Spending almost $50,000 for this transport, he was forced to drill holes in the sculptures to pass cables through to be able to move them using cranes. Unfortunately, this difficult transport caused irreversible damage to the statues, which saw pieces of their faces amputated, which the artist David Adickes regretted.
Historical figures are becoming a hit again
It was then that John Plashal, a photographer from Richmond and a regular visitor to the area when he was a traveling salesman around Williamsburg, was surprised to find some pictures of these statues. Attracting the curious, many impromptu visitors come by Hankins’ private property to take some portraits of these disfigured faces. Intrigued, Plashal remembers often passing by Presidents Park when it was open, without finding any particular interest in it. However, now that the attraction has found itself in a state of disrepair, the strong symbolism that emerges from it takes on a whole new meaning. It was at that time that he proposed two things to Hankins: take a series of photographs of the busts and find a way to reopen the abandoned park.
Quickly circulating on social networks, these degraded presidential figures attract more and more curious people until special tours of the place are announced, finally open to the public. Although this is primarily Hankins’ residence, these guided tours are infrequent and only focus on specific events. Regularly attracting tourists, visits very often sell out. Recently, locations were opened for Memorial Day which will take place at the end of May. If the artist Adickes regrets presenting his work in such a state, he does not seem surprised and specifies ” Everyone enjoys seeing a government in ruins “. Although his initial ambition was not respected, a set of these busts still resides in his workshops and he continues his dream of creating a 23 meter tall sculpture of Lincoln. For Hankins, he aims to raise the sum of 1.6 million dollars for to create a museum to house and restore these precious busts.