13 sculptures are coming to Rock Hill by the end of next year
Rock Hill is planning to celebrate its upcoming 175th anniversary in the most fitting way possible — with rocks.
The city council approved an agreement Monday to install 13 stone sculptures throughout the city’s Storyline, a two-mile urban park connecting Winthrop University to Fountain Park.
Five of the sculptures will be placed by March 2027, and the remaining eight by December 2027, according to the city council agenda.
No design specifics were discussed, but Lisa Brown, Rock Hill’s director of economic and urban development, said the sculptures will pay homage to the importance of rocks in the city’s history.
Rock Hill earned its namesake as “Rocky Hill” in 1852 when railroad workers cut through a quartz hill in the area, according to the city’s website. A post office was built later that year, and the name stuck.
“Those rocks are what make us who we are,” Brown said during Monday’s council meeting. “We really feel that’s the whole intention of the Storyline, how do we tell the stories of our community and pull them together.”
Brown also said the sculptures will have a “consistent look and feel” and won’t be randomly designed.
Peverall Stone Structures will construct the sculptures; that is a father-son artist duo based in North Carolina, according to the agenda.
The sculptures will be funded by local businesses, Brown said, and the city will pay to prepare the park site for the structures. Design guidelines will be finalized by August, according to the agenda.
Rock Hill’s famous statues
Albeit not stone, Rock Hill is known for its famed Civitas statues, four bronze structures that tower 22 feet above the intersection of Dave Lyle Boulevard and Gateway Boulevard.
The four Civitas, which is Latin for “civic pride,” were commissioned in 1988 by artist Audrey Flack, according to the city’s website.
Emulating a female version of Michelangelo’s “David,” the statues are a nod to the similarities between Rock Hill and 15th century Florence, Italy, which had a similar population and textile industry history.
The four statues all hold a different circular emblem representing Rock Hill’s four themes — the “gears of industry,” “flame of knowledge,” “stars of inspiration” and “lightning bolt of industry.”
