New Hampshire's Virtual Town Hall
Great Stone Face memorial taking shape - but slowly
“ 'Good Night, Boss' was carved into one of the commemorative granite tiles displayed at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning for the Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund’s memorial to the Great Stone Face in Franconia Notch.
But the two dozen people who gathered at the edge of Profile Lake in the rain are determined not to let the Old Man go to sleep forever.
Seven years after the revered state symbol fell from his perch, plunging the state into a mourning period marked by public displays of grief and impassioned editorials debating the merits of reconstruction, the Legacy Fund has raised just $600,000 of the nearly $5 million the memorial project was initially projected to cost.
Frank Grima, president of the Franconia Notch Chamber of Commerce and one of the six people who
ceremonially shoveled dirt yesterday, called the project’s slow pace and dwindling support 'frustrating.'
But George Bald, the commissioner of the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, praised supporters for their “tenacity,” saying that time “hasn’t diminished their enthusiasm.”
Bald and Grima were joined on the mound by Dick Hamilton, chairman of the Legacy Fund; Dave Nielsen, former caretaker of the Old Man; and Ron Magers and Shelly Bradbury, designers of the monument.
Thursday’s groundbreaking marked the start of the only part of the memorial project that has already been funded. By Oct. 1, a granite plaza rimmed by seven steel sculptures will be completed, according to Hamilton. The sculptures will allow viewers to once again see the famous profile as it was on the mountain through tricks of angle and perspective.
-- Concord Monitor story via Keene Sentinel
But the two dozen people who gathered at the edge of Profile Lake in the rain are determined not to let the Old Man go to sleep forever.
Seven years after the revered state symbol fell from his perch, plunging the state into a mourning period marked by public displays of grief and impassioned editorials debating the merits of reconstruction, the Legacy Fund has raised just $600,000 of the nearly $5 million the memorial project was initially projected to cost.
Frank Grima, president of the Franconia Notch Chamber of Commerce and one of the six people who
ceremonially shoveled dirt yesterday, called the project’s slow pace and dwindling support 'frustrating.'
But George Bald, the commissioner of the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, praised supporters for their “tenacity,” saying that time “hasn’t diminished their enthusiasm.”
Bald and Grima were joined on the mound by Dick Hamilton, chairman of the Legacy Fund; Dave Nielsen, former caretaker of the Old Man; and Ron Magers and Shelly Bradbury, designers of the monument.
Thursday’s groundbreaking marked the start of the only part of the memorial project that has already been funded. By Oct. 1, a granite plaza rimmed by seven steel sculptures will be completed, according to Hamilton. The sculptures will allow viewers to once again see the famous profile as it was on the mountain through tricks of angle and perspective.
-- Concord Monitor story via Keene Sentinel
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