From serious sports injuries causing tissue damage to bone issues and stiffness that comes with age, living with pain is, well, a pain. But it's more than that - it's a stressful, often upsetting way to get through your day, month, and year. Have you ever tried to get out of bed with sore, stiff knees? Most folks would rather just get back in bed. Think you might try exercising with plantar fasciitis? Don't plan on running far or doing cardio for very long. Torn rotator cuff? Without proper treatment, your life might not ever be the same.
Living with pain and the inevitable issues that come with age can seriously affect your wellbeing and happiness. Sure, you could wake up every morning and rely on addicting medications to help you move. Or, you could risk further injury and damage with invasive surgeries that require long periods of recovery and downtime. But those can't be the only two options for treatment, can they?
Fortunately, a new, natural, non-invasive treatment for pain is revolutionizing the medical industry and transforming people's lives. It's giving athletes, average folks, and people of a certain age a reason to be hopeful. It's called Softwave therapy, and unlike many fly-by-night medications and sketchy treatments, it's backed by science and provided by Elite Healthcare Physical Medicine.
If you're barely making it through the day suffering from chronic pain, this FDA-approved drug-free treatment may be for you. Softwave therapy has already been used by thousands of people around the country living with issues like shoulder pain, knee pain, and plantar fasciitis. You could be next.
Though its popularity has only grown in recent years, Softwave therapy - also known as shockwave therapy - has been around for years. In fact, the first systematic study into the benefits of shockwave therapy took place way back in 1950. So, what is Softwave therapy?
Softwave therapy is a method of treatment that works incredibly well for mobility rehab, pain relief, and full-body recovery, usually from chronic pain or injuries. Softwave therapy uses a device emitting low-energy soundwaves that target a patient's injured area. These low-intensity waves boost blood flow and kickstart your body's natural healing processes, relieving long-term pain and helping your body to heal a wide range of injuries and conditions.
The main targets in the body include bones, tendons, and other soft tissues, which are encouraged to regenerate and repair via the shockwaves. Often, shockwave therapy is used in conjunction with other non-invasive treatments like chiropractic care, which we offer at Elite Healthcare Physical Medicine. The results are often incredible, leaving patients wondering why they never tried Softwave therapy before.
Softwave therapy works especially well for:
Better Blood Flow
Collagen Stimulation
Reducing Inflammation
Kickstarting cell growth and healing factors
Breaking down build-ups of calcium
With FDA clearance, little-to-no side effects, and quick application time, Softwave therapy is a welcome alternative for people suffering from pain. Who wants to spend weeks or months recovering from a surgery that might not even work? Likewise, who would want to become dependent on over-the-counter or, even worse, prescription pain meds? Living a life of addiction is a road nobody wants to go down.
Softwave therapy represents a revolution in non-invasive pain treatment; best of all, it's highly effective. Independent studies prove that shockwave therapy helps with pain. 65-91% of patients using shockwave therapy experienced real-deal improvements in damaged muscle and bone tissue, solving their mobility problems and drastically reducing pain. It almost sounds too good to be true, but as many patients at Elite Healthcare Physical Medicine will tell you - it isn't.
Book AppointmentSome of the most common conditions that Softwave therapy treats include:
When you get up in the morning and go to the bathroom to brush your teeth, do you notice a stabbing, sharp pain near your heel? Does the pain go away once you have a chance to walk around? If so, you could have plantar fasciitis. According to the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, this painful condition is quite common. About two million people suffer from plantar fasciitis every year, and almost 10% of all people will experience the condition at least once in their life.
This common foot issue happens when the plantar fascia - a fan-shaped tissue near your heel - gets inflamed. The plantar fascia is a thick strip of connective tissue that links your toes to your heel bone, helping to preserve the arch of your foot. When this band is strained, it causes intensely sharp pain, usually in the morning when you wake up and plant your feet on the floor.
Most folks ignore plantar fasciitis because the pain eventually goes away throughout the day. However, if left untreated, plantar fasciitis can lead to weakness and chronic pain, which may affect daily walking.
