Tower is a symbol of those who were let down

I vividly remember the day (literally, one day) we spent looking at houses in Fort Mill after we had decided to make the move down here. Our Realtor had taken us from one end of town to the other.

With two kids in tow, it was a long day.

We thought we had found our dream house – a neatly Southern house with a beautiful front porch, thick green grass, nicely landscaped gardens situated in a nice, quiet neighborhood. It was in our price range, and we thought for sure this was our new home.

Until we walked out of the front door and looked skyward.

“Is that Charlotte?”

It sounded ridiculous as soon as I had said it.

Our Realtor explained we were looking at the biggest scar in the Fort Mill landscape – The Heritage tower. She gave us the run down on the history of the tower and the failed ministry of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

Fast forward 26 years after the fall of PTL, and the tower remains a center of controversy.

With all the news coverage the tower has received lately, it is easy to get behind Fort Mill resident Eric Kinsinger and support the tower coming down. He has put himself out there, not just recently but for years trying to get the tower to come down.

You could argue that the tower is ugly. You could argue that it is out of place. You can voice your opinion about Morningstar Ministries, good or bad. You can talk about safety, attraction to criminals and tax dollars being wasted.

But with all of this in the spotlight, there is a big part of the equation left in the shadows.

At its prime, Heritage USA was visited by six million people every year, making it the third most visited theme park in the United States. Only Disney World and Disneyland had more visitors.

Before a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of Heritage USA. I knew that anything with the word Heritage in this town likely had ties to Jim and Tammy Faye, but not much beyond that.

I was raised in a Catholic household, which is why I am a practicing agnostic attending regular Sunday morning services at either Saint Mattress or Our Lady of the Nine Iron.

I don’t have a dog in this fight – in the section of town we decided on, I hardly ever see the tower and the religion and politics of Morningstar and/or PTL Ministries are of no consequence to me.

But after piling through newspaper articles, online videos and websites, one thing struck me hard: there are millions of people who visited Heritage USA and 160,000 people paid a hefty sum to have just three days every year in their little slice of heaven who had their dreams shattered by corruption.

There are quite a few videos and photo essays online that show Heritage USA in its prime, often pictures or home movies from the poster’s trips and contrast it with the ghost town it became after the downfall of PTL. What remains bares few clues that there was ever one of the world’s most popular amusement parks right here in Fort Mill.

It is heartbreaking and sad.

This was a place that carried a lot of meaning for a lot of people. Memories from millions of families from around the world were made here, embraced by the faith they so blindly placed, but yet gave them incredible comfort and purpose. To this day, you will see a tremendous defense of the Bakkers and PTL in the comments of just about any article published about their downfall.

The derelict tower and the remaining ruins of Heritage USA are, in my opinion, like a giant middle finger pointed to anyone who believed in its mission. It is a sad and embarrassing chapter in Fort Mill’s history and without question, it needs to come down.

This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Tower is a symbol of those who were let down."