Allison Hunt: Navigating History and Community at the Heart of Mount Pleasant

Join us for an insightful conversation with Allison Hunt, the Executive Director of Patriot's Point Development Authority, as she takes us through the illustrious history of the USS Yorktown and USS Laffey. These iconic World War II museum ships, stationed in Mount Pleasant, offer more than just a glimpse into the past. Discover how the Patriot's Point Development Authority is preserving history while contributing to the community through innovative partnerships and memorable events. Hunt shares her personal connections to this historical site, including experiences like a Boy Scout overnight and an emotional visit to the Vietnam exhibit.

The USS Yorktown is not only steeped in history but also serves as a vibrant community hub. From surviving the wrath of Hurricane Hugo to serving as a picturesque venue for various events, the ship's journey is as dynamic as it is storied. Explore the array of tours guided by veterans, offering authentic insights into naval history, and find out how lease revenues are channeled into maintaining these historic landmarks. With breathtaking views, the USS Yorktown is a must-visit destination, enhanced by a newly updated website designed to tailor visitor itineraries.

We also explore the exciting developments at Patriot's Point, such as the upcoming membership program and the transformation of the area into a major East Coast destination through the Patriot's Annex. In a heartfelt tribute to veterans, we'll hear stories from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Museum and the impactful collaboration with the Ralph Johnson VA for PTSD treatment. This episode underscores the commitment to honoring veterans and preserving history while engaging future generations with powerful narratives and immersive experiences.

Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Building Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
Special thanks to theCharleston Radio Group for
sponsoring the show.
My name is Mike Compton, I'mcurrently your Chamber Marketing
Chair and co-owner of RoombaAdvertising goroombacom, and we
have a special episode today.
But first I want to introducemy co-host, rebecca Imholz.

(00:21):
Say hey, rebecca.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hi Mike, hi everybody .
So excited to be here.
I'm glad that you allowed me toco-host with you today, mike oh
my gosh Stop it, I'm not theit's been a while.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm the podcast Nazi over here at the Chamber.
Apparently You're welcomeanytime, rebecca.
Thank you.
Thank you very much Every otherweek.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
No, and I know to get here sometimes because, I'm the
director of the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce for five
years.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
No, it hasn't been five years, has it?
It has been five years.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
yes, so love it, love it, love it.
So excited that we now have abuilding, an office space, a
home, where we can host eventsand the Chamber's growing and
thriving and building businesspodcasts is part of that as we
grow and thrive, heck, yes, sothank you, of course, of course.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Who do we have here today?
Rebecca?
Somebody really cool.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I am so excited to have her with us.
Today.
We have Allison Hunt.
She is the Executive Directorof Patriot's Point Development
Authority.
A lot of you will know her moreas the USS Yorktown because
that is where she is located andwe're going to talk about that
really cool relationship todaybetween the Patriots Point

(01:29):
Development Authority, theYorktown, the Congressional
Medal of Honor Museum that's nowon the Yorktown.
So, anyway, I'm so excited tohave you today, allison, welcome
.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Thank you, rebecca.
Thank you, mike, it's great tobe here.
Welcome, thank you, rebecca.
Thank you, mike, it's great tobe here and, yes, I am literally
on the ship.
My office is literally on the.
Uss Short Town, as are most ofour.
The vast majority of ouroffices are there, tucked away
in all sorts of areas throughoutthe ship.
Oh my gosh, it's too cool.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Like, okay, explain for the listeners who don't know
where we are right now, right,cool, like, okay, explain.
For the listeners who don'tknow where we are right now
right, we're in mount pleasant,right.
And when we enter mountpleasant from the bridge, we see
to the right, coming fromcharleston, this giant warship,
right that's, and I rememberwhen I saw for the first time.
Like what the f am I doing right, like what is going on?
Why is that there?

(02:20):
It's really cool, you know.
But oh my gosh, I and I justI'm so enthralled by that whole
business line, like you're.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
It's a museum now and it's it, it is, it's um that
that's uh, I can talk about itfor ages and it is.
It is really interesting.
So so the the giant, giantwarship that you see as you
cross the bridge is the USSYorktown and it is an aircraft
carrier, it's a NationalHistoric Landmark and it's from

(02:54):
World War II.
And if you go a little furtheror you come from the other
direction, you'll be able tospot the USS Laffey and that is
a destroyer, also World War IIera and then served beyond that
time.
Both of them then did actually.
But Patriot's Point is ourorganization, we're the
development authority, so we arehome to those two museum ships.

(03:18):
Plus we have the Vietnamexperience, which is a
Brownwater Navy encampment.
It's a recreation of that.
It's the only thing really likeit in the US.
But we also have the 467 acresland side that are attached to
the ships.

(03:38):
So that is part we're all partof the state of South Carolina.
We're a state agency, theDevelopment Authority is a state
agency, and so part of ourresponsibility is managing all
of that property at Patriot'sPoint and all of those folks out
there are our tenants.
So we are partners with theFort Sumter and Spirit Line

(04:02):
Cruises and College ofCharleston, their baseball,
softball and tennis facilitiesand the Battery.
Oh wow Boy, they're just havinga great season.
It's so fun having them there.
Patriot's Point Links,charleston Harbor Resort and

(04:22):
Marina, and I think I'm coveringeverybody.
And then our newest partner isPatriot Sanic.
So that is the last phase ofthe development of that property
and the reason that thelegislature gave that property
to the authority to manage wasso that could create lease

(04:43):
revenue to help maintain andmaintenance and upkeep on those
two ships.
So it's an elegant solution toa very complicated problem.
Our two ladies just celebrated80th birthdays, so they right
right.
So there is like all 80 yearolds, there's maintenance and

(05:05):
upkeep.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yes and before you turn 80, there's a lot of
maintenance and upkeep as well.
That is true um, I had no idea,honestly, allison, that that
was all part of patriots pointdevelopment authority oh,
thankfully I'm not the only onewho had no idea.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
I have no idea.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
I think a lot of people don't know and and it's
uh.
So there's a, there are a lotof facets to to Patriot's Point,
but the one, of course, thateveryone hopefully knows about
is the museum, is the Naval andMaritime Museum.
So, uh, so that's the ships andthe Vietnam experience.
We also have the Cold Warsub-memorial that's on the
property right outside of theBattery area.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
So my family has gone through the Vietnam.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Memorial experience.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
My dad has since passed away, but he served in
Vietnam.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
He flew, oh goodness.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
And so I was able to take him there years ago when we
first moved to the area andthen I think I shared with you,
my husband was a chaperone for aBoy Scout troop on the USS
Yorktown and spent the night.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
And that's still available.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
So let's talk about the overnight excursion.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
We've got Operation Overnight.
So we have our OperationOvernight program.
Has been around for, I think atthis point, 40 years.
It's so funny how many peoplethat I meet and talk to,
especially in Mount Pleasant butreally throughout the state,
who said yeah, I spent a nighton the ship when I came with my.
Boy Scout troop or my schoolgroup or my JROTC group.

