October 21, 2014 Love Locks at Dreher Shoals Dam

Exit I-26 just above Columbia onto Lake Murray Blvd (exit 1) West. Drive just a few miles into Lexington County.  Dreher Shoals Dam holds back Lake Murray from drowning the City of Columbia.. Only in the past decade, the Army Corps of Engineers found the old dam to be so faulty that if there had been an earthquake or a severe hurricane, it could have burst and flooded Columbia, so it has been rebuilt and with the rebuilding came a 1.5 mile walk, named after Johnny W. Jeffcoat, along the dark deep waters of Lake Murray.  South Carolina Electricity and Gas asks for a fee from April 1 to September 30, but now it is free to park, or even to bring your boat to launch. (After the dam on the right is also Lexington County Public Park).

In the distance there are islands (one is named Lunch Island) where in World War II pilots learned to bomb and drop incendiary devices.  Five B25's went into the deep. Four were later brought up and salvaged, leaving one rare B25C left to find and restore in 2005.  Now that war is long off.  The remaining soldiers and pilots are growing very old.

From the top of the dam on this cool early morning, I see the blue silhouette of downtown Columbia. Across the road, the concrete bunker of the dam rises with two dozen vultures resting on its parapet.  Others circle in the morning haze.

Approaching the far side of the walkway, there is a 15 foot chain link fence with countless tiny glittering sparklers covering it.  They look like the tiny schools of silver fish flashing up from creeks.  When I arrive at the fence, I see that the silver sparklers are locks and chains. The locks  have the names of people on them, sometimes even a photograph, a date.  The occasional chains are attached in the shape of hearts.

At the end of the walk is another parking area where I meet a woman in an SUV who tells me about the locks.

They are called Love Locks and no one actually knows how the tradition began.  They are sometimes memorials to a deceased loved one or friend but more often they commemorate the love between two people, family members, a marriage.  The lock is attached and the key is thrown into the deep waters, signifying undying love, perhaps even eternity.