moncks Corner
Moncks Corner, South Carolina
Moncks Corner is a town in and the county seat of Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,952 at the 2000 census....
.
In 1928, a bridge from the Charleston Peninsula to Mount Pleasant was built. Spanning Town Creek and the Cooper River and crossing the uninhabited Drum Island, the two-lane Grace Memorial Bridge
John P. Grace Memorial Bridge
The John P. Grace Memorial Bridge, or the Cooper River Bridge as it was familiarly known, was a cantilever bridge that crossed the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened on August 8, 1929 and was built by the Cooper River Bridge Company. Shortridge Hardesty of Waddell & Hardesty,...
was opened as a toll bridge. A second and larger bridge, the Silas N. Pearman Bridge, opened in 1966.
On July 16, 2005, the eight-lane Arthur Ravenel Bridge opened for automotive traffic, replacing the two aging bridges. A week before the new bridge, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the western hemisphere, officially opened, pedestrians were allowed to cross the bridge, and commemorative coins were distributed. Also, a fireworks display was a part of the ceremonies leading up to the actual opening of the bridge. Several cars from the same time period as the Grace Memorial Bridge, including several restored Model A Fords, made a final crossing of the old bridges. The remaining portions of the old bridges were demolished. Local residents watched as the bridges were blown up in spectacular shows over several weeks, ending the following summer in 2006.
In 2004, Mount Pleasant became one of the first cities in the United States to pass a "pay-before-you-pump" gas ordinance.
Broadcast television
These TV stations have studios in and broadcast from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.- WCBD-TVWCBD-TVWCBD-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Lowcountry area of South Carolina licensed to Charleston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter in Awendaw. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 2 as well as Knology and Comcast...
(2, NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CWThe CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
): owned by Media GeneralMedia GeneralMedia General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was... - WCIV-TV (4, ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
): owned by (Allbritton Communications)
Council members
John Burn, Elton Carrier, Nick Collins, Paul Gawrych (Mayor Pro Tem), Ken Glasson, Linda Page, Craig Rhyne, Thomasena Stokes-MarshallFire and emergency services
The Mount Pleasant Fire Department has provided fire suppression and emergency services since 1837, initially as a volunteer agency, and eventually today's full-time fire department. Today, the fire department has 118 paid personnel augmented by 15 volunteers. It is internationally accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI). The Mt. Pleasant Fire Department was originally accredited in 2001 becoming the first accredited fire department in the state of South Carolina. Firefighters work twenty-four hour rotating shifts. The corporate area and its surroundings are served by five strategically located fire stations. The fire department administrative office is located within the Town Municipal Complex. Mount Pleasant fire stations are staffed daily by 33 personnel. In 2007, under the supervision of Chief Herb Williams and Captain Robert Wronski, the Mount Pleasant Fire Department established a "Paramedic Engine" program, in which firefighters trained as Paramedics will carry the same equipment on the fire engines as in the ambulances. Currently, all engines in Mt Pleasant are now operating as "Paramedic Engines". This means in the event Charleston County EMS is delayed, the Mount Pleasant Fire Department will be able to provide life-saving procedures until the ambulance arrives.Police
The Mount Pleasant Police Department, a 2006 CALEA Flagship Award recipient, employs 132 sworn officers and 43 civilian personnel, serving the entire municipal population. The Police Department, which is a nationally accredited agency, sanctioned by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement AgenciesCommission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., is a credentialing authority , based in the United States, whose primary mission is to accredited public safety agencies, namely law enforcement agencies, training academies, communications centers, and campus public safety...
, has adopted the Problem Oriented Policing philosophy of service delivery, which requires officers to work together with citizens to identify community problems, determine the underlying cause, and develop solutions which address these causes in order to resolve the problem. Led by Chief Harry Sewell, Jr, the police response time to the majority of the calls for service beats the national average. The Department has divided the Town of Mount Pleasant, which encompasses 55 square miles (142 km²), into seven patrol neighborhoods. Each patrol neighborhood is assigned to a specific officer on each shift, who is responsible for maintaining protection and problem resolution on a continuing basis. The Mount Pleasant Police Department was featured in the November 1996 issue of Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
as one of the Top Eight Suburban Police Departments in the nation.
Notable residents
- Ben BridwellBen BridwellBenjamin "Ben" Bridwell is the lead singer of American rock band Band of Horses and a former member of the band Carissa's Wierd.-Early life:Bridwell was born on April 25, 1978 and grew up in Irmo, South Carolina...
, lead singer of Band of HorsesBand of HorsesBand of Horses, originally briefly known as Horses, are an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle by Ben Bridwell. They have released three studio albums, the most recent and most successful of which is 2010's Grammy nominated Infinite Arms... - Ron MotleyRon MotleyRonald L. Motley is a noted American trial attorney, and a principal of Motley Rice LLC, a Mount Pleasant, South Carolina-based law firm.- Career synopsis :...
, trial lawyer - Melanie ThorntonMelanie ThorntonMelanie Janene Thornton was an American pop singer who found fame in Germany and fronted the Eurodance group La Bouche, who found success with the singles "Be My Lover" and "Sweet Dreams" in the mid-1990s. She forged a moderately successful solo career in Germany before her death...
, American/German R&B, Pop, Dance singer - Bill MurrayBill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
, actor, comedian - Darius RuckerDarius RuckerDarius Rucker is an American musician. He first gained fame as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld and Dean Felber...
, lead singer of Hootie & the BlowfishHootie & the BlowfishHootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band that enjoyed popularity in the second half of the 1990s. They were originally formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Sonefeld, and Mark Bryan. The band has recorded five studio albums to date, and has... - D.J. Trahan, PGA Tour Golfer
Elementary schools (Public)
- James B. Edwards Elementary School
- Belle Hall Elementary School
- Mount Pleasant Academy
- Charles Pinckney Elementary School
- Jennie Moore Elementary School
- Whitesides Elementary School
- Laurel Hill Primary School
Middle schools (Public)
- Moultrie Middle School
- Laing Middle School
- Thomas Cario Middle School
Both Laing Middle School and Moultrie Middle School served as the town's high schools before Wando High School was built.
Religious schools
- Christ Our King - Stella Maris Catholic School-(Catholic Diocese of Charleston)
- Grades K-8
- Coastal Christian Preparatory School (formerly First Baptist Church School of Mt. Pleasant)
- Grades K-12
- Palmetto Christian Academy
- Preschool-12th Grade
County parks
The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission (CCPRC) http://www.ccprc.com operates numerous facilities within Charleston County. The following are in Mount Pleasant.- Mt. Pleasant Pier
- Palmetto Islands County Park
- Splash Island at Palmetto Islands County Park
- Future Park -- (Laurel Hill Plantation) off of Hwy 41
- Future Park -- off of Rifle Range Road
External links
- The Town of Mount Pleasant website
- The Post and Courier Charleston Metro Area newspaper
- Patriot's Point Naval and Maritime Museum
- History of Old Mt. Pleasant