Chimney Sweep in Pinopolis, SC

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) - For just the second time in the last 81 years, an 80-ton gate is being replaced at a Lowcountry electric company at the Pinopolis Lock in Moncks Corner.

This gate’s purpose is to help the flow of water all the way from Lake Moultrie to the Cooper River, in addition to preventing boaters in the area from getting stuck in a tough situation if the weather permits.

This replacement stems from the gate breaking during Hurricane Ian in 2022.

“So, we had a sense of urgency to get this one rebuilt,” Chief Operating Officer for Santee Cooper Mike Finissi said.

Since then, Santee Cooper has partnered with W. International, a large-scale manufacturing company out of Goose Creek, to make the Emergency Tainter Gate. The gate itself has been created within the last nine months and is worth $4 million.

“It was bid locally, which is consistent with our philosophy on purchasing,” Finissi said. “And it was competitively bid.”

The Tainter Gate was loaded on a barge on Dec. 9 and arrived at the Pinopolis Lock at Santee Cooper’s Jefferies Hydroelection Station after a five-hour journey up the Cooper River.

“Here at the Jefferies Hydroelectric Station, we’ve provided low -cost, green energy to our customers for over 80 years,” Finissi said. “And by installing this component, it will allow us to supply low-cost, safe, reliable energy for the years to come for our customers.”

During this week’s installation, divers have to go at least 60 feet under to put in pins to set it in. Once it’s installed, water will continue to move freely here in the lake, but it will also play an important part come the summertime.

Santee Cooper officials say they see dozens of boats traveling through here at a time and they have to open up gates in order for them to safely travel through. In the unlikely event that the gates break, due to inclement weather, for example, boaters will still be able to travel safely through.

“We are able to provide in-state, large manufacturing for folks like Santee Cooper, bridges and any large structures,” Mark Schmidt, Chief Operating Officer at W International, said. “So, it’s nice to have Nucor Steel and us locally. We can get steel local, we can build local and we can deliver a final product local.”

Santee Cooper says these gates were opened at least 350 times in the month of July last year, so it’s important that the Emergency Tainter Gate gets installed.

“We do submarine and aircraft carriers, but it’s nice to be diverse and do some of the work for the local community as well.,” Schmidt said.

Workers started around 11 a.m. Wednesday on the installation and will go until sundown to finish it.

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For just the second time in the 81-year history of Santee Cooper’s Jefferies Hydroelectric Station, the 80-ton emergency Tainter gate at the Pinopolis Lock is being replaced – with the help of a local company.

Santee Cooper has partnered with W International in Goose Creek to fabricate and assemble a new emergency Tainter gate for the Pinopolis Lock, which connects Lake Moultrie to the Tailrace Canal and the Cooper River. W International, located in the Bushy Park Industrial area, is an advanced metal fabricator specializing in large, complex structural fabrications.

“Consistent with our mission, our goal is to work with businesses and industry in the state to help South Carolina thrive,” said Santee Cooper President and CEO Jimmy Staton. “W International has a strong reputation as an industry leader in large fabrications. We’re proud to say the gate was made right here in the Lowcountry and that South Carolinians are working together to energize South Carolina.”

The fully assembled Tainter gate was loaded on a barge at W International Dec. 9 and arrived at the Pinopolis Lock after about a six-hour journey up the West Branch of the Cooper River.

“Working hand-in-hand with Santee Cooper on replacing the emergency Tainter gate upstream of the Pinopolis Lock system has been an extraordinary journey,” said Jim Logan, president of W International. “Our team feels honored to have contributed to such a pivotal project, particularly one located a mere 22 miles upriver from our facility – a testament to the local community.”

Crews with Superior Cranes Inc., which has a Charleston-area location in Moncks Corner, are placing the gate in its final location this week, pending weather delays. The previous gate was damaged in September 2022 when Hurricane Ian blew through the state. The original Tainter gate, installed in 1942, reached its end-of-life stage in 2003. Those gates now reside next to each other at a permitted fish attractor location in Lake Moultrie.