Some causes of plantar fasciitis include:
The short answer to this question is not really. Patients with plantar fasciitis will ice the affected area with little-to-no relief since they spend so much time on their feet. It's hard to rest an achy heel if you've got a job that requires you to be on your feet. Anti-inflammatory meds like Advil don't work all that well, either. They may provide temporary pain relief, but in terms of a long-term solution, taking these drugs will cause major side effects.
Book AppointmentWhen more conservative treatment options like ice and over-the-counter meds don't work, most doctors turn to ultra-expensive orthotics, steroid injections, or invasive surgery. For the average person, those options fail on all fronts, as they carry risks for side effects and may even cause the issue to worsen.
Instead of going under the knife or changing their daily routines, many people suffering from plantar fasciitis are turning to Softwave therapy for relief.
During a shockwave therapy session, our expert providers use a special probe to deliver pressure waves to inflamed tissue. These waves trigger natural healing processes causing new blood vessels to form. In turn, oxygen is supplied to the affected area, reducing inflammation and causing healthy cells to regenerate. Shockwave therapy also produces collagen, which is crucial for connective tissue health.
With just a few visits, many patients find long-term relief from plantar fasciitis without relying on strange drugs or harmful surgeries.
Living with knee pain is just miserable. From knee tendonitis to osteoarthritis, knee pain can prevent you from enjoying activities and affect your day-to-day life. Your knee is a joint comprised of cartilage, bone, ligaments, and fluids. Tendons and muscles within the knee help the joint move. When one of these crucial knee structures is hurt or compromised, it results in knee pain and long-lasting knee problems. This, in turn, leads to difficulty walking at best and debilitating knee issues at worse.
If you're an active person or somebody who plays sports often, you're probably all too familiar with knee pain - especially common conditions like patellar tendinopathy. Also called "jumpers knee," this issue happens at the patellar tendon, which is found on the front of the knee just under the knee cap. When living with this condition, most patients experience pain around the kneecap or lower down on the leg around the tibia.
In addition to injuries and issues like jumper's knee, everyday wear and tear will cause knee pain over time. With time, this knee pain can develop into arthritis. If your knees are swollen, painful, or stiff, you may have arthritis in your knees. Regardless of the kind of knee pain you're experiencing, treatment options have been limited to agonizing surgeries and addicting pain medications. But that all changes with shockwave therapy for knee pain in Sullivan's Island, SC.
Though no two knee pain problems are exactly the same, shockwave therapy has been shown to be highly effective for knee pain. In fact, many patients at Elite Healthcare Physical Medicine find relief after just one session. Many times, sessions can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. So if you want to find relief for knee pain on your lunch break, that's definitely possible.
As is the case with plantar fasciitis, Softwave therapy works by sending sound wave and low-energy impulses to the affected area of your knee. These pulses stimulate your body's healing factors, which can help regenerate and repair damaged tendons and tissues. Softwave therapy for knee pain is especially promising for people who have tried other treatments - like surgery and pain meds - with disappointing results.
Benefits include:
Several studies and reviews prove that Softwave therapy can be very beneficial for people suffering from knee pain problems like jumper's knee. A study involving 66 patients with knee pain found that they enjoyed a significant improvement in their reported pain levels with Softwave therapy. In fact, knee pain was reduced by nearly 50% after a single month. When combined with other regenerative and physical therapy treatments at Elite Healthcare Physical Medicine, your days of living with knee pain are numbered.
Book AppointmentHere's a fact for you to consider: Every joint that you have in your body plays a part in your day-to-day life. But when we think of joint issues, we typically jump to knee issues. However, your knees aren't the only joints in your body to go through wear and tear. Your shoulders experience just as much, if not more, wear and tear than your knees. We put a strain on our shoulders just about every time we use or move our arms. Our shoulders play a pivotal part in living a normal life. When they begin to deteriorate over time due to age or overuse, it creates a litany of painful problems.