(06:30):
So we still have it and it isavailable.
You can check out the PatriotsPoint website to get more
information, but we've gotberthing for actually 600 open.
There were a lot more than that, because there were 3,300
sailors on the ship, althoughthey hot bunked this is a term

(06:50):
that I didn't really know.
What do you mean?
Some people would sleep in thatbunk during the day and some
people would sleep in that samebunk during the night.
We don't do that anymore.
Hot bunking Hot bunking.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
I'm going to write that one down.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Any of you sailors out there can correct me if I'm
right.
You know I could have some ofour volunteers and veterans
could be pulling my leg on thatone but it makes sense to me.
It makes sense to me.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
My nephew's in the Navy.
I'm going to say are you hotbunking with anybody?

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Jake, I wonder if we still do that Make a note on
that one I would love to know ifthat is still a thing.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Allison, how long have you been working there for?

Speaker 3 (07:29):
I have been at Patriot's Point, for it'll be
eight years in November, but Ihave been in this role for a
year and a half.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay, eight years.
So what was that job that youhad?

Speaker 3 (07:39):
So before this I came from the Yorktown Foundation,
which Before this I came fromthe Yorktown Foundation, which
is the designated support arm ofthe museum.
So the Yorktown Foundation nowthe executive director is Megan
Silsby.
She's terrific, and thatorganization just partners very
closely with Patriots Point.

(07:59):
You know the office is on board, they're part of all of the
meetings.
Because we are a state agency,we don't fundraise, but it's an
important part of what we dobecause so much of what our
budget has to go toward is theships, you know keeping that up.
And then, of course, we welcome300,000 visitors a year.
So yes, we are open.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
362 days of the year we are open 362 days of the year
.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
We have a staff of 115 people.
We have 170 volunteers, so wehave a lot of people at
Patriot's Point and we love it.
It's great and that's ourmission is that we want to
educate the public about serviceand patriotism and military
history, and so we've got a lotof programs, a lot of things

(08:47):
that we do, and we look to thefoundation to do a lot of our
programs and exhibits, upgradingexisting exhibits and new
exhibits.
So I've been doing that beforethis.
It was a very natural.
I was part of the leadershipteam and so it was a very
natural progression to to moveinto the executive director role

(09:07):
.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
How are you liking it ?
It's great.
It's a year and a half.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
It really kind of has flown by.
You know there's there's nevera dull moment and uh you're the
boss, like, of all of that.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Like you know, when you say it that way, um, I, I,
all of that.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
You know, when you say it that way, I have a board,
there is a Patriots PointDevelopment Authority board, and
so that is a politicallyappointed board and we've got a
great board and made up ofpeople throughout the state
because we are a state agencyand we do represent and serve

(09:42):
the entire state represent andserve the entire state.
But I may come in with an ideaof what I'm going to get done in
that day, and rarely does thatactually happen.
I have a board, too.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
We have one employee that we're looking for right now
, not hundreds and hundreds ofemployees.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Right, it's a big job .

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
But really, really such a fun place to work and you
know it's just so meaningful.
It's very mission-driven workand you know, if you ever, it's
easy to kind of get caught up inall the meetings and all of the
planning and all of the thingsyou do to, you know, to keep
moving things forward.
And I find that if I ever just,you know, get kind of bogged
down in all of theadministrative piece, I can just

(10:26):
go out and walk on the hangarbay and I see all of the guests
who are having a great time andthey're oh my gosh, look at the
plane.
The kids are pointing, we've got28 historic aircraft and then
we have one of the mostbeautiful views of anywhere I've
ever been anywhere.
I won't even just limit it tothis area.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
You've lived in a lot of places too.
I have, and I've seen a lot ofplaces and I've seen a lot of
museum ships.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
How many museum ships are there?

Speaker 3 (10:56):
So you know, I don't know, I meant to look that up
before I came, let's.
Google it.
Historic Naval ShipsAssociation.
We just had a conference in SanDiego, on the Midway, which is
in San Diego and it's in a Navytown.
It's a pretty greatorganization they've got there.
But there are aircraft carriermuseums, which they are in the

(11:19):
US.
There are five of us, oh mygosh, there's a ton of them.
But as far as battleships,there's a battleship in North
Carolina, there's Alabama.
There are other of us oh mygosh, there's a ton of them.
But as far as battleships,there's a battleship in North
Carolina, there's the Alabama.
There are other destroyers.
There are a wide variety ofdifferent kinds of ships.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
But nothing like the Yorktown.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
There are five aircraft carriers.
Oh okay, I don't see that.
But yes, nothing like theYorktown and they're kind of all
over the country.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Are they?
Where's the nearest one?

Speaker 3 (11:44):
So the closest one probably would be the Intrepid
in New York and we've got theLexington in Corpus Christi and
the Midway is in San Diego andthe Hornet is in Alameda,
California, right outside ofOakland.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Here's a battleship in North Carolina.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, it's beautiful, that's.
They've done a great job onthat ship.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Okay, all right Wow.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
So what's the history of the USS Yorktown?
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Well, there's the military history which, when you
have my curator on, she will beglad to give you the full
rundown of that.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
There's somebody for that.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
And then the history at Patriot's Point.
It was an engaged group ofcitizens in the 70s put together
an effort to bring the Yorktownto Patriot's Point and that's
when the legislature created thedevelopment authority to manage
the ship.

(12:37):
So she arrived in.
I believe it's 1975.
I should have that down, but Ithink that's it.
But I do hear from peoplepretty regularly about how they
remember when the ship wasbrought into town.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
That must have been something.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Apparently it was amazing.
The photographs are incredible.
You see everybody out on theirboats.
I mean bringing an aircraftcarrier.
It's 888 feet long.
To little Charleston, tobringing it into Mount Pleasant,
into the harbor, and thenpositioning it so she sits in 28
feet of pluff mud.
So she had to get in theresomehow.

(13:13):
So that must have been reallyinteresting to see.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
I didn't realize that yeah.
That's one of my questions ishow in there is she?

Speaker 3 (13:21):
She's in there.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
A storm comes by we're not having to worry too
much.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Well, you know, I should say I should.
Probably there's a caveat there.
It's she moved a little duringHugo.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Hugo, okay.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
And then in December, when we had some those very
unusual high tides December 17th, we had been doing the state
has been doing remediation onthe ship and so we had taken
some fluids off, we were alittle light and she shifted

(13:56):
during those tides.
So that's the first time sinceHugo, and it's you know, you'd
never know but we were able tokind of spot it with just some
changes in the you know how onepart of the ship attaches to
another.
So there are expansion joints ona ship just like there are on a
bridge, and you could see thatthose had shifted a little bit.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
So I'm sure, just even the minors.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Right, right.
I mean they're made to move.
You know, they're made to flex.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Shift would kind of offset everything right.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, to move.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
You know they're made to flex shift would kind of
offset everything, right?
Yeah, so it's, it's interesting.
So you were right about 1975,75, okay, good good work there.
Good work there, you get thejob okay, great enjoyed it,
thank you um, rebecca, did youhave anything else you want to
talk about?

Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well, let's talk about you mentioned.
The views are just incredibleon the ship.
I don't know if people realizethat they can rent the space for
special events.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Absolutely.
Thank you for bringing that up.
We have the ship is such aninteresting place to host an
event and so we do somewhere,kind of depending on the year,
around 200, 250 events a yearand we have parts of the ship.
There are several differentplaces on the ship that you can
rent.
The flight deck is an option.

(15:16):
The hangar bay, hangar baythree it's a large space.
We can accommodate very largegroups.
The Fantel, where we justrecently were for the Mount
Pleasant Chamber event, isincredible.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
What was that?

Speaker 3 (15:28):
event the Fantel.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
The Know your Lawmaker event, the Know your
Lawmaker, that's right.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
What month is that usually in that's.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
August.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
It's usually in August, isn't?

Speaker 2 (15:35):
it.
Yes so look for it.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
We hope to have it again on the Yorktown.
That is the plan, definitelyEven when it is miserably hot in
August, which I guess it doesdo that here.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
The fantail is always beautiful because we're right
on the harbor, you get thebreeze it's always beautiful.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
So, yeah, it's a great place to have an event.
It's a great place to hold aconference, to do corporate
leadership events, we doweddings, we do all kinds of
things there.
So you, if you check out ourwebsite, there's a lot more
information there.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
But we, we are year-round ready to go so one of
the areas that the chamber isworking on is working with our
veteran-owned businesses.
Oh great, so we have someplanned events as well on the
yorktown oh good wonderfulengaging speakers, and you know
what better place to have anevent than New Yorktown.
Perfect, and an area that'sair-conditioned and has heat.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
That was what somebody asked me, that's right.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yes, we'll be in a room.
You're in the harbor room.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
We're in the harbor room, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
So we're very grateful for that.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Yes, conditioned space is at a high premium Is
the harbor room.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
A yeah, it's it's.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
It's a decent size and we can get 60 in there, and
one of the things that we areoffering Because we it's an
important part of our mission toserve our community and
especially serve our veterancommunity.
We are offering that room forme as meeting space for free
during business hours Toveterans groups that would like
to hold their meetings there.
That's a great opportunity Toget on the ship and see the ship

(17:03):
and have your meeting in aspecial place and then get to
enjoy the ship.
So I keep mentioning thewebsite, but we've just done.
Featurespointorg.
And there you go.
We've just done.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
We've got a brand new website and it's expanded and
lots and lots of greatinformation on there.
It's very good.
I like the fact that on thewebsite you have plan your stay
so that if you have two hours inyour stay here in the area or
you have all day or overnight,as we mentioned, that you have
suggestions of what to do whileyou're on the Yorktown or in

(17:36):
that area.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
It is.
Yes, rebecca, there's a lot todo and the ship is.
We have tons of tour areas open.
You can spend a whole dayeasily on the Yorktown and the
Laffey is amazing.
Really an interesting historythere and such an interesting
ship.
And then we have Vietnamexperience.

(17:58):
So it really is.
You can come and you can spendan hour and sort of pinpoint
what you want to see or, if youhave the time, you can see lots
and lots of different things.
So we did try and offer that toour guests to try and pull out
the things they want to do.
We also have tours.
We have a captain's tour that'sduring the day.

(18:19):
We partner with Bulldog Tourson that.
They do such an amazing job.
Actually, their tour guides areall veterans and our veteran
volunteers are a couple that arenot, but the majority of them
also volunteers at Patriot'sPoint and are veterans.
So you get a really customizedtour there and that's a really
great way to get a lot ofinformation in sort of a short

(18:40):
time.
We also have ghost tours Ghosttours.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Let's talk about that After hours.
We also have ghost tours.
Let's talk about that Afterhours.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Boy.
That's another Bulldog Tourspartnership and you can get more
information about that eitheron our website or on the Bulldog
Tours website.
But they're an absolutelyterrific partner.
But the ghost tours are amazingand you know they're very
respectful and you know we wantto tell the story of you know

(19:07):
the interesting happenings onthe ship and be respectful to
those who served and those whoselives were lost.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
I should look this up .
How long did the ship serve?

Speaker 3 (19:14):
The ship served 1944, it came out to 1943.
It was built and then it wasdecommissioned in 72.
Two or three I think it wasn'tthat long that it was that it
was going to ask what's thelength?
Length of a warship so this isthis is my area is more patriots

(19:37):
point and and and less sort ofthe the.
The history of right, no, I gotyou, I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, you
know there were these, I cantell you the world war ii um the
, the aircraft, the, the shipsthat were built, uh, during
world war ii.
They're built very quickly, um,because they, you know,
especially after Pearl Harbor,they really, you know, were
getting them out there and theywere built to last for 30 years.

(20:00):
So I can tell you the Yorktownwas built in 13 months, which is
really unimaginable right now,and Eleanor Roosevelt did the
Crescendo.
So that's pretty fun.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Because my nephew's still waiting to get on his ship
, so he's in Seattle waitinghe'll go to San Diego what's
your nephew's name?

Speaker 1 (20:19):
his name is Jake thank you for your service, jake
thank you for everyone who hasserved my niece Isabel.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Shout out to Izzy, she's in the military we
appreciate their service and Ireally appreciate the fact that
you now offer a membership.
Let's talk about that, becausethat's really cool.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
It is.
We are very excited.
This has been something we havewanted to do for many, many
years, and it's a bigundertaking.
Why is that?

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Because I would just think you just pay your money
and.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
You would I know better.
I direct the chamber.
I should know better than that,but that's what I would think
Right, right, there's a lot thathas to go into place because
you have to be able toincentivize it.
You want to make it have avalue, and then you have to
provide extra programming andall sorts of special incentives

(21:16):
to have members come on board.
And then part of that we'redoing it with the Yorktown
Foundation and part of that is acorporate sponsorship program
and just a really full-fledgedmembership program for lots of
different levels.
There's a number of differentlevels available for membership.
They will be rolling that outon Veterans Day.

