Near the Park West Recreation Fields in Mount Pleasant stands a small wooden bridge painted in rainbow colors, where families can hang a collar, a tag or some other keepsake to remember a pet who has died. Paws Over the Rainbow Bridge exists because a Labrador-pointer mix named Waffles escaped her yard one too many times and became, in the words of her owner, everyone's dog.
Waffles was known around the neighborhood of Planter's Pointe for slipping out of her yard and roaming the area, and one neighbor described her as the neighborhood mascot, according to Charleston City Paper. Candace Johnson adopted Waffles through Petfinder when the dog was just 14 weeks old, back when Johnson was living in Chicago, the outlet reports. The family later moved to Mount Pleasant in 2020, and before bringing Waffles home, Johnson had tested her three sons' readiness for a dog by having them care for a plant for six months.
Johnson, who works in the construction industry, said the dog filled a particular role in her household. “She was like my partner in raising them. She was like my everything,” Johnson said, per the same outlet's report. But on Dec. 31, 2024, a car struck Waffles, and she had to be euthanized.
From Grief to a Community Project
In the aftermath, Johnson learned about Rainbow Bridge memorials already established in other communities, including one on Folly Beach, and in February 2025 she reached out to the town of Mount Pleasant to ask what it would take to bring a similar bridge to her own community. What she originally thought might be a simple project quickly turned into more than a year of town meetings, approvals and planning, the Charleston City Paper's reporting shows.
Local businesses stepped in to make it happen. Southern Lumber and Millwork created the computer-aided design drawings and donated all the building materials, while Nautilus Home Management and general contractor Phillip Smith handled construction. Reflections of Charleston donated the paint and completed the painting, rounding out a build that local businesses and community members helped create as a place for Lowcountry families to remember their pets.
After more than a year of planning, the bridge was completed in March 2026, and friends, neighbors and supporters gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate. Johnson said one of her sons, Reeves, offered her some encouragement during the long process, reminding her, “You always tell me, we don't give up.”
A Place for Any Pet, Any Memory
Paws Over the Rainbow Bridge displays collars, tags and other keepsakes left by families, and it welcomes anyone who wants to remember a pet, whether they leave behind an item or simply stop to visit. The memorial is intended for all animals, not only dogs. Johnson also plans to provide blank collars for people who would rather keep their pet's original collar at home.
The concept draws on the long-circulated Rainbow Bridge legend, which describes a peaceful place where pets become young and healthy again as they await reunion with their owners. Johnson said she hopes the bridge helps families celebrate their pets, share memories and find comfort in grief. “Your feelings are real, and it takes time,” she said, adding of the finished memorial, “This is everyone's bridge.”
Part of a Wider Movement
Mount Pleasant's bridge joins a small but growing number of similar memorials along the East Coast. Folly Beach unveiled its own version inspired by the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge site, after resident Michelle Pardue proposed the project in 2023 while her Labradoodle, Rocco, was battling a rare cancer, according to the Post and Courier. Rocco's collar was the first placed on that bridge, just two months after his death, and the Lake Lure memorial that inspired it was installed in 2022 and became a main attraction for bereaved pet owners.
The pace at which people embraced the Folly Beach bridge was striking: visitors placed 31 collars in its first week open, a number that doubled the following week, and more than 60 collars eventually hung along its handrail. A ribbon-cutting dedicated that wooden bridge, painted in rainbow colors, on Oct. 14, and residents quickly began leaving collars along its railings, according to Folly Current.
Farther north, Mt Pleasant Hospital for Animals and the Newtown Parks & Recreation department brought a Rainbow Bridge Garden to Orchard Hill Nature Center in Newtown, Connecticut, with a ceremony held on a Friday, October 9, according to the Newtown Bee. That project took a year and seven board meetings before resident Isabel Cummings was able to place a collar and laminated photos of her own pets there, offering a place for pet owners to leave a memento and celebrate the lives of pets that have passed on.
The reach of Mount Pleasant's project may extend even further. Johnson said someone in Florida reached out asking whether they could use the bridge's construction drawings for a similar memorial, and Southern Lumber agreed to share the plans — meaning Waffles' legacy, and the bridge she inspired, could help comfort grieving pet owners well beyond the Lowcountry.
