Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I never got to go to Wild Water & Wheels in Surfside Beach next to the Flea Market. I would have been in my early 30s when it opened, which is a bit old to do a water park without kids in tow. I always figured maybe I would go with a family group sometime, but it never materialized. The official announcement that the place was closed came last November, but it was apparently pretty commonly assumed before that, as the land had been sold in April. According to the owner, it was a completely financial decision: He would have loved to keep it going, but it wasn't making any money with shorter summers and more competition, and he had to retire the operating debt by selling.

Currently, it appears the 17 acre site will go to housing, but that has not been completely finalized yet.

Here is The Post & Courier on the closing, here is The Sun News, WMBF and WBTW.

Here is a promo video, with plenty of shots of the park in operation:

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Indian Wells Golf Club is on the Garden City Connector, a short cut-through that joins US-17 Business with US-17 Bypass just north of the former Pink Pony. As is usual for the Grand Strand, the area has developed quite a bit in the last decade, and there is now a Wal-Mart on the east end of the connector.

According to The Sun News, the plan is to replace the golf course with up to 520 houses and townhouses. This, understandably has upset the locals who already live by the course, who would see their green spaces replaced with houses and traffic, and there have been protests against the development plans.

The course was 36 holes, and opened in 1984 with Hole #9 named to the "Grand Strand's Dream 18". You can see some pictures of the course in manicured operation here. By the time I walked the course on 1 November 2020, I couldn't really tell where the holes had been (though I did find a sandtrap) as it had grown over very quickly during the year of closure.

It was a very pleasant outing though, as the cart paths are still there, and without golf, your "nice walk spoiled" is just a nice walk. There are a number of ducks and herons on the water, and I have seen folks out in canoes from time to time as well; the place is now an unofficial park, and I can see why the folks living behind it will miss it.

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When I finally got over to Forest Lake Park after commenter Sidney mentioned that the gym was being torn down, I found the whole place fenced off and closed. Presumably there is an upfit planned here, but oddly, I can find no mention of it on the Richland County Recreation Commission site. Elsewhere on the site there is a ten year plan for the system, but the only mention of the park there is that it is in "fair" condition and could be better. I don't see any news stories about it either.

I actually did not realize this was a park -- I thought it was all part of the adjacent elementary school. It looks to have been a pleasant enough place.

Also, for the record, I have used the term Forest Lake Park on this site before to talk about the park attached to the old Forest Lake Shopping Center, which is apparently technically incorrect.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

Due to scheduling issues of one sort and another, I did not get to Brookgreen Gardens Nights of 1000 Candles in 2019, so I was looking forward to seeing the Bruce Munro Southern Light installation this Spring. Well, then there was, of course, COVID-19, and that was put on hold for a while.

Now however, the display is up and running, and I found a chance to take it in on 6 June 2020. It was one of those unseasonably cool nights we have had this Spring, so the bugs were down, but it was still very comfortable, and there was also a beautiful full moon to go with the lights. My favorite part was towards the last of this set of pictures, a profusion of small color-changing bulbs on stalks planted across one of the more open and less sculpture-studded sections of the gardens. I felt as though I could probably have sat out there for some hours, but as the display closes at 11pm, I had to move on out before I was quite ready.

The exhibition runs from 8pm-11pm through September, so if you are in the area, it's well worth checking out.

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Today's closing comes courtesy of commenter James R who writes (in a note I lost track of for quite a while...):

An out of the area closing, but I thought you might like the
pictures anyway. Facebook says it closed in 2011.

He links to his Google Photo set of pictures of the place, from which the top picture comes. The pictures put me in the mind a bit of Main Beach Arcade in Fernandina Beach.

There is also a Facebook page devoted to the park, with many more photos, including some of it in operation.

Here's what I've been able to find out online (mainly here and here): The park is on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks, was built in the 1980s, and operated until 2010. At that time, one of the owners passed away, and the place was closed. It was intended to be temporary as the family dealt with the situation, but in the meantime, Hurricane Irene hit in 2011 doing enough damage that the park could not simply re-open. Since that time it has sat vacant with the family putting in just enough money to fence it off and handle the worst safety issues. A local civic association has tried to buy the park property several times, but as of early this year, that had not happened.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)