MOUNT PLEASANT — On a holiday weekend nine months after a bronze statue of the late Wayne Magwood was erected on the bridge over Shem Creek, someone stole his shrimp.
The statue of the man whose family is credited with bringing the shrimping trade to the town in the early 1900s had been the product of four years of fundraising and months of work by Savannah sculptor Susie Chisolm.
In bronze, he wears a fisherman’s gear and holds a large bunch of shrimp in his outstretched hand.
Or he did, until someone broke them off.
Eldest daughter Tressy Magwood-Mellichamp posted on Facebook about the vandalized statue over the weekend, and Monday morning she got a call saying the shrimp had been returned.
“I’m just thankful that somebody did the right thing and brought them back, in the middle of the night,” she said. “I guess somebody felt really bad.”
The statue sits midway across a bridge on Coleman Boulevard that links the two sides of Shem Creek, which is known for its lively bar and restaurant scene as well as shrimp boats and deep-sea fishing vessels.
Magwood-Mellichamp said she found the missing bunch of bronze shrimp sitting at the foot of the statue.
Repairs will be needed, and she said she’s already talked with the sculptor about reattaching them in a more secure way.
“I’ve already spoken to the foundry,” said Chisolm. “They said someone can come and repair it on site.”
It will save a lot of money that the shrimp won’t need to be recast, she said.
A statue of Wayne Magwood, who was killed crossing nearby Coleman Boulevard in 2020, was unveiled in April 2025 on the Shem Creek bridge in Mount Pleasant.
Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
“It’s just astounding what people will do,” Chisolm said.
A statue she created of Johnny Mercer, the late Academy Award-winning lyricist and co-founder of Capitol Records, was toppled over in Ellis Square in Savannah in 2023.
Like the Magwood statue, the Mercer statue stood not far from many popular night-spots.
Chisolm said it shouldn’t take too long to determine the best fix for the late shrimper’s statue.
When the statue was installed it required a crane and a partial closure of traffic over Shem Creek bridge, but Chisolm and Magwood-Mellichamp hope the repair process will be less intrusive.
Magwood died at age 67 on Sept. 11, 2020, after being struck by a propane truck near Shem Creek.