Landscape Contractor / Design Build Maintain

APR 2014

LC/DBM provides landscape contractors with Educational, Imaginative and Practical information about their business, their employees, their machines and their projects.

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30 LC DBM A native of Charleston, Thomas Bennett Jr. served as Governor of South Carolina from 1820 to1822. After his term ended, he returned to his birthplace to build this rich home, which is listed on the Na- tional Register of Historic Places. After much time and dedication had been devoted to the resto- ration of the interior of the house, Moonlighting Landscape Light- ing was called upon to upgrade the existing outdoor lighting system, which was in great need of attention. The director of the house, Linda McCormick, expressed that the overall layout of the system was not capturing all of the beauty that the garden had to offer and the main- tenance costs were high. Due to the latter concern, Moonlighting's detailed design included a conversion from incandescent to LED. By doing so, the nightmare of maintenance costs would be lowered significantly, as would the amount of energy being consumed. Moonlighting is a design/build firm. Since president Mike Rollins is a landscape architect and vice president Doug Wickenhoefer is a licensed electrician, we have the capability of creating the design on paper and then translating every aspect of that design successfully in the field. The grounds at the Thomas Bennett House include a large grass area for gatherings, a secret garden, and an ornamental crescent- shaped garden often used for wedding ceremonies in addition to serving as an inviting entrance to the house. Homework Not being the installer of the existing system, Moonlighting re- quired several hours of diagnosing and researching the in-place wir- ing to determine how much could be reused. After several site visits during the daytime and night hours, the team was able to create a design that would reflect the beauty of this historic garden, and highlight what it offers, including mature live Shedding Light on History By Matt Carli, Moonlighting Landscape Lighting u i l t i n 1 8 2 5 , T h e G o v e r n o r T h o m a s B e n n e t t H o u s e w a s a n a r c h i t e c t u r a l m a s t e r p i e c e f o r t h a t e r a . O n e h u n d r e d a n d e i g h t y - e i g h t y e a r s l a t e r , t h e h o u s e r e m a i n s a s t a p l e i n t h e h i s t o r i c d i s t r i c t o f C h a r l e s t o n , S . C . T h e h o m e h a s b e e n b e a u t i f u l l y r e s t o r e d a n d p l a y s h o s t t o s o m e o f C h a r l e s t o n ' s m o s t e x t r a o r d i n a r y w e d d i n g s a n d s o c i a l e v e n t s . 030-033.indd 30 3/27/14 9:24 AM

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