Above and Beyond

In 2007, photographer Daan Muller and pilot Frank Glenn took to the skies in a bright yellow 1947 Piper Cub to capture the unique landmarks and vistas of the Lowcountry for the coffee table book Charleston from Above. Take a look at some of the images documenting the place we call home

Play Ball: The $19.5 million, 6,000-seat Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Park on the banks of the Ashley River opened in 1997 as the new home of the Charleston RiverDogs, a Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees. In 2007, the RiverDogs set an all-time Charleston professional baseball season attendance record, drawing 284,718 fans. The facility also hosts concerts and community events throughout the year.

Marching Orders: Each Friday during the school year, The Citadel Corps of Cadets takes to Summerall Field on the grounds of their 300-acre campus adjacent to Hampton Park. The traditional military dress parade is open to the public. One of the highlights of the weekly event is the Summerall Guards, a 61-member silent precision drill team that has marched in four presidential inauguration parades since 1953.

The Great Divide: Between 200 and 300 yards wide, Breach Inlet separates Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms and is known for severe currents that attract watersports enthusiasts and have unfortunately claimed more than a few lives. An event etched into the inlet’s history occurred on February 17, 1864, when the CSS H.L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy warship, quietly slipped out of the inlet, never to return.

The Public Realm: Colonial Lake—bounded by Ashley and Rutledge avenues and Broad and Beaufain streets—rests on former marshland and a tidal pond set aside in 1768 for the use of the citizens of the city. The concrete wall and promenade were completed in 1884, and today walkers, runners, and loungers continue to enjoy this public respite.

Civil Matters: Construction on Fort Sumter, the stone and brick bastion at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, began in 1827 and was still unfinished when the five-sided structure bore witness to the first shots of the Civil War fired from Fort Johnson (on James Island to its west) and Fort Moultrie (on Sullivan’s Island to its east). Today, the site is a National Monument administered by the National Park Service. Some 250,000 visitors are ferried to the fort each year.