CHARLESTON – The S.C. State Park Service has been presented the Golden Pineapple award by the Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau in recognition of the renovation of Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site.
Phil Gaines, director of the State Park Service, accepted the award for the agency during the Charleston CVB’s Travel Council Annual Meeting on Tuesday, June 12, at Charleston Place hotel. The CVB has presented the award annually since 1985 to recognize exceptional leadership for the future growth of the tourism industry. Located across the Ashley River from downtown Charleston, Charles Towne Landing first opened in 1970. It protects and interprets the site where in 1670 a group of English settlers, indentured servants and African slaves established the first permanent European settlement in what would become the Carolina Colony.
After an extensive renovation, the park now features a Visitors Center with 12 rooms of exhibits about the settlement’s history. Highlights also include working archaeological digs and outdoor and indoor archaeology exhibits, the Animal Forest natural-habitat zoo, a palisade-protected area with replica cannons, trading ship and period structures and a trial crop garden.
“Because of the efforts of the Charleston community and the entire PRT team, this historic property now effectively tells the fascinating story of South Carolina’s founding,†said Chad Prosser, director of the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism, parent agency of the State Park Service. “It’s where the Charleston experience really begins, and we’re grateful to the tourism leaders of Charleston for this recognition, and more importantly, for their support as we remade one of Charleston’s favorite, and most historic, green spaces.â€
Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site is at 1500 Old Towne Road (S.C. 171) near Exit 216-A off Interstate 26 and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3.25 for South Carolina seniors, and $3 for children ages 6 to 15. For more information, call (843) 852-4200 or visit www.SouthCarolinaParks.com.