Charleston Waterfront Pineapple Fountain
In today’s blog post I will highlight one of two fountains found in Joe Riley Waterfront Park in Charleston, South Carolina (USA). Although these photographs were taken under less than ideal weather conditions, they will still give you an idea of the beauty and community asset that they fulfill.
The first fountain I saw and photographed was the famous Pineapple Fountain. This one has been publicly photographed thousands of times from every angle, mostly with the waterfront behind the fountain. That wasn’t working for me on this particular day. The white skies from a cloudy, humid day made the fountain look like a silhouette, even when adjusting my camera’s setting. I wanted to show the details on each level of the fountain and the best way to do that was to put the waterfront behind me and the City Gallery behind the fountain.
There are still white skies showing in the images but the details can be seen on the fountain at this angle.
As I described this fountain on my site:
The top of the fountain is in the shape of the leaves sprouting out of a pineapple. Shapes representing the outside of a ripe pineapple wrap around each level of the fountain.
On the inside of the lowest level are several steps. The sign next to the fountain informs visitors that it is permissible to cool off in the fountain as long as you stay only on the first two steps.
The pineapple is Charleston’s symbol of hospitality, as it is in other areas of the southern United States.
It originally was a symbol of wealth since the fruit had to be imported from tropical climates of the world where it took a long time for the plant to produce fruit.
At first the fruit was used as a decoration and could even be rented.
As people became more affluent they would serve their guests the sweet, ripe fruit as a sign of hospitality.
There are numerous pineapple symbols strewn throughout Charleston, both on commercial buildings as well as residences.
Have you visited this historic city and wandered through the waterfront park? If so, please comment and let us know what you enjoyed about the location.
A larger version of today’s collage can be found and purchased here.