“Teaming up with Santee Cooper has been nothing short of inspiring,” Logan said. “Collaborating on critical infrastructure aligns seamlessly with our shared vision of supporting Santee Cooper’s mission to enhance the quality of life for every South Carolinian. Together, we have strived to deliver not just a gate replacement but a testament to resilience and progress for the region. We are immensely proud to have been part of this milestone achievement.”

The Tainter gate allows Santee Cooper to perform maintenance on the lock’s upper miter gates safely. The gate is also designed to mitigate an unlikely “free flow” incident, and, in the event of such an emergency, it will choke off the water flow through the lock system.

W International has delivered approximately 50 products weighing as much as 600,000 pounds via barge shipment. W International SC, LLC manufactures large, close-tolerance, complex structures for critical aerospace, defense and energy projects. W International’s manufacturing facility is located in Goose Creek on the Cooper River, 12 miles north of Charleston’s port, on 45 acres, with 480,000 square feet of indoor heavy manufacturing space. The facility utilizes large CNC machining centers and sophisticated welding equipment to produce highly technical, complex components.

PINOPOLIS, S.C. (WCBD) – Legend has it that inside of the Old Nazareth Cemetery in Pinopolis, SC, there is a ghost roaming the field.

According to the story, a woman named Annie was married to an abusive man who, in a fit of rage, decided to cut off her head one day.

Annie was buried in the cemetery and is said to be walking the grounds searching for her missing head.

I decided to reach out to people in the community to see what they know about this story. Many said they were familiar with the story as it was told amongst their friends years ago.

Donna Reed, a longtime Berkeley County resident, was the only one who would do an interview as she shared her “Headless Annie” experience.

She said the story was told to her by her grandma who would always tell her “don’t be going out there.”

However, Donna said, one night, she and her friends decided to take a visit to the cemetery and test out the legend for themselves.

She says it was told if you walk around the graves and say the name “Headless Annie” three times then she would appear.

The group took part in the challenge but never actually saw the spirit, but they did witness something strange.

“[It] was like a storm inside…Everybody was like ‘it’s not blowing out there like it was in there and everybody was looking at me and we walked out and…you could see the trees inside that were blowing around that and I just said ‘nope, no more.’

Donna Reed

Donna said once they said Annie’s name the winds started to pick up and blow inside of the cemetery, but right outside of the gates, she said there was no wind blowing at all.

Ever since that incident, Donna has never returned to the cemetery.

Although she had a weird experience, she said she sees no issue with kids today calling out to “Headless Annie” for themselves if they go for the right reason.

“If they go out there and did it like we did, just for fun…and see if anything happens then that’s one thing, but if they go out there with spite and destroy stuff then no stay out of there and let them rest,” said Reed.

When looking back on her one visit to the Old Nazareth Cemetery, Donna did share her opinion on just how true the legend really is.

“It’s definitely a possibility. I’m not going to rule it out. I don’t know where her head went, [but] I’m not going to stay there and help her find it.”

Donna Reed

Although, no on has reported seeing “Headless Annie”, she may still be out there searching for her missing head.

A Goose Creek metal fabricator that specializes in supersized projects did some heavy lifting for state-owned power and water utility Santee Cooper with construction of an 80-ton emergency gate for a lock at Lake Moultrie.

W International, which makes complex parts for military submarines and aircraft carriers, built the gate at its Bushy Park site along the Cooper River. The company then loaded the massive structure onto a barge on Dec. 9 for a 22-mile, six-hour journey to the Pinopolis Navigational Lock, which connects the Cooper River to the lake via the Tailrace Canal and is near the Jefferies Hydroelectric Station.

Officially known as a "tainter," the gate is almost fully installed, according to Mollie Gore, spokeswoman for Santee Cooper, which is in charge of maintaining the lake.

