MOUNT PLEASANT – What’s in a name?
Within the last 15 years, much of Mount Pleasant’s growth has been concentrated in the northern part of the town, past Highway 41 and creeping out towards Awendaw.
For some, this part of town is called North Mount Pleasant. The moniker comes from its geographical situation—these neighborhoods and communities are built out in northern Mount Pleasant.
The emergence of the unofficial title of North Mount Pleasant, however, has been disputed, with some residents and local officials hesitant to give the area a distinctive label, and others adamant that the area has its own character.
Mount Pleasant Councilman Daniel Brownstein prefers the term “Upper Mount Pleasant” when referring to areas north of the Isle of Palms Connector and Highway 41. He said there’s sometimes a negative connotation associated with the word “north” in South Carolina, so he opts for “upper” and “lower” to reference the two parts of town.
IS THIS NORTH MOUNT PLEASANT? Highway 41 is often considered to be the roadway that denotes North Mount Pleasant, sometimes called upper Mount Pleasant, from the lower part of town. (Source: Esri)
Upper Mount Pleasant, he said, is marked by big planned developments that are “mixed together” with schools and shopping opportunities, whereas the lower or southern portion of the town has older, traditional-style neighborhoods, separate from commercial areas.
Master-planned neighborhoods, like Park West and Carolina Park have attracted thousands of new residents to Mount Pleasant. With this explosive growth came the desire for more services, shops, restaurants and amenities there.
Will Haynie, Mount Pleasant’s mayor since 2017, is also careful to refer to the portion of town north of the connector as “Upper Mount Pleasant,” intentionally avoiding the unofficial label.
“When I hear the term North Mount Pleasant, it’s as if the two sides of town don’t belong to each other,” Haynie said. “We are all Mount Pleasant.”
But Brownstein said that though Mount Pleasant is one town, he’s seen a growing disconnect in Upper Mount Pleasant.
It’s a good place to raise a family, he said, within those planned developments that incorporate homes, schools and commercial spaces. But as a whole, residents in this area have a “longing to be better connected with the rest of the town,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
