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Start Westward Monument Society talks conservation plan

Borglum grandchildren visit Start Westward

By James Dobbs 3 min read

Members of the Start Westward Monument Society and Marietta Mayor Josh Schlicher met with the grandchildren of famed sculptor Gutzon Borlgum on Thursday to discuss the restoration of the monument.

Known for sculpting the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Borglum agreed to sculpt the Start Westward Monument while visiting Marietta in 1936.

Ryan Taylor, president and CEO of Pickering Associates, gave a presentation of potential improvements at the monument including renderings, drone footage of the city and photographs.

"So the plan is to hopefully get the funding in place to relocate the sandstone monument. We're going to put it in a temperature-controlled environment; we're going to condition it bronze to put back in its original place," he said. "And then we hopefully will be able to restore the sandstone statue."

Joe Grimm, president of the Start Westward Monument Society, said the society had been talking about the conservation plan for a long time and now it's time for action. He said it will take at least one year to get the statue bronzed and another three years to restore the monument properly.

"I think the idea of doing it in bronze is wonderful," said Robin Borglum Kennedy, granddaughter of Gutzon Borglum. "And I think we're really happy that that's kind of where you all settled in."

Borglum said her grandfather wanted people to be able to interact with the monument.

"To me, this statue with that boat is a wonderful place where every child in the world would be sitting on that boat discovering something and having make believe dreams of that," she said. "And to be able to interact with it, I think that would be wonderful."

Taylor also introduced a rendered concept for a visitors center that would be in close proximity to the monument.

Grimm said their next step is to find a marketing group and to start a fundraising plan for the project. He also said that it was created as a national memorial but wasn't recognized somewhere along the way, so the society plans to rectify that.

"We are totally in favor of this project and support it all the way through," Schlicher said. "The city will be limited on its share of the funds we can invest into it, but definitely our staff, engineering, development and services, we'll be here to support and cheer it on."

Grimm said the memorial was created on Marietta's 150th anniversary and he would like to have the restoration completed by the 250th in 2038.

The $7 million conservation plan includes replicating the statue in bronze, which will cost approximately $1.56 million. Restoring the stone memorial will cost $609,000. The Start Westward National Memorial Visitors Center will cost approximately 4.86 million. For more information contact Start Westward Monument Society at www.startwestward178.com.

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