SEO Company in Mount Pleasent, SC

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - The Town of Mount Pleasant approved the design of another new cyclist and pedestrian project in an effort to keep the town safe, connected and accessible for all road users.

The Ben Marino Way Micromobility Project will allow residents to safely walk or bike from the Carolina Park Recreation Facility all the way to the Oceanside Collegiate Academy.

Leaders behind the project say they know that Oceanside students often utilize the recreation facility for the sporting equipment, and when events are held at one of the two locations, parking will often flow to the other, so their goal is to make sure that residents can safely walk from Oceanside to the recreation center and back.

Town leaders saw a need for more pedestrian access in this area as there are currently no sidewalks or bike lanes.

The Ben Marino Way Micromobility project would add some sidewalks and bike lanes to the road, as well as roadway lighting and a reduction in speed limit to 20 mph to keep nonmotorized road users as safe as possible.

Rion Longfellow, the engineer for this project, says, ideally, they want to create a space separate from the road for pedestrians and cyclists, like a boardwalk; however, there are wetlands on both sides of Ben Marino Way.

The cost associated with filling those wetlands, as well as the environmental impact, were both too large to move forward with that plan. Longfellow says that this is something they would like to work through and achieve in the future, though.

The total cost of this project is $166,000. The Oceanside Collegiate Academy has funded $80,000 toward the project and Mount Pleasant will cover the remaining total.

Longfellow says it is important to prioritize pedestrian safety all throughout the town and make it walkable, which is something the Town of Mount Pleasant has really been working toward.

“It’s important, especially here and now, having green infrastructure to support those that want to not drive their vehicle everywhere, to be able to have these spaces so that people can walk and bike and make their choice on how they want to get modally from A to B,” he says.

He says that they really are hoping to achieve a greater sense of interconnectivity and safety in the area for the residents that utilize it.

Longfellow says that they are hoping to begin construction on this project sometime between mid-February and early April. He says once they get construction started, they should be able to get the project completed in less than four months and have minimal road closures in doing so.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - One major Mount Pleasant road project is finally going to see some progress after several complications put it on hold.

Leaders say the $24 million Billy Swails Boulevard Phase 4B project, which has been years in the making, will soon become a reality.

Because of the scale of this project, as well as the woodsy area they will be working in, leaders had to take a lot of steps to get to this point in the project’s timeline. They had to worry about wetlands and wildlife, such as endangered Rafinesque bats and yellow-spotted turtles, in the area.

James Aton is the deputy director of capital projects and the transportation department for the Town of Mount Pleasant. He said that they have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Natural Resources to get everything approved, and because there is federal funding involved in this project, they also had to follow the National Environmental Policy Act.

This project will make up over a mile and a half of roadway and will completely shift the traffic patterns in the north side of Mount Pleasant. The project in its entirety will essentially connect I-526 to the area of Porcher’s Bluff Road, running parallel to US-17 and Rifle Range Road, migrating the traffic that builds up in that frequently traveled area of the town.

This project will also alleviate a lot of the school traffic in the intersections near Jennie Moore Elementary and Laing Middle Schools in areas near Six Mile Road, Sweetgrass Basket Parkway and Hamlin Road.

Aton shared why there was such a need for this.

“So, this project was outlined in the long-range transportation plan decades ago and, again, is that last piece of the Hungry Neck, Sweetgrass and Billy Swails corridor. So, four other sections have already been built, and this is that last piece to finalize that that north-south corridor that will parallel US-17,” Aton said.

Aton said that the completion of this project will bring great benefits to the community and those who frequently travel the area.

“I think it’s going to improve traffic flow. I think you’re going to see a reduction in delay on 17. It’s also going to incorporate portions of the Mount Pleasant Way, which is a great initiative for those nonmotorized users. It will tie to the Vaughn Ed Kee project, which has existing sections of that trail as well as obviously the roadway. So, I think you’re going to see a big improvement in traffic and a lot of new opportunities to recreate through the town,” he said.

Aton said that they plan to finally put the project out to bid in March and contractors will have 45 days to put their bids in, so they will hopefully be able to begin construction by the summer.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MOUNT PLEASANT — When Kyle St. John woke up to a blanket of snow covering the ground on Jan. 22, he had the urge to go snowboarding.

Being in the Lowcountry, he looked out at the highest elevation in sight — the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

"It's the closest thing to a mountain," he told The Post and Courier.

At around 6:30 a.m., he almost talked himself out of going. But he pulled out his box of snow gear and grabbed his snowboard that had been collecting dust in his apartment for over three years.

Standing at the base of the bridge wearing a traffic-cone orange jacket, he started trekking up the pedestrian path to the top of the bridge, creating the first footprints in the fresh snow. He said walking up the bridge was a lot more difficult in snowboard boots compared to running shoes.

When he reached the top of the bridge, he looked across the white expanse, noticing the downtown Charleston steeples and historic buildings covered in snow.

"It's one of those things where it makes you feel small in the world again and it makes you realize how lucky we all are to be alive," St. John said.

Meanwhile, Matt Peacock, a local photographer, ventured outside around sunrise to capture the freshly snow-covered city with his drone. After being outside in below freezing temperatures for nearly an hour, he said his fingers started going numb. He didn't have any gloves on while he navigated the drone's controller.

