While There’s Still Time
It’s a good selling point, because stone can take plenty of abuse and remain strong. Combine strength with looks, and it’s a winning combination for years and years.
But not forever.
Monuments – something intended to last forever – disappear in plain sight as the elements wear down some of the best handiwork in stone. Go to any city cemetery, and you’ll see what a century of rain, wind and whatever particulates pumped into the local environment can do to, say, sculpted marble.
Sometimes the monuments are much closer to our everyday lives – in parks or fountains or even downtown street corners – and suffer from various damages. Maybe it’s pollution. Maybe it’s wayward drivers. Maybe it’s the work of graffiti vandals.
Most likely, though, it’s neglect. No one remembers why monuments went up in the first place, and those responsible for placement move away or die. Stone monuments, erected to inspire eternal memory, sometimes die the most-ironic of deaths: People forget.
Occasionally, though, someone tries to make a difference in preserving the stone and the memories it represents. Two of those efforts appear to be well on the way to success.
Those of you with keen memories may remember my observations in June 2004 on the District of Columbia World War I Memorial, set in a small clearing of trees at the west end of the National Mall in Washington.
It took some effort to find the monument; I’d seen its place on a tourbook map, but found no explanation about its size or design. What I found was a 40’-diameter Doric temple that looked like a mess. (You’ll see its dilapidated condition in this video PSA.)
Dirt, grime and algea showed the lack of a good stone cleaning for years, if ever. The base and columns suffered from plenty of cracks and nicks. A large crack in the cupola provided a base for a healthy and growing tree branch.
The condition belied the high hopes of the monument’s backers more than 80 years ago. The citizen’s commission in charge of the effort raised $200,000 in the capital city during the mid-1920s. Marble for the project came from the Vermont Marble Co.’s quarry in Derry, Vt.
The monument’s dedication on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1931, (“Veterans Day” became the official name in 1954) featured President Herbert Hoover. The monument’s interior, sized to host the U.S. Marine Band, did just that at the dedication; the band played “Stars and Stripes Forever,” conducted by the composer himself, John Philp Sousa.