There are many causes of shoulder pain, like deterioration, inflammation, and trauma. Of the many painful shoulder conditions affecting Americans yearly, rotator cuff tendonitis and arthritis are very common. Also called calcific tendinitis, rotator cuff pain is caused by built-up calcium deposits on the shoulder's tendons, which connect your rotator cuff to nearby muscles and bones. This painful condition is usually linked to sports, like basketball and volleyball, or in professions requiring repetitive movements, like in the plumbing industry.
Some common symptoms of shoulder pain and rotator cuff tendinitis include:
Though strengthening exercises and some medications provide temporary relief for shoulder pain, they're not meant as long-term solutions. Luckily, Softwave therapy for rotator cuff pain in Sullivan's Island, SC, can help.
Shockwave therapy has been shown to work wonders for shoulder pain. Low-intensity shockwaves break up calcium deposits and jumpstart your body's healing processes, stimulating blood flow and healthy cell growth. Shockwave treatment is especially effective for long-term shoulder pain since it releases stem cells, sends growth factors to the affected area, and boosts capillary production. Shockwave therapy has also been shown to break down scar tissue and eliminate trigger points, all of which decrease shoulder pain. This relief is most often long-lasting, unlike other treatments like medications and injections.
Many studies support the efficacy of Softwave therapy for shoulder conditions like rotator cuff pain and calcific tendonitis of the shoulder. In a study of 84 patients living with long-term rotator cuff tendonitis, participants in the treatment group saw a significant decrease in the intensity of their shoulder pain. Another study related to shockwave therapy for calcific tendonitis found that 86.6% of patients experienced fewer calcifications.
If you're having to live with rotator cuff pain or another type of shoulder issue, choosing Softwave therapy may be your best course of action.
Book AppointmentWhether you're sick of living with intense heel pain from plantar fasciitis, the mobility issues associated with knee pain, or the day-to-day struggles of rotator cuff degeneration, you'll find hope at Elite Healthcare Physical Medicine. Unlike some medical clinics, our team of doctors and specialists focus on an integrative, multidisciplinary approach to healing. Instead of relying on addictive medications and invasive surgeries, we prefer to address the underlying causes that our patients face.
We combine several all-natural pain relief therapies so that your shoulder pain, knee pain, joint pain, and foot pain go away for good. We resolve pain by using healing treatments that restore function and improve mobility for the long term. Our state-of-the-art regenerative medicine treatments, used hand-in-hand with proven chiropractic techniques, will stimulate your body's healing power from within. If your pain is related to muscles, nerves, and bones, our doctors can help you overcome discomfort, injury, or medical conditions affecting these systems.
If you've been unable to resolve your pain or have become dependent on painkillers to cope, Softwave therapy may be the natural solution you need. It all starts with a quick call to our office, so we can begin to understand your needs. When you come for your first visit, our doctors will find the personalized treatment you need so that you can manage your pain in a non-invasive and drug-free environment manner.
Book AppointmentThere are expensive places to live in South Carolina.Then there is Sullivan’s Island.CashNetUSA recently ranked Sullivan’s Island as the most expensive neighborhood in South Carolina. The ranking is part of a list of most expensive neighborhoods in every U.S. state, based on Zillow data.Home prices across South Carolina overall ha...
There are expensive places to live in South Carolina.
Then there is Sullivan’s Island.
CashNetUSA recently ranked Sullivan’s Island as the most expensive neighborhood in South Carolina. The ranking is part of a list of most expensive neighborhoods in every U.S. state, based on Zillow data.
Home prices across South Carolina overall have skyrocketed the last two years. For instance, the median home sales price in the state was $311,032 in the first quarter of 2023, up 22% from the first quarter of 2021, according to South Carolina Realtors.
And yet, that is all chump change compared to home ownership in Sullivan’s Island. A home there costs an average of about $5.4 million, the ranking states.
The 2.5 mile-long barrier island and its charming little beach town is about 10 miles from downtown Charleston. The island has a strict preservation plan and so doesn’t have the usual accommodations that visitors would expect, like major hotels and motels. Instead, only vacation rental homes are available.
