Woolsey: Let’s start showing off our beautiful SC State House

When I saw a photo of the 8-inch-deep, square hole on the lawn of the S.C. capitol where workers had removed the wrought iron fencing and flag pole behind the Confederate Soldier Monument, it reminded me of something most people don’t realize: The monument was a Johnny-come-lately to the State House. It didn’t always block the view of the capitol.

I believe those workers should keep digging that hole until it is large enough for a unity reflection pool with a water spout that spews a fine mist — maybe a three-pronged one, or however many prongs are chosen for whatever symbolic reason state leaders may come up with. The Confederate Soldier Monument should then be relocated to a spot where it will no longer block the view of the State House — not because the monument itself shouldn’t block the view, but because nothing at all should block the view.

The Ben Pitchfork Tillman statue could be relocated to Clemson in the Upstate, where most of the state legislators who voted to keep the Confederate flag flying reside. Tillman nearly smeared his britches to get Clemson founded in the 1890s at the expense of S.C. College (now USC), so placing his statue in front of Tillman Hall would be appropriate. The Confederate Soldier Monument could then take the Tillman statue’s current spot, a location that is over to one side, like the African-American History Monument.

The traffic lights at Gervais and Main should be replaced with ground-level vertical lights that are a little larger than the black barrier cylinders that block vehicles from entering the capitol grounds. The traffic lights could sit where the current traffic light posts stand, over to the side so as not to detract from the beauty of the capitol and reflection pool when viewing them from Main Street. When traffic engineers see how well the off-center, lower traffic lights work, they might eventually want to use them all over the city. (What say you, Mayor Benjamin?)

Finally, since spotlights will no longer be used to illuminate the Confederate flag at night, they should be redirected so that the exterior of the east and west wings of the State House are once again illuminated, the way they used to be before the $50 million restoration and the Confederate flag compromise.

The State House is simply too beautiful to have detractors and distractions marring its splendor. We should start treating the people’s house accordingly.

Charleston

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 6:25 AM.