(21:39):
So, depending on when this airs, it may be soon to release or
just after, but that will startthen and then that will continue
to grow.
So we're really looking forwardto maximizing that program.
We get visitors from all overthe world and we do a visitor

(22:01):
survey quarterly.
So College of Charleston doesthat for us.
So that we track our visitorshipand I believe the last one the
percentage of our visitors thatare from outside of our area is
92%.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
So I will tell you that Patriot's Point in the
Yorktown is the best-kept secretin Mount Pleasant.
Really, and what I hear, andyou guys probably know this you
come to the Yorktown when youhave family in town and it rains
at the beach.
You come to the Yorktown whenyou have family in town and it
rains at the beach.
So I see everybody laughing andsmiling and you know that's a

(22:36):
lot of how people think of it.
But it's so much bigger thanthat and it has so much more to
offer.
You see something new everytime you come.
You can see a different areaevery time you come.
We're always building out newexhibits.
You come, you can see adifferent area every time you
come.
We're always building out newexhibits and you can see, like,

(23:00):
spend more time on the Laffey orspend more time in the Vietnam
experience.
You can come out forprogramming.
We think the membership programis really going to help people
connect in that way where it'ssomething that you can go to.
You know you can bring yourkids on a summer day and spend
some time there.
So we're really hoping thatwe'll see more locals come out.
But that's not unusual.
We hear that from all of oursister ships that it is.

(23:21):
You know, it's typically peoplethat are traveling and they
build it into their plans.
And we get a lot of folks fromMyrtle Beach that will come up
for the day.
So it's we get a lot ofinternational visitors.
It's really interesting.
There are times of the yearwhere you will, and I don't know
why I'm sure somebody smarterthan me could give me the reason

(23:42):
for this but you'll hear a lotof German.
There'll be a lot of Germanpeople on board for a while, and
so it must have something to dowith holidays or vacations or
something.
So we get a lot ofinternational visitors Awesome.
But I think the local folkswould just need to really roll
it more into their schedules.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Well, I think, having the because you can be an
individual member.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Right, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
And so I think being because I'm a member of the
aquarium.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Right, right the family membership.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
So now I can be a member of the USS Yorktown.
You sure can, and I now havegrandchildren, so I can bring my
grandchildren because they'reunder six.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
That's exactly right and they can check that out.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
So I think when you are, when you join something,
then you're more apt, as a local, to go and be part of those
events, and July 4th, forexample, that's a major it's a
major event Talk about it.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
So we've shifted in the past.
It was an interesting year, itwas a transitional year for us.
So we've for many, many yearswe've had the 4th of July blast
a huge event and we've hadlandside and ship events.
So we've had landside, had vansand food trucks and all of
these different things also onthe ship.
So this year was the shift.

(24:57):
Patriot's Annex is moving intobeginning construction on the
Landside part.
So Patriot's Annex is the areawhere our visitor parking lot is
and the area right adjacent tous that is going to be being

(25:17):
developed by Bennett Hospitalityis doing that.
Everybody knows Mike Bennett,bennett Hospitality and the
Bennett Hotel and all of hisgreat properties in town.
We have a great partnership withhim and he will be building
three hotels and restaurants andretail and it will be building
three hotels and restaurant andrestaurants and retail and it
will be a destination, a EastCoast destination.

(25:38):
We are so excited about thishappening, not only because that
lease revenue will help us withwith maintaining the ships, but
because it's gonna bring somany people to our area and to
our ship to visit the ship andhe does such a first-rate job
with everything he does.

(25:59):
The plans are incredible forwhat he's going to do and we
think it's going to be a greatspot for locals.
It's going to be a place whereyou can park and you can come
and you can shop and you can eatand you can visit the ship.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
She said park first.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Well, that first Park once.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Park once, and then you can do all these things Go
see a battery game, go watch atennis match, go to Charleston
Harbor and have a drink at theTiki Bar, get on the water taxi
if you want to go across theharbor.
So it's just a one-stopdestination on that side of town

(26:37):
and it is built to be that.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
It was designed to be that.
Is this the plot of land nextto the Serendipity Labs?
Is it the Bank of Americabuilding so?

Speaker 3 (26:47):
it's.
Once you come in to that, thatis the Ferry War Ferry and that
is not part of Patriot's Point,even though it's right there,
the Patriot's Point propertywhen you see the ball fields
like the rec center and all ofthat that's part of our property
, and then really pretty closeto where the old entrance to our

(27:12):
museum is, where that gatehouseis.
It's that and then back fromthere.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
So the golf course and all of that, all of the golf
course, all of the golf course.
You're speaking my language.
Now Are they going to redo thegolf course?

Speaker 3 (27:23):
There are plans.
That's Mike's story to tell,but there are very.
He is a man who makes no smallplans, so there are definitely
plans to do some very excitingthings with.
Patriot's Point Links.
I think that's going to begreat.
The other thing that's verycool, that is part of these
plans, is you guys probably knowthere's a path that goes from

(27:45):
Waterfront Park.
You can walk down fromWaterfront Park and walk in
front of Ferry Wharf and rightalong the harbor.
It's gorgeous.
It's an absolutely beautifulpath and that will connect into
a Patriots Point property andcontinue all the way to the ship
.
And so I mean we're envisioning, you know, people walking,
people on bikes, you know,really adding this next level of

(28:10):
amenities for the town of MountPleasant.
We see this as a huge benefitand bonus to our neighbors.
I live in Mount Pleasant.
I'm really excited about it.
Anytime you can walk around.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Oh, it's great.
I use that little path Park andthen walk.
Yeah, park Park and then walk.
My husband's a big cyclist, sothat's another way for them to
go and stay off the main roads,which I would prefer.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
That's right.
And then you get there andthere's so much to do and
there's so many choices andreally even right now there's
plenty of choices.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
But once this goes online.
What's the?

Speaker 3 (28:46):
timeline.
Well, the construction shouldprobably start.
We've handed it over.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
I mean, the exchange has happened.
That's the hardest part, I bet.
Yeah well, it took many yearsin the making.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
That took quite a while to kind of work through
all of that but it's done andnow Patriot Sandex is up and
running and starting theirconstruction.
They're in the process with thetown of Mount Pleasant right
now kind of the final phases forthe infrastructure.
They've gotten final approval,I believe, for the design review

(29:21):
, the plan on their seafairhotel.
That's a boutique hotel thatwill be right.
That's close to the water.
It's pretty much right therewhere our guardhouse is kind of
a boutique hotel.
That will be right.
That's close to the water, it'sright, pretty much right there
where our guardhouse is kind ofa little down from that and so
it'd be right on the water.
It'll be beautiful, and thenright next to that is going to

(29:41):
be restaurant and retail andthat'll kind of roll into that.
So I would estimate, you know,certainly by spring there should
be groundbreaking and rolling,you know, with all of that.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
And then just the building and the process.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
And once it starts it's on.
It's a 15-year build-out.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Holy smokes a 15-year build-out.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah, it's a big investment.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
They are making a big investment.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
Well, I'm not going anywhere.
So I mean, I'm fine with that,You'll be here.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
It'll be great.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
So let's talk about the Medal of Honor Museum.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Okay, that's great, so I was there for that.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
Wonderful, I was there for the demolition
ceremony and then I was therewhen it was open and that's just
an amazing place.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Did you get to have a sledgehammer?