The island does feature a strong restaurant scene, with plenty of options for fine dining and family eating.
Sullivan’s Island also has a good bit of history. The island was settled in the late 17th Century by Capt. Florence O’Sullivan and was later the site of a major Revolutionary War battle.
To compile the rankings, CashNetUSA used real estate data from Zillow to group together neighborhoods of towns and cities in all 50 U.S. states. It then calculated the average price in each neighborhood by adding together the house prices in each area and dividing them by the number of properties.
Why Sullivan’s Island is pricey, it is still not among the top most expensive places to live in the U.S. Below is a list of the 10 most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S. and their average house prices, according to CashNetUSA.
To keep things more in perspective, here’s an interactive map that shows the latest median sales price for homes in each South Carolina county, using data from Redfin.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — Town Council can control most all aspects of tree-cutting in its beachfront maritime forest because it can’t be bound by decisions made by previous councils in the matter, a judge has ruled.The basic principle of Circuit Judge Jennifer McCoy’s ruling is a town council cannot enter into an agreement that will bind a successive council into doing or not doing certain things.The decision, filed Jan. 30 in state court in Charleston, comes after a former Sullivan’s Island council rea...
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — Town Council can control most all aspects of tree-cutting in its beachfront maritime forest because it can’t be bound by decisions made by previous councils in the matter, a judge has ruled.
The basic principle of Circuit Judge Jennifer McCoy’s ruling is a town council cannot enter into an agreement that will bind a successive council into doing or not doing certain things.
The decision, filed Jan. 30 in state court in Charleston, comes after a former Sullivan’s Island council reached a settlement in 2020 that mandated more thinning of the maritime forest than the town had contemplated.
That settlement resolved a decadelong lawsuit — stemming back to 2010 — from a group of homeowners next to the forest who wanted to see more management of the land from the town.
The forest gradually grew on land that is accreting where the island meets the Atlantic Ocean. The effect has created a thicket between the large beach houses and the sandy beach, which blocked views of the ocean while also creating swampy and forested territory.
Any future councils would have been bound to that previous agreement.
The court decision changed that.
“As mayor, I’m very pleased that the judge agreed with our contention that that settlement agreement was not consistent with South Carolina law and that it should be voided,” said Mayor Patrick O’Neil.
Since the settlement was agreed upon, Sullivan’s Island residents elected a new council with a majority that was more favorably disposed to the maritime forest, O’Neil said.
“We’ve heard a lot from many residents — not all, but many residents — who fervently disagreed with that agreement,” O’Neil said. “That urged us to do something.”
The council brought forth a declaratory judgment that the prior settlement agreement was unenforceable and therefore void.
The court agreed with that position.
William Wilkins, a Greenville-based attorney with the firm Nexsen Pruett who represented the town, said he appreciated the prompt attention Judge McCoy gave to the matter.
“She correctly applied the relevant principles of law, including the law that a town council may not enter into agreements that will bind a successive town council under the facts of this case,” Wilkins said.
Development is prohibited on the land at the center of the complaint. The town can permit or do certain amounts of cutting on the maritime forest when deemed appropriate or beneficial.
Landowners can apply for permits to cut three species of bushes or trees in front of their property, between it and the beach.
Guidelines are in place for how low the trees and bushes may be trimmed.
Issues dividing residents in the matter included those who wanted a better view of the water or were concerned about the wild animals living in the forest, such as coyotes, and those who preferred allowing the natural state to continue.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — The home market continues to sizzle in this pricey seaside town, with real estate agents pointing to its community appeal, a longtime ban on short-term rentals and resilient, well-heeled cash buyers among the driving forces.So far this year, three big-ticket residential transactions have closed on Sull...
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — The home market continues to sizzle in this pricey seaside town, with real estate agents pointing to its community appeal, a longtime ban on short-term rentals and resilient, well-heeled cash buyers among the driving forces.
So far this year, three big-ticket residential transactions have closed on Sullivan’s Island, ranging from nearly $8 million to slightly more than $10 million.
