MONCKS CORNER – Cypress Gardens, Berkeley County’s popular tourist attraction, received a $ 125,000 state grant to renovate the Heritage Room.
The “Undiscovered South Carolina” grant program from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism of SC assists communities in the development of publicly owned tourist attractions that bring visitors to the State of Palmetto.
The concession will go to the renovation of the Heritage Room, damaged in the historic floods of 2015.
The Heritage Room is an interactive lounge where visitors learn about the history of Berkeley County, the state of South Carolina, the cultivation of rice during the colonial period and the creation of the cypress swamp through photos, videos and artifacts.
The Heritage Room will also be used as a rental location for meetings such as weddings and birthday parties.
“The tourism industry is an important part of South Carolina’s economy,” said PRT director Duane Parrish.
“Developing, implementing and maintaining a successful tourism product is often a long, complex and expensive process,” he added. “The grant program helps communities put their big ideas on the map, bringing tourism dollars to new – and more – places across the state. “
The renovation project is expected to cost about $ 250,000. Berkeley County supervisor Johnny Cribb said he was not sure when the construction would be completed.
“The Heritage Room is one of the many gems that make Cypress Gardens so great,” said Cribb. “We look forward to reopening this historic element in the park soon.”
In October 2015, historic and devastating floods closed Cypress Gardens for nearly five years. The park was submerged with 1 to 4 feet of standing water across the 170-acre site.
The park struggled to reopen. There were funding problems, federal codes that had to be adhered to and setbacks from additional weather events that conspired to push the park’s reopening efforts through 2019.
The county poured $ 2.1 million into Cypress Gardens and the park was finally reopened in April of that year.
“Renovating the Heritage Room is the last piece to fix Cypress Gardens,” said Cribb. “It was important for us to open in April 2019 and not be late. Let’s tell the story of Berkeley County in that room. It will be incredible. We have many school trips, so we wanted all the children in our schools to learn the history of our municipality. “
Dean Hall was also damaged during the floods. An additional $ 570,000 was needed to renew the attraction, which opened to the public in November.
Dean Hall had been a popular choice for pre-flood wedding receptions. Up to 100 weddings per year were held in the space that can now accommodate up to 250 people with coronavirus restrictions.
“It’s just beautiful, it’s better than it used to be,” said park director Heather McDowell. “As word spread that Dean Hall is open again, we are very interested in reservations.”
The park was originally part of Dean Hall, one of the largest rice paddies on the Cooper River.
Cypress Gardens was created in the late 1920s and opened to the public in 1932. Once owned by the family of Benjamin Kittredge, it was sold for $ 1 to the city of Charleston in 1964.
Hurricane Hugo in 1989 almost destroyed Cypress Gardens, but the city rebuilt it and ended up handing it over to Berkeley County in 1996.
The park has flourished since its reopening. Its share almost doubled from 50,000 to 93,000 over a period of 11 months, from April 2019 to March 2020.
The park was forced to close for two months – from March to May – because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it is reopened with social distancing protocols in place.
Catch up Andrew Miller at 843-937-5599. Follow him on Twitter @APMILLER_PandC