Speaker 3 (30:33):
I don't know why.
I don't know why either,Rebecca, it was fun.
I got to take a whack.
It was pretty fun.
So, yes, the CongressionalMedal of Honor Society has a
museum on board.
It's been there since the 90sand they got a grant.
They got a donor, gave fundingto do upgrades on that museum

(30:59):
and that was the Medal of HonorCenter for Leadership gave the
grant to the society.
Sorry, there are a lot of nameshere.
I've been told to not useacronyms, so I'm trying to say
all the names you do, you don'tbe told anything.
I got a note about that and Iget it.
There are a lot of them outthere.

(31:20):
So they did a completereimagining of the Medal of
Honor Museum and it is so moving, it is so powerful.
It's part of it.
It's with the price ofadmission to the museum.
That's included and it's openwhen we're open and it's just it
just tells the story of theMedal of Honor in a really

(31:42):
really moving way and about youknow, the men, who who received
the medal and who served and thehistory of the medal and just
the stories behind that.
Really, the recipients arereally special people.
We're very fortunate to have somany of them connected with the

(32:02):
museum and we get to see a lotof the recipients.
They come for a lot of events.
They feel very close to theYorktown and very connected with
it.
So it's one of the things I saythat's great about Patriots
Point is you just never knowwhen you're there who you're
gonna see or who you're gonnameet.
You know you can meet a Medalof Honor excuse me, a Medal of

(32:23):
Honor recipient.
You can meet veterans of, youknow, vietnam veterans.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
We are.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
We really have a lot of Vietnam veterans that are
really connected with ourVietnam experience.
Especially, we partner with theRalph Johnson VA on PTSD
treatment in our facility, Oneof the goals.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
In your facility.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Yeah, the Vietnam experience.
So one of the goals when thatwas created in 2015 by my
predecessor, mac Burdett, who'sa dear friend Everybody knows
Mac and that was really hisvision and he really wanted to
recreate the feel of being, youknow, in that space and in that

(33:06):
experience.
And what all of the Vietnamveterans say is it's the
helicopters.
You heard the helicopters allthe time and so we have that
sound in there.
So you know.
And then there's, you know,there's some very realistic
certainly, the differentencampments and the Vietnam

(33:29):
village.
All of that feels very real.
And then we've got some of thehistoric aircraft the Huey
helicopter, which is such a hugepart of Vietnam.
So that connection is really,really powerful so you can meet
those people that served andtheir families, especially

(33:52):
Vietnam Veterans Day.
We always do their families,especially Vietnam Veterans Day.
We always do some specialthings on Vietnam Veterans Day
and have a ceremony and it'sjust really special.
It's really meaningful work andreally it's an honor and a
privilege to get to be there.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, it sounds like you like it.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
I do very much.
It sounds like you're having agood time with it.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
I can only imagine the stories you've heard.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
It is amazing and you just feel.
You know, you feel so honoredwhen people are willing to share
these really powerful storiesthat you know you can be talking
to someone about an experiencethey had 50 years ago and it's
still so real for them.
It is my father had experiencesas well.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
And to the day he died he slept with the
nightlight in his room.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Because he had someone from the enemy come into
his room.
Oh my goodness, and so for them.
It's as if it were yesterday.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
It is and when they get.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
and it's great that he shared because a lot of
people he didn't share a lot,but some of that he would share,
but some of it they don't talkabout.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
But when they get around other people who have had
that same experience.
I think that's really a safeplace.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Because they know someone else understands like
you understand this Right.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
And it's just.
I mean, you just feel sohonored and privileged to get to
carry those experiences andhear those stories and just you
know, it just makes you want totake everything up so many
levels so that you're reallyserving all of those people who
served the larger calls.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
So inspiring it is.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
It really is inspiring and I think it filters
through our entire staff.
We have a really special teamat Patriot's Point.
We've got a great staff and Ithink a lot of that has to do
with the fact that people are sodrawn to the mission and it's
interesting.
I don't have a real strongmilitary background.

(36:01):
My father served at Landsideduring Korea, but he ran Rec
Center on a base and his storiesare about ping pong tournaments
.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
I don't even have that much.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
So there's not that connection there.
I don't have a naval historyconnection, but there's
something about the power of theships and the power of being
around those who served on thoseships and their families and
the veterans that come on.
It really brings you in and itconnects you.
You and you want to be part ofit and it's we really I see that

(36:37):
with our team that it is.
You're doing something reallyspecial.
It's very mission driven.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
It's not an easy mission either.
Especially and then I'm justkind of coming up with this
right now in my head is you'redoing the hard work by
preserving history, and I feellike preserving history gets
denied a lot and it's hard to do.
Meaning, uh, attention spansare short.
Nobody even remembers whatyesterday brought us.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
We are you know what I mean like we tend to forget
things as a society well, andespecially now, it you know, I
can't remember the statistics,but they but they're really
amazing.
During World War II, 45% ofAmericans had somebody in their
direct family that was engagedin the military and that dropped
with every conflict after that,and now it's down to a tiny

(37:27):
percentage, tiny percentage.
So what we are challenged withis that we need to tell the
story, to people who have noconnection you know no fourth
that didn't necessarily grow upin you know a house where your
grandfather served your fatherserved or your mother, you know
I mean there's less and less ofthat, but that doesn't lessen

(37:52):
the need for the mission to tellthat story.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
The mission's still there.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
It's very much still there.
So we have to be veryopen-minded about how we engage
people and how we bring peoplein and how we tell the story.
And so sometimes there's alittle bit of a challenge
between, you know, the puriststhat you know want to keep
everything exactly as it was andall of that, and then you know,

(38:19):
and also maybe trying to tell astory a little differently,
where you can engage people whomaybe would be a little harder
to engage.
So one of the great things thatwe have, and probably all of us
have now, is we have fourgenerations in the workplace.
This has never happened before.

(38:40):
And how exciting is that?
You know, you've just got yourun from the boomer generation
to Gen Z and I think Gen Alphais that the next one.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
That's the next one.
They're coming right up We'llhave five pretty soon.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
So I mean, when has that ever happened?
And so it's.
I think that's really excitingand I love that part of this job
.
I love because it's, I think,the you know there's that age
old sort of conflict rightbetween the older generation,
the younger you know thewhippersnappers and all of that.
So it's.