Sullivan’s commands a premium partly because it offers limited inventory in a highly desirable location, according to agents familiar with the local market. Some also point to the lack of rentals.
“There is not a transient population out there,” said Lyles Geer, president and broker-in-charge of William Means Real Estate. “You don’t have an abundance of renters or people who don’t live out there. ... Buyers are paying for the exclusivity of living in a residential community.”
Michael Scarafile, president of Carolina One Real Estate, echoed his remarks.
“One reason is that Sullivan’s doesn’t allow short-term rentals,” he said. “Those are all residential sales.”
Scarafile pointed to the recent run of seven- and eight-figure purchases as an example of the age-old principle of supply and demand.
“There just aren’t that many houses on Sullivan’s, and the market for residential use on the islands continues to perform well,” he said. “The high-end market is holding up very well.”
Owen Tyler, managing broker of Cassina Real Estate Group, agreed prices on Sullivan’s are rising because of the dearth of inventory and continued interest among would-be buyers from outside the region or state.
“They aren’t building more of the island,” he said.
Tyler also pointed to a community-minded vibe on Sullivan’s as an attraction for buyers who can afford the lifestyle.
“Sullivan’s Island has always been for a lot of people the epitome of where they want to live,” he said. “It has great beaches, it’s an island and it has a small-town atmosphere. Nothing feels out of place or unusual.”
But Tyler doesn’t buy the notion that the town’s 22-year-old rental policy of not allowing overnight stays of less than 28 days has an impact on home sales.
“Are people wanting to live there because of a lack of short-term rentals? Maybe, but I don’t ever hear that,” he said. “Most of the people who are buying recently are not full-time residents of Sullivan’s.”
To Tyler, the main factor driving up prices is an abundance of deep-pocketed buyers who are able to make quick and mostly cash offers for an extremely limited number of homes.
“We can’t find enough people to sell (homes), which is why you are seeing the price escalation,” he said.
The most recent transaction involved the five-bedroom oceanfront house with five bathrooms and two half baths at 3213 Middle St. It changed hands March 29 at the list price of $7.95 million, according to Charleston County land records.
The buyer is a limited liability company from Florence. The seller is a Charlotte firm that bought the property when it was a vacant lot for $2.5 million in 2020. The 4,160-square-foot house near Breach Inlet was completed the next year.
Ashley Haynes of East Islands Real Estate represented the seller, and Tommy Manous of Carolina One Real Estate represented the buyer.
The sale follows two other notable residential transactions on Sullivan’s.
A 4,350-square-foot oceanside house at 2411 Atlantic Ave. last month fetched $10.1 million, shy of the all-time record of $10.5 million a buyer paid for 1901 Thee St. in 2021.
Earlier this year, a 4,360-square-foot spread at 812 Conquest Ave. on the western end of Sullivan’s changed hands for $8.7 million.
The Charleston-area industrial real estate market proved resilient in the first quarter despite rising interest rates and a cooling economy, with tenants absorbing 2.2 million square feet, according to a new report.
All told, according to Colliers, 3.7 million square feet of new space came online in the first three months of the year. Vacancy rates ticked up as well, but they remained near historic lows at 3.74 percent despite all the new construction.
“Since the beginning of 2021, the market has absorbed an average of 1.6 million square feet per quarter,” the commercial real estate firm said in its analysis. “This was largely driven by warehousing to support the advanced manufacturing sector, particularly internal combustion and electric vehicle manufacturing, and expansion of third-party logistics activity.”
Over the coming months, those business sectors will continue to drive demand for additional real estate, according to the report. About 11.8 million square feet of industrial space is under construction in the three-county region.
The Port of Charleston is still the main driver, even though cargo levels have fallen in recent months as post-pandemic consumers spend more money on services and experiences than on imported goods. Inflation has also tamed what had been a frenetic spending spree last year on items like furniture and electronics.
