Hampton Park, The Way It Was On A Cracker-Jack Sunday
by Madeline Carol

The existence of Hampton Park predates our memories of its beauties and our experiences there as children and as adults. The land, once the site of an early racetrack, was acquired and used for the West Indian Exposition in 1901 and 1902. The Exposition drew visitors from faraway places, and at its conclusion most of the buildings were removed because they were of temporary construction. The bandstand and the lagoons, which were sunken gardens in front of the majestic Cotton Palace that was dismantled, became the center piece of a park the city created after the Exposition closed. In subsequent years a zoo was added and many azaleas and other foliage were planted to create an expanse of beauty in the northern part of the city. With the paving of a circular road, it was not unusual to see cars lining the road around the park when the azaleas were in full bloom.

The Hampton Park we remember was one where the lagoons were popular with the ducks and the geese that lived there and thrived on the caramel popcorn thrown to them by small children whose parents had bought the Cracker Jacks with the prizes at the small wooden concession stand. It was a place where after feeding the ducks, one could stroll down the old walkways in the direction of Rutledge Avenue to the zoo. There was a collection of birds and monkeys and other animals, including buffalo, which would excite small children and create an afternoon of fun and interest.

Hampton Park was a place where parents took their children not only to feed the ducks but also to simply run along the lawn and enjoy the sun and take in the beauty of the natural foliage and azaleas there. In the spring when life was bursting forth from its winter hibernation, and the grounds were ablaze with azaleas in bloom, the park was filled not only with the voices of children laughing and yelling, but also with the sounds of ducks quacking and splashing briskly through the water to the next passerby who leaned down closer to the lagoons to throw some Cracker Jacks to the always hungry ducks. People either in their finest church clothes or in more casual attire filled the park on Sundays. Hampton Park was indeed a memory which was ingrained in many a Charlestonian's mind and soul. The visits, experiences and sights became fond memories that carried many back like time travel to their childhood outings in the park marked by the three big white bridges with their light posts and the big band stand.

The experiences and beauties of the old Hampton Park were not to be forever. It fell victim to time. By the 1980's its lagoons had become stagnant, and the park was in general disrepair. Renovations were authorized to widen and enlarge the lagoons and to put in fountains and to reopen the park. Although these changes were to bring Hampton Park back to life for Charlestonians, the changes were to wipe away from the landscape the reality and the memory of the white bridges, the rose gardens, the narrow paths, the cobble stones lining the lagoons, the heavy foliage with the palmetto trees, the bandstand at the front of the park, and the little wooden stand where children could purchase their Cracker Jacks with their prize and then feed the ducks.

But, what was lost in time and existed only in memory has been recreated in water colors. Impressionistically using color to communicate feelings, Madeline Carol has recreated a vision of the way it was at Hampton Park. In this fifth in the series of The Spirits of Charleston Collection, Madeline Carol paints a Hampton Park alive with the colors of spring, and surrounded by the azaleas radiating their beauty and the lagoons lined by the cobblestones with the little metal fences and bordered by the white bridges teeming with the life of ducks being fed by those enjoying the park. She has recreated a past bright Sunday when families are visiting the park, enjoying its beauty, and strolling down the pathways lining the Hampton Park we always knew. The colors generate the life and the energy of the moment, and the carefully chosen panorama gives you the view of the three bridges with the lagoons and the bandstand. This is the view you saw as you stepped out of the wisteria covered walkway at the back of the park near the small island in the lagoon, which comprised part of the front of the original Cotton Palace which stood directly behind the lagoons. Madeline, through the use of ghostly apparitions and recreation, takes you back to the lagoons where you fed the ducks as a child. The apparitions are you, and the recreations are your memories. The colors invoke your feelings and give life to the scene you see. As only Madeline Carol can do, she gives your memory artistic expression so that you can think and say, "Oh yes, I remember". Here it is, and here you are in Hampton Park the way it was on a Cracker Jack Sunday.

Madeline Carol, Capturing the Spirits
Art Gallery