(39:15):
But I think every generationbrings this really interesting
perspective and this reallyinteresting viewpoint.
I am fortunate to have two GenZ kids, so I don't speak fluent
Gen Z but I'm hanging on, so I'mtrying to slay here and there.
Oh, boy.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
I have Gen Z-ers too.
They clearly tell me if I'mkilling the vibe or if I'm with
it.
That's exactly right, you'rewith it.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Rebecca.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
You're with it, okay.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
But I love their perspective.
That's exactly right, you'rewith them, okay, but I love
their perspective.
You know, I think they've hadsuch a different set of
experiences than the boomershave, and even the boomer
generation is so different fromthe early ones to the last
generation of the boomers.
So you've got all thesedifferent perspectives and all
these different voices and Ibelieve that leads to the best

(40:06):
results, these different voices,and I believe that leads to the
you know, the best results.
So I, I, I love um working,having a lot of people working
together.
I think that's really valuableand I think all the voices are
really valuable.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
So that's how you survive, right.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
It really is.
You can't resist.
You can't be resistant,especially if it's just based on
you know the okay boomer or youknow these kids today or
whatever I mean you, you can'tbe dismissive at any level.
So, um, but I, that's one ofthe things about the workplace
that I, I just find reallyinteresting and engaging.
Yeah, yeah, I mean you know, youjust listen to everybody and

(40:42):
and and you have to, you know,not dismiss something because it
doesn't make sense to you,because I do.
I mean, some things don't makesense to me.
I'm the age that I am, but I'mopen, you know.
I'm open to learning, I'm opento hearing, and it's good
because I do get lots of notes.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
You give lots of notes right, Not as many as.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
I get.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Oh, you get lots of notes.
She said you get lots of notes.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
All right, good thinking.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
How about that?
That's a good one, so lots offeedback, lots of input, but
that's part of I'm open door.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
That's called good leadership.
That's all that is.
I think it's important.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
I think there's a real value to that.
And it just keeps things reallyinteresting and it's like gee.
You know, I never thought aboutit that way.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well, technology keeps things interesting too.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Talk about the technology.
What do we do?

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Okay, see, listen to me resist after I talk about not
resisting.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
But I've seen it on the Yorktown.
I've seen some really cooldisplays that are very
interactive and are usingtechnology.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
We are doing it and and we will do more of that are
using technology.
We are doing it and we will domore of that.
And you know we will never losesight of.
You know what we are and who weare and the power of the ship
and that you know we want thatto, so much of that to remain
the same, and it does.
You can tell, you feel it whenyou're on there.
We're actually in the middle ofa museum master plan.

(42:05):
It's a major initiative forPatriot's Point and we are
looking at everything about howthe museum functions.
So, from how you move throughthe spaces, how you move through
the tour routes, what oursignage looks like, what our
branding looks like, what sortof opportunities do we have to
tell new and different stories?
What opportunities do we haveto challenge our and different

(42:26):
stories?
What opportunities do we haveto challenge our guests?
with some stories that may makeyou a little bit uncomfortable.
You know it's and that's howyou know museums have to sort of
.
That's what we do as museums.
So we're taking a deep dive onthe museum master plan and
that's part of our conversationand it's interesting internally

(42:47):
we're having that conversation.
So you know, we've we'veinternally, we have people who
really would love to preserveeverything exactly like it is,
and then we have, you know,other other people that are
really interested in technologyand AI and you know all the
opportunities with that.
So, finding that balance, um,we great contractor that we're

(43:07):
working with I'll give them alittle shout-out DDMG2, doing a
great job.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
What do they?

Speaker 3 (43:12):
do they do museum master plans, exhibit design
Very cool, and that's what theydo, that's got to be cool.
It's so cool, it's so much fun.
And so one of the things thatwe're working on right now a
sidebar to the museum masterplan is we're doing a new
exhibit on the Laffey and thatis going to be the timeline of

(43:33):
the Laffey and an exhibit on theBattle of Okinawa.
So that was when Laffey wasattacked by 22 Kamikaze aircraft
and survived just barely.
So it has the nickname the shipthat would not die.
So her story is amazing andthat is amazing.

(43:53):
And so we're doing an exhibitand we're really looking at
bringing in a lot of technology,a lot of really forward
thinking, innovative techniquesto tell that story, because we
want to.
It's the first thing that we'redoing with the Museum Master
Plan, so we really want toshowcase what we can do.

(44:13):
But you will move in that spaceand then you'll leave that
space and you'll be on theLaffey exactly like it looked at
that time, and you'll be ableto go to the spots where the
actual bombs or the aircraft hit.
The Laffey it's not a big ship,I mean it's pretty remarkable.

(44:33):
It's got a remarkable story andthey've got a great association
.
So we've got the sailors whoserved on.
These ships are connected withus.
So we have the LaffeyAssociation.
We have the stories there andnow it's second generation,
third generation.
We still have some folks whoserved on the Laffey and then

(44:57):
this week in fact today theYorktown Association is in town
for their reunion, so they're onboard and that's who, like they
, are really fun to talk to.
They always have a lot ofstories and they'll get after me
a little bit like you need topaint this, and this didn't look
like it did when I was here andI was like yeah, there were

(45:18):
3,300 of y'all.
We don't have quite that many,but it's so exciting to have
them on board and they comeevery year and they have a
reunion and they do a meet andgreet when they're on board.
So you know, if you just followthe website you can see the
things that are upcoming.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
So some of this is open to the public.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
It's all open.
The meet and greet is open tothe public.
It's really cool.
We may miss this one becauseit's Saturday, but this year we
have 46 sailors who served onthe Laffey and they are
partnering with the Bennington,the USS Bennington, a sister
ship that is no longer here,which is the case for a lot of

(45:58):
these ships.
There are a lot of ships,associations, that don't have
ships anymore, so a lot of themwill come to the Yorktown or to
the Laffey because it's adestroyer.
Destroyer vets, you know, cometo the destroyer and so they do
a meet and greet and they have aposter and it's got information
about their association andthen they've got big Sharpies

(46:23):
and the public comes down theline, just like you're at, you
know, a signing event for asports team or something so much
fun, and they sign, sign andthere's a picture of them.
Uh, at the time that theyserved and they had a little
sign that says what they didwhen they were on the ship and
they love talking about it andwe love hearing about it.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
So it's it's really, it's really special so are you
seeing the younger generationgetting engaged too?
I really am I really elementary, really am Elementary.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
Yeah, we, you know you, it's, the ship is
irresistible.
I mean, you know you, you walkup the pier and it's it never
gets old.
You know, when you come up, youcome up the pier and you see
the ship in front of you.
And we, you know, we call itthe all factor because you see
it every day.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
That's what you're doing, though.
You're doing this every day too.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
People stop in their tracks, they look and then they,
you know, can they take apicture?
Everybody takes a picture andit just blows you away the scale
of it.
And then you get on board andyou know we've got some stairs,
but we're mostly ladders.
We're ladders and hatches andknee knockers and all the things
that you have on a ship.