A plan by ZEB Metals to build an aluminum recycling plant on 32 acres along U.S. Highway 52 in the Goose Creek area was the largest industrial announcement dollar-wise during the quarter, Colliers said. The $80 million project is expected to create 28 jobs.
Second to that project was a $49.9 million cold-storage warehouse that Charleston-based FlexCold plans to build along Patriot Boulevard in Dorchester County. The 151,600-square-foot building on roughly 51 acres is expected to create 59 jobs.
A separate report by Avison Young shows average annual base rents for Charleston-area industrial properties hit $8.89 per square foot in the first quarter and are expected to continue rising on the back of strong demand.
“As larger tenants relocate to the Charleston market, demand has increased for industrial space,” the firm’s local office said. “The projected average building size for deliveries in 2023 is 346,000 square feet. Based on construction activity, this number is expected to rise to 540,000 square feet in 2024.”
The Palmetto Commerce Park area in North Charleston and the Summerville region along Interstate 26 continue to be the hottest spots for industrial construction, with a combined 42.7 million square feet of space — nearly two-thirds of the market’s total.
An economic development trade publication reports South Carolina is the nation’s seventh-best state for attracting industrial investment.
The ranking is included in Site Selection’s annual Prosperity Cup list, which measures the effectiveness of each state’s economic development efforts.
The Palmetto State moved up one spot in the magazine’s 2023 rankings. Neighboring states Georgia and North Carolina placed first and second, respectively.
A focus on electric vehicles and the batteries that power them helped the S.C. Department of Commerce recruit 120 businesses and expansions representing investments topping $10.27 billion in 2022 — a record year for economic development in South Carolina and an 80 percent increase over the previous mark set in 2021.
The new deals promise to create 14,083 jobs over time, with most of the activity centered around plants in the Charleston region and the Upstate.
South Atlantic Canners is spending $28.7 million on a multiyear expansion at its Lee County site that will create 15 jobs over the next five years.
The company is managed by Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States with production of more than 300 beverage brands and distribution to 14 states and Washington, D.C.
South Atlantic Canners plans to renovate its existing Bishopville facility and add new, state-of-the-art equipment. The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. — Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic completed a week of communications testing on April 7 using manned and unmanned systems on Sullivan’s Island in collaboration with Indiana-based Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane.Organizers said underpinning the entire test event was a Department of the Navy (DON) imperative to develop a future fleet that better connects critical command and control (C2) functions to various weapons, integrated sensors and small unmanned systems....
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. — Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic completed a week of communications testing on April 7 using manned and unmanned systems on Sullivan’s Island in collaboration with Indiana-based Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane.
Organizers said underpinning the entire test event was a Department of the Navy (DON) imperative to develop a future fleet that better connects critical command and control (C2) functions to various weapons, integrated sensors and small unmanned systems.
“Our collaboration with NSWC Crane illustrates the outstanding value that warfare centers bring to the greater naval enterprise,” said Peter C. Reddy, NIWC Atlantic executive director. “Alongside the amazing support of Sullivan’s Island and its small community, it was remarkable to see the teamwork, passion and dedication on display all week as each participant worked to advance vital capabilities for our warfighters.”
In addition to aligning with naval strategic doctrine like distributed maritime operations (DMO) and expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO), the communications experiment aligned with a vital Department of Defense initiative called Joint All-Domain C2, or JADC2.
Greg Hays, NIWC Atlantic’s senior scientific technology manager for rapid prototyping, experimentation and fleet exercises, said the operational technologies and architecture for the DON’s future fleet are best written in real-world environments that are experimental in nature.
“We know that developing the best capabilities for our warfighters to conduct DMO and EABO requires realistic experimentation,” Hays said. “Everything changes when you leave a lab environment; therefore, we are looking to operationalize experimentation.
“We don’t experiment for the sake of experimentation,” he added. “We do it to reach an outcome, where the results inform how the Navy designs future tools and communications that are developed for the warfighter.”
Most of the test equipment — which included a tethered, radio-equipped aerostat flying overhead and unmanned surface vessels in and around Charleston Harbor — launched from the western tip of Sullivan’s Island. Communications also established on beaches near Fort Moultrie and a pier off Fort Sumter National Monument tested the interoperability of various system configurations.
