Castle Guardians Find Break in Poor Weather to Work at Castle Pinckney
Sept. 27, 2025
Castle Guardians found a break in poor weather conditions early Saturday morning, September 27, to work a few hours at Castle Pinckney on Shute’s Folly in Charleston Harbor before a squall forced them to depart and return to the mainland.
“The safety of our volunteers, our boat captains and their boats is always paramount,” said Castle Guardian Leader Matthew Locke, who okayed the morning’s work once boat captains and Castle Guardians John Mahoney and Yale Huett gave the ‘green light’ to proceed.”
A tropical storm threatened to become a category 1 hurricane as it approached the Charleston area the evening before and the morning of the workday, which had been scheduled several weeks earlier.
“We decided on a very specific plan of action, considering the questionable weather conditions,” Locke said. “First, we decided to assess the condition of the castle’s interior after the recent end of nesting season for coastal birds. Second — using weed eaters, shovels and other equipment — we decided to clear as much of the thick growth as possible just within the castle’s front Sally Port and in the castle’s interior parade area.”
As a precaution, Locke and another Castle Guadian lowered the Confederacy’s seven-star 1st National Flag that had flown over Castle Pinckney since September 6. But they did not replace the flag with another one.
“The threat of a hurricane prompted us to remove the flag,” Locke explained. “Experience has shown that leaving a flag flying during a hurricane or tropical storm, like the recent tropical storm, puts significant strain on the flagpole, its halyard and tracking (the wheel on the pole that the halyard passes over). It also risks damaging or destroying the flag.
“Due to the location of the flagpole and the difficulty of accessing its halyard and tracking, we must take reasonable precautions to avoid damaging it,” he added. “After all, the cost of repairing the pole and repairing or replacing flags is expensive.”
Many different size flags have flown over Castle Pinckney over the years, but the ideal size flag appears to be those measuring 8′ X 12′ or occasionally 6′ X 10′, according to Locke. These size flags handle well in the harbor, and they are less expensive to buy and repair.
Castle Guardians did not work as long at Castle Pinckney this past Saturday as they have had to work during past visits, partly due to the weather partly because they did not need to.
This, of course, made everyone happy!
“Considering the poor weather conditions and concerns about the weather as late as 6:30 a.m. ─ just two and a half hours before we decided it was safe to depart by boat to work at Castle Pinckney ─ we still accomplished a significant amount or work,” Locke said. “So, I consider the few hours we spent there a success. We managed to cut about 40 percent of the growth that had grown there since our last workday mid-April. We also removed the flag before it was damaged or destroyed, or damaged the flagpole.
“Most important,” he added, “we did it safely, thanks to our great boat captains.”
Locke’s team accomplished a lot in a short period of time due to the work Castle Guardians had completed at the site in recent years.
“The plant growth at Castle Pinckney was not as bad as it has been because we had already cleared overgrowth that had overtaken the structure,” Locke explained. “Thick carpet grass more than a foot high and deeply rooted in 3 to 6 inches of soil previously covered the concrete foundation of an old warehouse that was once located inside the castle. But other groups of Castle Guardians ─ all of them volunteers ─ had previously removed almost all of that overgrowth.
“Now, smaller groups of Castle Guardians can accomplish in a few hours what larger groups had to work days to accomplish,” he added. “In the future, this should allow our volunteers to concentrate on other activities, and archaeologists to focus on excavations at the site.”