(47:25):
And so you're on a ship andthen you've got the aircraft and
they're right there on thehangar bay, because that's where
you did the work on.
The aircraft would be thehangar bay, and then they had
giant aircraft elevators thattook them up to the fight deck.
So that's what an aircraftcarrier did.
So you see those aircraft rightup close.

(47:48):
I mean, it's pretty amazing.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
Didn't you say your office is out of there?

Speaker 3 (47:51):
My office is on the ship I am.
Mine has been altered.
It's I don't.
Most everybody has a hatch, butI do have a porthole in my
office, A window, and it doesopen.
So I had the porthole opentoday.
It was very nice.
The breeze from the harborcoming in, oh, amazing.
But we're all tucked in in oldoffice spaces.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
My point though, is you get to have that experience
you just described every day?

Speaker 3 (48:18):
Every day, every day you walk up to this giant ship.
I smell like ship.
Is that from the hot bunking?
Yeah, hot bunking, here we go.
So you know, the ship hasdiesel fuel, and all the
different, all the differentthings and you can smell it, I
mean.
I don't y'all.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I don't smell it anymore, Um but,

Speaker 3 (48:39):
it has a very it has a very distinctive smell.
And when the, when the sailorsthe former say any former sailor
, even somebody that's on anaircraft carrier now still has,
I guess, a similar smell, butimmediately they'll stop at the
entrance.
They'll be like, oh, it smellslike ship.
It's like, yes, it smells likehome.
It does, and they love it.

(49:01):
So it's funny, All of us thatwork on the ship I, they'll, our
families will be like you smelllike the ship.
So, yeah, it's, it is, I loveit.
I mean, I, I don't even smellit anymore.
I know we really could.
Yeah, when we were firsttalking with with Doug Mund,
who's DDMG2, and he was talkingabout you know all the different

(49:22):
experiences, the, the sensoryexperiences that museums want to
do, and he's used to working inbrick-and-mortar museums.
We're such an outlier that ourlargest artifact is the ship
that we all work on and visit.
So he's like you can pipe insmells and everybody's like you
don't need to pipe in smells.
We're good on that, we've gotit, we're legit.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
That's amazing.
What about Mount Pleasant?
We're good on that, we've gotit.
That's amazing.
What about mount pleasant?
What is it that bump that youlove so much?
And business here, and thenpreserving the history and all
this that's um mount.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
pleasant is we were talking a little bit in the
green room before this.
So I I I moved to my family.
We moved here in 2013, um uh,so we've been here a little
while, but before that my familyI grew up with, but my parents
had a house on Isle of Palmsback in the 70s, so we've spent

(50:15):
a lot of time down here, and wewere down here during the summer
and spent a lot of time downhere, and so I remember Mount
Pleasant from back in the late70s and how different it was
then and just the changes thathave happened, but it still
somehow managed to retain thatfeel.

(50:38):
So it's got this really coolcombination of a small town, you
know, in a small kind offishing village.
We definitely see elements ofthat all over, but then it's
really sophisticated, right, youcan get a really nice cocktail
at a lot of differentrestaurants.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
I'm speaking my language Right.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
And you can get, you know, a beautiful meal at so
many places.
There's great shopping.
You know there's a lot ofdifferent things to do.
So if you're somebody that youknow that loves the outdoors,
obviously right, we all talkabout that.
But if you're not necessarilybent that way, there's still
plenty to do here and plenty ofdifferent things to do.

(51:21):
So I love that about it.
I also love the mix of peoplebecause it's you know, you've
got people who have been hereforever.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Right.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
And it's always so much fun to hear the vinyas?
Yeah, the vinyas to hear thoseold stories about Richards and
all the you know.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
What are you talking about, Richards?

Speaker 3 (51:40):
I've been to Richards .
Oh okay, Me too.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
Oh, dear I'm more interested now, although I'm too
interested now.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
So you know those old school kind of places that you
know that everybody remembersthe story when this was here and
this was there.
And that's always fun.
Everything's a landmark too itis, and that used to be the
outer edge of town.
I can remember thinking youknow that going to Sne Snee Farm

(52:08):
was I might as well just goahead and drive to Myrtle Beach.
I'm almost there, I meanremember it felt, it felt way
out there.
And I remember when, whenParkway Dunes, all of that was
built out that way, it just waslike, oh my goodness, that's so
far away.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
So that's where I'm at.
Planner's Point it was built in2003.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Yeah, it was.
I mean, it was way, way out.
So I love the old timers andthe people, the families and the
people that have been hereforever and that's always really
fun to you know to hear thosestories and their love for Mount
Pleasant.
But I think all of the peoplethat have gravitated here, that
are pulled here because ofeverything this area has to

(52:46):
offer.
I don't know, I know I'm on achamber show but I don't need to
pitch it because everybodyknows it is a great place to
live and work.
And it is weird.
The secret is the cat is wellout of the bag on that and
that's okay.
So I like all those new peoplethat have come in from all the
different places that they'vecome in.

(53:06):
I think they bring some reallyinteresting perspectives and
some interesting viewpoints.
I've got just a lovely friendfrom Connecticut who's you know,
just she's and they areconverts so they love it here in
a way that you know.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
I also have some Connecticut friends that love it
here.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
In like this next level way, so that snow must be
awful.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
It is.
I'm a Detroiter myself.
Is that right?
It must be awful.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Because sometimes I fuss a little about the heat and
everybody will just shake theirhead and you don't even want to
know.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Scrape the windshields.
You know what Exactly?

Speaker 3 (53:44):
In your driveway and slipping and it dark at 3 30, so
that's, that's uh what I loveit here too allison I mean
rebecca.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
You obviously do.
You're the executive directorof the chamber for crying out
loud.
What is it that you like aboutmount pleasant rebecca?
It's my home how long have youbeen?

Speaker 2 (54:02):
here.
I've been here 28 years.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
Dang, that is home.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
And so I feel almost like a native, because two of my
three sons were born here and Igrew up in a military family.
My dad was career Air Force, soI went to multiple, multiple
schools before I graduated fromhigh school and really when we
came here I planted my feet inthe sand Because we thought

(54:26):
maybe a five-year we might behere for my husband's career and
I went I don't want to move.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
This is it.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
This is it for me, and my sons have remained
friends with their classmatesfrom kindergarten.
Oh, that's so nice, all the wayup and so they have friends
from all over because they alllive in different parts of the
country now and from collegethey met people from different
places, but then they have theirfriends here and they grew up
in a place that was really anamazing place to grow up Mount

(54:57):
Pleasant and I think they trulyunderstood how fortunate they
were to grow up here when theyleft.
I'm not sure they got it whenthey were growing up, no one
likes their hometown Once theyleft.
They're like oh yeah, I had itreally good.
I said, yes, you did.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
That's okay, at least they figured it out.
They did figure it out.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
I guess maybe all three of them at one point at a
contest.
They wore flip-flops to schoolevery day of the year.
They didn't care if it was aweird like in the 20s, that day
they wore flip-flops.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
It's a thing.
It's a thing.
Shorts and flip-flops.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
I'm not ready for that.
My kid's not wearing flip-flopsto school.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
You have boys, just you wait.
You say that, mike, but younever know my boys are nine
right now.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
I'm not ready for 10.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
Oh, that's nice.
What a nice age yeah, we'rehaving.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
That's really, that's really a real sweet spot there?
Yeah, it really is.
Um, is there anything else thatyou want to like lay out there?

