Presidents Park
Sculpture park in Virginia, 2004 to 2010
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Presidents Park was a ten-acre sculpture park and associated indoor museum formerly located in Williamsburg, Virginia in the United States. The park contained 18-to-20-foot (5.5 to 6.1 m) high busts of the presidents of the United States from George Washington to George W. Bush.[1]
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The original park in 2005 | |
  Presidents Park Presidents Park was located in Southeastern Virginia  Presidents Park Presidents Park (the United States) | |
| Established | March 2004 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | September 30, 2010 |
| Location | Williamsburg VA, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°15′39″N 76°38′42″W |
| Type | Sculpture park |
Collections | Busts of the first 43 presidents, spread over 10 acres (4.0 ha) |
After the park closed, the presidential heads were transferred to a nearby field, where they decayed due to exposure to the elements. The unusual nature of the decayed presidential heads gained attention, and the location now offers periodic tours.
History
Original park
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The statues were sculpted by Houston artist David Adickes,[1] who was inspired as he drove past Mount Rushmore in the early 2000s when returning from a trip to Canada.[2][3] They were produced in Adickes' studio in Houston, Texas.[3]
The park was opened in March 2004 by local visitor attraction entrepreneur Everette H. "Haley" Newman III, who had been slowly taking delivery of the busts since 2000.[4]
The park had financial troubles and was closed on September 30, 2010.[5] Creditors put the park up for auction (not including the busts) on September 28, 2012, after a foreclosure auction originally scheduled for April 26, 2012 was cancelled without explanation.[6] The location was eventually purchased by a rental car company.[7]
Current location
By January 2013, the busts had been moved to private storage at a nearby farm in Croaker, Virginia by Howard Hankins, a builder who had helped construct the park and had been hired to demolish it.[8][9] In 2017, National Geographic showcased a video in which Mr Hankins expresses a hope to rehabilitate the statues for a park in the future.[10][11]
However, many of the presidential heads sustained damage in the move and decayed due to being out in the open elements. The unusual nature of the decayed presidential heads gained attention, and the location now offers periodic tours and photography workshops under the name "The Presidents Heads".[3][12]
Similar park in South Dakota
Artist David Adickes sculpted a second set of Presidential busts. They were placed on display at a similar outdoor park museum setting in Lead, South Dakota which was operated by the artist himself, until it too closed after financial difficulties.
Some of the South Dakota busts could still be seen in 2015 at various RV parks and hotels around the Dakotas.
- The busts of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are located near Mount Rushmore at the Southern Hills RV Park and Campground in Hermosa, South Dakota.
- President Abraham Lincoln's bust graces the Lincoln RV Park on U.S. 85 south of Williston, North Dakota.
- President Theodore Roosevelt's bust is stationed at the Roosevelt Inn in Watford City, North Dakota.
