Patriots Point to receive funding from S.C. State Guard Foundation
July 20, 2011
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
July 20, 2011
CHARLESTON, SC – July 20, 2011 – The board of directors of the S.C.State Guard Foundation today voted to award $12,500 to assistCharleston’s Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in its ongoingdevelopment of a 36-acre tract of land surrounding the site at MountPleasant.
Patriots Point officials say they need approximately $200,000 by year’send. And the S.C. State Guard Foundation – which co-hosted (along withThe Citadel) the national Medal of Honor convention in Charleston lastfall – hopes its donation will not only help toward that goal, butinspire other South Carolinians to do the same.
“This is one way in which we are demonstrating our support of those whoserve – and who have served – our state and nation,” says MichaelGraham, vice pres. of the S.C. State Guard Foundation, a serving officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, and an attorney at Rogers Townsend &Thomas in Columbia where today’s foundation meeting was held.
Maj. Gen. F. Eli Wishart, a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer whoretired as commander of the S.C. State Guard, agrees with Graham.
Monies raised to support Patriots Point is “an investment in the state,” Wishart says. “Charleston is already a tourist destination point,” headds. “Developing Patriots Point will only strengthen that fact. It also will increase jobs, and the end result will be a tremendous source ofpride for all South Carolinians for generations to come.”
Development of Patriots Point is a project of PGAV Destinations, whichhas worked with the Biltmore Estate in N.C., Colonial Williamsburg inVirginia, and Gettysburg National Park, Pennsylvania. PGAV Destinationsis also involved in a development project to create a master plan forFort Ticonderoga in upstate New York.
Patriots Point is home to several retired warships, including theaircraft carrier USS Yorktown, as well as the headquarters of theCongressional Medal of Honor Society and the official Medal of HonorMuseum.
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