The Atlantic House Commemorative Series, "THE MORNING AFTER"
by Madeline Carol

The crashing sounds of the final moments were over and the Atlantic House was now rubble, having met its fate in the center of the storm. The calm of the eye of Hurricane Hugo had in erie fashion passed, and the full brunt of the Hurricane returned to Folly Beach on the backside of the eye. The ruins of the Atlantic House were now being cast all about. As the early hours of the morning wore on the fury of the storm began to subside and as daylight approached a calm similar to the eye settled in. Out on Folly Beach, the daylight was to reveal the destruction of the early morning fury. The waves rolled in -- but on a beach vastly different from the morning before. As one looked down Folly Beach, the view had markedly changed. The Atlantic House was no longer there. What appeared was broken off pilings with a stove buried in the sand, and the red roof of the Atlantic House bundled up with other debris, having been tossed onto the beach behind. Beyond where the Atlantic House had stood, one could see the remnants including the timbers and some of the items that once were in the old restaurant. As Mr. Eddie Taylor, owner of the Atlantic House approached, he looked up and said "Well, here is where the Atlantic House used to be." as he gazed upon the ruins.

The sun glistened on the landscape and sparkled on the sand thrown into the parking lot amongst the ruins. It was a grim and empty sight, and there was a great feeling of loss among those who stood there and gazed at what once was. The still of that morning was broken by the imagination of those who stood there and thought of what had occurred on that very ground just hours earlier. A ferocious storm surge had moved through that spot, lifting the Atlantic House and carrying it into history. A Charleston landmark had been transported into memory, and there was a feeling of helplessness that nothing could have been done to prevent this tragedy from occurring. As one kicked the sand and uncovered a fork or spoon or some other remnant of a past time, one's memory was energized to remember when. Even though there stood the stark reality of broken pilings, there was this image in the back of the viewer's mind of the Atlantic House standing there proudly inviting the visitor to share the view of what always had been.

Madeline Carol in her final visit to the Atlantic House brings you the second part of the Commemorative Series. In the first, "The Atlantic House -- The Final Moments", Madeline Carol reconstructed for you to see what only the eye of Hurricane Hugo saw, the Atlantic House as it struggled and began to break apart in its final moments. In the second part of The Atlantic House Commemorative Series, Madeline Carol tightens her style of painting to render for the viewer more reality; thus she generates the image of the absence of life and the emptiness of the aftermath. Then through the creation of an apparition, Madeline Carol superimposes upon this quiet and disordered landscape, the lively and orderly apparition of a fond memory, The Atlantic House. From the vantage point of what the eye of Hugo saw, the viewer of this print can look and see what the owners of the Atlantic House saw the Morning After. This print recreates your memory and gives life to it. It takes you back in time, not only to the morning after Hurricane Hugo; but to the way it was at Folly Beach.

Madeline Carol, Capturing the Spirits
Art Gallery