It seems so long ago that, like a lot of other people around here, I was excited by the idea of an interactive museum that would not only celebrate the environment, but draw tourists to Fort Mill.
Face it: this is a great place to live and has lots of natural charm and beauty (if you know where to look and by that I mostly mean down by the river and the various sections of the Anne Springs Close Greenway and the Nation Ford Thread Trail), but if downtown revitalization is ever going to take hold, Fort Mill needs a major destination point.
The museum seemed like a natural. Overlooking the Catawba River, it would educate, enlighten and entertain kids and adults alike. Some cozy motels and B&Bs would spring up to accommodate the visitors who would stay the weekend and while here, take in the other sites, eat at local restaurants and antique hunt at the Knife Shoppe.
At one point, the museum's PR folks gave us sharp looking renderings of what this almost futuristic center would look like.
Then...nothing happened.
Mainly that's because the foundation set up to raise funds for county museum projects was finding it difficult to attract donations. Of course, the biggest donation that predated the museum idea itself was the 400 acres of luscious property where it would be created. The gift of land by Jane Spratt McColl did not come with any conditions other than it should be "green space" for the public's enjoyment. It did suggest that a nice museum would be, good too.
The stewards of that gift were inspired. I get it. Their enthusiasm got me juiced, too. So, the lack of cash donations to make it happen it get them down - it made them creative. Instead of a sort of vague environmental theme, this museum would celebrate the town's mill history.
Now that's something you can hang your hat on. In fact, the Fort Mill corner of the textile exhibit at the Museum of the New South made me realize that a Fort Mill/Springs themed museum would be a fitting tribute and, if done right, pretty interesting for folks who "ain't from here."
That idea lasted about a minute because before you could say Col. Elliott White Springs, the idea morphed into a celebration of the Catawbas. Fair enough. If not for them, Thomas Spratt would never have become Kanahwa...which brings us to the next incarnation: A new subdivision (because Lord knows, we don't enough of those here) called Kanahwa that would help fund the museum.
Not just any subdivision, but a sustainable one. A green one. Outside of making sure homes would have lots of natural light and sidewalks that included bits of recycled tires, I still don't understand what that was supposed to be, exactly.
Chances are we'll never know because the developer, Cherokee, brought it to make that happen bolted the deal when the recession hit and now the folks who were gifted the property owe the developers - who built nada here, BTW - more than $3 million. This is a non profit foundation that's supposed to come up with that $3 million (plus).
I don't think there was any bad intent here on anyone's part. My guess is the foundation may have gotten in over its head when it partnered with an explicitly for-profit developer which was smart enough to make sure that if the deal went south, they were gonna get paid.
Sadly, I could imagine the developers salivating when approached about coming aboard. Like we used to say, "they saw them coming..."
I guess the moral here is, when the gift of a beautiful piece of land meant for public use becomes real estate, some of that good intent that was in bloom starts to wither and die.
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