Cliff Hunt, NIWC Atlantic’s senior scientific technical manager for assured communications and a major facilitator of the exercise, said the community support in the weeks and months leading up to the event was invaluable.
“Sullivan’s Island has a long history of supporting the nation’s military, dating all the way back to Fort Moultrie in the Revolutionary War,” Hunt said. “We are very appreciative of the town and its community members for showing us so much support during this week’s technology experiment.”
NIWC Atlantic routinely conducts testing on Sullivan’s Island. Leaders said military radios did not interfere with other frequencies or electronic communications in the area.
Robert Gamberg, NSWC Crane’s fleet experimentation lead, said the environment was the perfect place for his team to carry out their mission.
“To evaluate communications intended for a tactical maritime environment, we needed a realistic setting,” said Gamberg, who grew up in South Carolina and traveled here to lead the exercise. “Thanks to NIWC Atlantic’s overwhelmingly strong support throughout the planning, coordination and execution of this event, our team could operate in an ideal location that enabled the successful completion of critical testing and experimentation.”
About NIWC Atlantic
As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities.
About NSWC Crane
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory in Crane, Indiana, and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi-spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s warfighter.
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD)- During a sunny and clear day, the old Pitt Street Bridge or ‘Old Bridge’ on Sullivan’s Island is a spot for local fisherman to look for a fresh catch.“I like to fish up here because the Red Drum will travel down the grass line,” said Mark Thawley.Since 1985, Thawley has been coming to this enclave with his rod and string. He says that back then people at Haddrell’s Point Tackle shop told him that this spot was the best for fishing.“I’ve...
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD)- During a sunny and clear day, the old Pitt Street Bridge or ‘Old Bridge’ on Sullivan’s Island is a spot for local fisherman to look for a fresh catch.
“I like to fish up here because the Red Drum will travel down the grass line,” said Mark Thawley.
Since 1985, Thawley has been coming to this enclave with his rod and string. He says that back then people at Haddrell’s Point Tackle shop told him that this spot was the best for fishing.
“I’ve been fishing here ever since. It’s that good of a spot,” said Thawley. “Last year on October 24 I caught a seven-pound flounder here; my biggest yet.”
But, Thawley’s saltwater sanctuary has long been dormant and is in need of repairs.
“It’s not very safe. There’s a little bench up there, but there’s no railing or anything like that. It’s a rugged little walk so old people might have a hard time. It’s not very safe for them either,” said Thawley.
The old Pitt Street Bridge once connected Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island with trolleys going to and from each side. The remnants of the Old Bridge have stood in the water and on the banks for decades after the Ben Sawyer Bridge was built in 1945.
“It’s been sitting here idle, but it’s a piece of history for the town,” said Andy Benke, the Town Administrator for Sullivan’s Island. “It’s a great recreational place.”
Due to the old bridge’s historical significance, the Town of Sullivan’s Island wants to keep the structure intact. Since 2018, town leaders have been exploring methods to stabilize and restore the area from the erosion that’s impacted the shoreline.
“We watched earlier a large watercraft go by at a very slow bell, but he still drew water as he approached and he threw out a small wake as it went by,” said Benke. “It’s just constant motion on the docks near us and the Old Bridge. It causes water to wash up around the backside of this structure and eventually erosion.”
Other causes of erosion, mostly on the structure’s north side, are due to tidal flooding and rainfall.
The Town of Sullivan’s Island is getting closer to a solution though. Town Council is in the process of getting construction drawings to restore and stabilize the area. After that, a contractor can be hired and construction could begin in the fall of 2023.
“We’ll stabilize the foundation of the Old Bridge with an environmentally friendly product, sandbags, dirt and vegetation,” said Benke.
Hope for an improved Old Bridge has Thawley feeling optimistic that his favorite fishing spot will be even better than before.
“If they just put a little bit into it that would be great,” said Thawley.