For 50 years, Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum has stood as a home for history. The decks of ships and stories of combat have made a lasting mark in the Charleston Harbor, one far greater than ever imagined in 1976 when it opened.
As the museum begins its 50th anniversary celebration, it is honoring the stories that transformed historic relics into one of the Lowcountry’s most meaningful institutions.
The story
In 1975, the Fighting Lady known as the USS Yorktown made her final voyage—this time not to war, but to preservation. Towed up the Cooper River, she arrived at her new post where crews and community members watched history come home, and the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum was born.
With thousands filling her hangar deck, U.S. Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf II highlighted the aircraft carrier’s impact at the dedication ceremony…