March 2018 Park of the Month: Wragg Square
Although many may not realize it’s a public space, Wragg Square is one of the oldest public parks in Charleston. Located in front of the Second Presbyterian church in the heart of downtown Charleston, Wragg Square was dedicated to the public in the 19th century.
Wragg Square has long been an important public space, but by 2016 renovations were needed to make the park more accessible as well as more beautiful. In partnership with the Charleston Parks Conservancy and the Mazyck-Wraggborough Neighborhood Association, the City of Charleston completed the first phase of renovations in early 2016. The first phase included refurbishing the steps leading up to the park, building a new wheelchair-accessible entrance, an enhanced central walkway, and newly painted fence.
Charleston Parks Conservancy completed the second phase in late 2017, which included new benches, new hardscape, new plantings, and a large planted Grecian urn as a new focal point of Wragg Square. The first garden installation took place in early August where our Park Angel volunteers assisted in planting six podocarpus, fifty swamp hibiscus and thirty dwarf ruellias.
As part of Wragg Square’s renovation, Blackbaud employees volunteered for the second planting. This past November they planted more than three-thousand daffodils and fifty liriope plants in Wragg Square during Trident United Way’s Day of Caring. You can expect the thousands of daffodils to make their appearance throughout March.
The last planting took place at the end of January where Park Angel volunteers helped to plant an additional five-hundred ice follies daffodil bulbs.