MYSTERY PHOTO: Lit up at night

This photo of what looks like a pretty official building is somewhere in South Carolina, but where?  Send your best guess to:  feedback@statehousereport.com and make sure to include your name and hometown.  If possible, write “Mystery Photo” in the subject line.

Several readers correctly identified the obelisk in last week’s Mystery as being at Kings Mountain National Military Park.  Hats off to Charlie Davis, New Ellenton, S.C.; Don Hottel and Carroll Williamson, both of Columbia, S.C.; Tim Pearce of Charleston; Kurt Taylor of North Charleston, S.C.; David Rogers of York, S.C.; Dale M. Rhodes of Richmond, Va.; Judi George; and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.

Thanks to Cynthia Craig of Lancaster, who also identified the monument, for this kind comment:  “I really enjoy your newsletters.  In Lancaster, we do not get much news about our state government.”

Graf provided some detail about the monument:  “According to Waymarking.com, the obelisk was to honor the Patriots who fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain in the American Revolution which turned the tide of the war after the British had nearly overrun South Carolina.  The Southern Marble and Granite Company constructed the 83-foot monument with Mt. Airy white granite at a cost of $25,000 and was completed on June 12, 1909; however the bronze tablets were not installed until January 19, 1910.  The United States Monument is located at the northeastern end of Battleground Ridge where American Loyalists, led by Maj. Patrick Ferguson, surrendered to a victorious American Patriot force.  A bronze tablet adorns each side of the monument which explain the tactics and significance of the battle; list the American and British commanders; and list Americans killed at the battle.  At the time of its completion, the monument was surrounded by a high iron fence that was removed between 1936 and 1941.”

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)  Send to:  feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission.  Thanks.