Speaker 3 (55:53):
um, yeah, I will.
Um, just we, we were talkingabout the website and I just
want to, I want to and I haven'tdone I haven't done a good job
talking about the history um and, but there are people on our
team that can tell youincredible stories of the
history of.
Yorktown, but you don't need towait to hear from them because
you can go to our website.
Thank you, and we have asection called Artifacts and

(56:15):
Archives.
There it is Artifacts andArchives and so yeah, you're
pulling it up right there.
So we tell the story on here.
We have collections, we haveour collections has just hit
36,000 items in our collection.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Are you serious?
It's an amazing collection.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
So we have stories at sea and that tells some stories
, some of the different storiesof some of the different sailors
on the Yorktown and on theLaffey and of the flight groups
and all sorts of differentstories on there, and then that
includes information and photosof artifacts from our collection

(56:55):
.
There are full collectionsonline.
You can spend it's so much fun,you know have a glass of wine
and pull it up and read throughthese stories and it is a visit
to the museum.
So we are at things that youcan't see on the museum, because
we can only display so many ofthese artifacts, because they
have to be kept in conditionedspace and we have a limited

(57:17):
amount of that, so a lot of itisn't on display and it's just a
chance to really walk throughthe museum.
Our collections and curatorialaffairs team does an incredible
job with digitizing all of thesecollections.
It's a big job, but it's apriority for us, and this gives
us the opportunity to connectwith people all over the world,

(57:41):
and so I just would like youknow definitely check that out.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Check out the Dwight Long photography.
Oh my gosh, I had no idea I'mmaking noises over here because
I'm looking at these photos.
It's new.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
This has been live, maybe less than two months.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
Get off.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Really and the story.
We are so proud of this and Icannot say enough about the
great job.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Oh, there's an emotion.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Oh, I haven't even seen this latest batch.
So that's yeah.
So it just and it's not reamsand reams of information.
It's very digestible that youknow.
You can read through a lot ofthem, you know, in a sitting,
but we're really proud of it,clearly.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
You've got so much content.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
Yeah, there's so much content.
My little marketing brain goescrazy when.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
I'm looking at all this stuff, but this is the
chamber and I mentioned.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Operation Overnight, so just check that out on our
website.
That's so cool.
I have slept on this ship onetime.
Can adults go?
Well, they come as chaperones.
We are actually doing a realdeep dive on our Operation
Overnight program right nowbecause you know, everything

(58:58):
continues to change and so wewant to offer more opportunities
.
We have family nights that wedo now.
We've talked to some of oursister ships, and they do some
different kind of Like familyreunions Like you bring your
family, yeah, and you spend thenight on the ship.
and we have this Live Like aSailor program that we do.

(59:19):
But we really want to expandthat and do more.
So I think you know, keep youreyes open in the upcoming months
for new opportunities, butcertainly if you've got a school
group, a church group, you knowa group of people that I think
10 is our minimum number.
And yeah so you know it's andyou can't beat it.

(59:41):
It is so much fun, it's sointeresting.
The birthing areas are airconditioned, heated and air
conditioned.
There are showers, it's all ofthose things.
Those comforts of home arethere.
But you do sleep in a bunk andyou do have that experience.
But it's very cool becauseyou're on the ship after hours
and it's so interesting afterhours, especially if there's not

(01:00:04):
an event that night.
There, you know it's quiet andyou have it to yourself and it's
just.
It's so interesting after hours, especially if there's not an
event that night.
You know it's quiet and youhave it to yourself and it's
just really, really.
It's a one-of-a-kind experienceand people never forget it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
My husband never forgot it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Right, they don't.
It is amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
I've got to do it.
I'm going to sign the case.
You've got to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
You've got to get a little group together and come
do it because it's really fun.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Yeah, exactly, maybe a birthday.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
That's what I was thinking Did.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
I just read your mind just now Rebecca Birthday.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Yeah, that's what I was thinking A great birthday.
We celebrated my son's 13thbirthday on the ship.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
How old is he?

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
now he is 21.
All right, so we celebratedthat on the ship and it was
great, and we had a group of hisfriends and boys and girls.
So we have boys birthing andgirls birthing, so it's uh yeah,
the girls get to sleep in theofficer's area.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
So oh, nice highly recommend all right we'll invite
the nieces too yes, there yougo.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
So, yeah, definitely definitely look into it I mean,
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
This has been such a great conversation, alice, and I
don't know what else to ringout of you right now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I learned so much and I thought I knew a lot, but I
really did not.
So thank you so much for takingyour time to be with us today.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
Thank you all for having me.
It's such a pleasure to be here.
It's fun to share informationabout Patriot's Point and about
the Yorktown and the Laffey andthe Vietnam experience and all
that we have going on.
So I just say, please comevisit how do you manage the day
for crying out?
Loud.
They're busy, but fortunatelyI've got a lot of energy and I

(01:01:36):
have grown children, so I havetime and this is a great place
for me to be spending my time.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
You're doing the right thing.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, that's amazing Good work.
Thank you, Rebecca.
Do you want to sign us off or?

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
um well, thank you for being here, allison.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Thank you, yeah charleston radio group.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Thank you so much um for um for them, because we
would not have this podcastwithout their partnership.
Charleston radio group thanks,brian yeah, thanks, brian.
So much as always engineer andthank you, Mike, and your
marketing team.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Oh sure.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Really, we have a two-person staff with the Mount
Pleasant Chamber and everyoneelse is a volunteer folks like
Mike.
We couldn't do it without you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
So thank you so much.
We couldn't do it without youeither, allison.
I just have to say hats off tothe Mount Pleasant Chamber.
You guys do an amazing job.
We've had a great opportunityto partner with you all on a
number of things.
We'll continue to do that, butI'm always amazed at the work
you all are doing with a smallcrew.
But it is a passionate andinvested volunteer team and so

(01:02:42):
we love partnering with you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Thank, you so much.
I was a little non-paid thereokay.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
I did not pay her for that that was free of charge.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Thanks, allison, thanks y'all.
All right, mount Pleasant,we'll see you next time.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
Thank you.