It was time to take a break, he thought. As he landed the drone, he looked out into the distance and saw a speck of bright orange moving across the white snow. In the stillness of the early morning, this caught his attention. He realized someone was snowboarding down the bridge.

Peacock's drone lifted off to capture the moment.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Matthew Peacock (@mpeacockmedia)

As a snowboarder, St. John was excited to make the first tracks on the run. He said the ride started out slow until he was about a third of the way down the bridge. Then, he started making turns, carving his board back and forth. A flood of memories came back to him from when he lived in Colorado for a few years and snowboarded regularly. As he made his way down, he continued to take in his surroundings.

"I had a moment where it kind of hits you, and you just thank God for being alive," St. John said. "I kind of looked up and said 'thank you.'"

Little did he know this rare moment was captured on video.

Peacock immediately edited and posted the video to his popular Instagram page, @mpeacockmedia, where likes, comments and shares started flooding in. Many, along with Peacock, wondered who this anonymous snowboarder was.

"I knew it was cool, but I didn't expect it to go as viral as it did," Peacock said.

That's how St. John stumbled across the footage. Earlier in the morning he sent his neighbor a photo of his snowboard at the top of the bridge. The neighbor later saw Peacock's video and shared it with him.

Peacock said he received a message from St. John on Instagram saying he was the snowboarder in the video. He mainly reached to get a copy for the memories.

Turns out, the two actually already knew one another. They live near each other in Mount Pleasant and often stop to chat while St. John is walking his dog and Peacock is flying his drone.

"Sometimes life aligns in ways we can’t predict," Peacock wrote in an Instagram post updating his followers on the unexpected coincidence.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - One Lowcountry teacher is looking to provide an expanded Civil War book set to his students, but he says history isn’t the only lesson he is looking to teach.

East Cooper Montessori English and Social Studies teacher, Zac Viscidi, says he is looking to go back to the basics.

“I feel like educators are using more and more technology, and there is a benefit to that, but we are taking a backseat in our own job sometimes,” Viscidi says. “I’ve been reading Jonathan Haidt’s ‘Anxious Generation’, it talks about the need to get students off of their devices, their computers, their cellphones.”

His goal is simple.

“It’s really just getting books in the kid’s hands,” Viscidi says.

To help with this, Viscidi is looking to supply an expanded Civil War book set where students can find information on paper in books, rather than on a screen.

“It’s probably 20-30 books just kind of all around the topic. But they are informed on literature instead of searching on Google and finding a million resources, having 30 books in your classroom that are really good and on one set of topics, it’s really helpful,” Viscidi said.

He says that in his recent years of teaching, he has noticed a shift in focus.

“It’s really come to a head after COVID with people just being more and more on their phones so getting students to really struggle and power through one piece of content and explore it on a longer basis. ”

He hopes in the long run his students will choose books for information rather than an electronic search engine.

“It’s getting one book and developing the patience to look at that and figure out what can I use, how can I help from this source. ” Viscidi said.

Click here to become a Live 5 Classroom Champion by donating to help fund this project, which expires on March 21.

Donors Choose collects the money, purchases the items the teacher has requested, and sends them directly to the teacher. That way, you know that your donation is used appropriately and all donations are tax-deductible.

If you are a teacher who wants to be featured on Classroom Champions, email us at [email protected].

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Hundreds of antiques and memorabilia from various periods of American history will be on display at the Omar Shrine Auditorium this weekend.

Visitors will have the opportunity to take home their own piece of history, talk with collectors and history buffs, and win prizes at the Lowcountry Antique Military and Americana Show and Sale on Jan. 4 and 5.

Around 200 displays and sales tables will fill the Omar Shrine Temple in Mount Pleasant, manned by antique buyers and sellers who are interested in artifacts from days gone by, including coins, bottles, arrowheads, maps, fossils and relics from the Revolutionary War to World War II.

A certified appraiser will be on-site, ready to evaluate any antiques or artifacts brought to the show for free. Butch Holcombe, publisher of American Digger magazine, which sponsors the show, encouraged people who have old items or hand-me-downs lying around to bring them in.

Holcombe said you never know what might come through the show's doors.

In past years, he's seen a Civil War-era belt buckle with the Maryland state seal be valued at $75,000. Another time, a man came in with a box of rare Confederate bullets and sold them all before the show ended.

"It is a great place for people to come if they've got … an old musket in the closet, or an old newspaper or letter signed by great-great-grandpa. Bring it to the show and let people look at it. They can not only authenticate it, but they can give you a very good idea of what it's worth," Holcombe said.

Anita Holcombe, executive director of American Digger magazine, said many of the vendors have spent years cultivating their collections and have an extensive knowledge of their history niche.

"There's plenty of people who've been doing this for years, collecting, that they can really teach people about what artifact it is they hold," she said.

The event is popular with relic hunters who use metal detectors and collectors of military artifacts, though modern history displays are represented, as well. Event organizers noted there will be security inspecting antique guns or weapons before entering.

This year's show will feature awards for historical displays and door prizes for the public. Tickets are $10 at the door for adults. Children under the age of 12 will receive free admission and a small artifact.

The Lowcountry Antique Military and Americana Show and Sale will be at the Omar Shrine Auditorium, 176 Patriots Point Road, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Jan. 4 and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Jan. 5.