"We anticipate reopening the lock late next week," Gore said.

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Jim Logan, president of W International, called the work "nothing short of inspiring."

“Collaborating on critical infrastructure aligns seamlessly with our shared vision of supporting Santee Cooper’s mission to enhance the quality of life for every South Carolinian," Logan said in a written statement. "Together, we have strived to deliver not just a gate replacement, but a testament to resilience and progress for the region."

Jimmy Staton, Santee Cooper's president and CEO, said the utility chose W International because of its "strong reputation as an industry leader in large fabrications."

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This is just the second time in the lock's 81-year history that the gate has been replaced. The previous one was damaged in September 2022 when Hurricane Ian blew through the state. The original, which was installed in 1942, reached its end-of-life stage in 2003.

The previous metal behemoths now reside next to each other at a freshwater fish attractor site the S.C. Department of Natural Resources created in Lake Moultrie.

The gate takes its name from its 19th-century inventor, Jeremiah Burnham Tainter. It allows Santee Cooper to perform maintenance on the lock's upper gates known as miters.

It is also designed to mitigate an unlikely “free flow” incident and, in the event of such an emergency, would raise to choke off the flow of water through the lock system.

The Pinopolis Lock is popular with boaters looking to go between the lake and river. It is 60 feet wide and 180 feet long and holds 6 million gallons of water. It was built between 1939 and 1942 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal public works program.

Up the Tailrace Canal in Moncks Corner is Santee Cooper’s Pinopolis lock and dam at the Jefferies Hydroelectric Station. The concrete and steel structure has held back the waters of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie since the 1940s.

Technology has come a long way since then but as you rise and fall through the Pinopolis Lock, you are reminded of some astonishing engineering, making the structure as strong, dependable and important as ever.

“People like to call it the locks but it is just the lock,” said Willard Strong a media specialist with Santee Copper.

To get from the Tailrace Canal into Lake Moultrie and back by boat, the lock is the only way.

“It really wasn’t meant for recreational boating per se; it was meant for inland navigation and commercial traffic but that never really panned out,” Strong said.

Recreational boaters use the lock often. From the Tailrace Canal, massive steel gates 80 feet high slowly open to allow boats to enter into the concrete box, 180 feet long and 60 feet wide.

“You pull in and you tie up to the floating mooring area in the lock, safety is the primary thing, we want people to safely tie up and stay in the boat,” Strong said.

Once inside and tied up, the gates close. A final ray of light peers between the giant doors before they shut tight. Then as if you are toy in giant bathtub, water is pumped in and boat begins to rise.

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“I have been in here on the 4th of July with 20 other boats, of course it depends on how long the boat is,” Strong said.

In about 15 minutes, occupants rise 75 feet from the canal. Another set of gates on the other end eases open spilling into the expansive lake above.

The lock is mainly for boaters but Santee Cooper has found other ways to take advantage of the structure, using it in ways engineers probably didn’t think about so many years ago.

“We also use the locks in cooperation with DNR to actually move fish from the river in the lake during the spring when they are on their spawning run,” said Larry McCord, manager of Environmental Resources at Santee Cooper.

With the summer boating season heating up, the lock will begin to get very busy in the coming months. Santee Cooper recently started the spring and summer hours for the lock. Starting April 10, the lock began operating from 9 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Santee Cooper officials said they want to remind boaters the lock does not operate during thunderstorms or rough-water conditions. Boats or watercraft must be at least 10 feet in length and no longer than 150 feet. Watercraft, such as Jet Skis, must be tied to boats during the lock operation.

Normally a dozen 16-foot boats can fit at one time. Santee Cooper officials say it is important keep the hours of operation in mind because the locking procedure takes between 20 and 45 minutes to complete, depending on the crowd.

While use of the lock is free, Santee Cooper asks that if you have a large party of boats, you are encouraged to call 843-899-LOCK (5625) in advance.