By Mark Kreuzwieser
Coastal Parent

Mark Kreuzwieser photo
Joey Timms of Coastal Monument Co. in Conway takes a close look at the tortoise monument before securing it on a granite foundation.

Town installs bronze reptile statue in downtown park.

RIDGELAND

The community that 100 years ago abandoned its name honoring the gopher tortoise welcomed back a piece of its heritage April 7: a massive bronze monument to the threatened reptilian species.

The 800-pound bronze statue, created by a Farming-dale, N.Y., artist, was hauled into Ridgeland by Coastal Monument Co., the Conway company that forged its 4,500-pound granite base.

Town workers and a Coastal Monument crew immediately readied the foundation in Gopher Hill Park at West Main Street and Railroad Avenue and the 6-foot-long, 4-foot-wide statue was installed.

Fresh concrete had to be poured before the granite base could be placed, with the tortoise monument resting on top.

"We're glad to finally see the monument here," Town Administrator Jason Taylor said. "Hopefully, the community will look at this with a sense of pride. It's really a beautiful statue and should mean a lot to the town."

Gary Hodges, a former mayor pro tem, stopped by to watch the monument setup. "This will be a focal point for citizens and visitors," he said.

Addressing the rather unusual nature of a monument to a reptile, Hodges said, "People laughed when Charles Fraser built that lighthouse on Hilton Head Island. Now, that lighthouse is the symbol, an icon, for Hilton Head. That's vision."

Taylor said bricks will be placed over the cinderblocks surrounding the monument, and walkways will be built leading up to the statue.

Town officials have said a historical marker recognizing the founders of Ridgeland will also be placed in the park.

The idea for the monument to Ridgeland's historic namesake came out of a 2002 Ridgeland public relations and image initiative headed up by Community Builders, a nonprofit agency working under the auspices of the state and the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

The agency asked Ridgeland citizens and community and business leaders what they thought is special about the town.

The town that is now Ridgeland formerly was called Gopher Hill, because the community rested on a sandy ridge that once had a thriving population of gopher tortoises. The name of the town was changed in 1902 by a railroad company that owned a line through - and property in - the town.

Town accommodations tax revenues paid the $35,000 price tag for the bronze monument and granite base.

A dedication ceremony will be scheduled, Taylor said, and dozens of state officials will be invited. "We'll get the word out to all the state agencies and arts groups about the monument, and we hope they'll publicize it and people will come to Ridgeland to see it."

As the monument was being placed Tuesday, several onlookers wondered if the statue was life-size. No, Taylor said. An adult gopher tortoise weighs about 9 pounds and carries a 9- to 12-inch shell.

The gopher tortoise belongs to a group of land tortoises that originated in western North America nearly 60 million years ago. The protected reptile is found in South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Gopher tortoises are listed as threatened or endangered in the Southern states where they're now found, including the southernmost tip of South Carolina, in Jasper and Hampton counties. Their existence has been threatened by development, a lack of undeveloped land management and human threats, including harvesting, pesticides and road kills.