Monument Restoration, Minus Fence, Is Well Begun

By Dottie Evans

The restoration and beautification project at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the top of Main Street was launched in spring 2004 and is slated for completion in spring 2005. Improvements have been according to a diagram submitted by landscape architect Brid Craddock that was approved by the Borough Board of Burgesses and the Historic District Commission. The work is being paid for by the Borough and by ongoing donations.

At first townspeople embraced the project, but its granite fence component drew an outcry when it became apparent the massive stone posts were changing the once-open feeling of Newtown’s smallest town park.

“It was not easy to visualize from the drawing exactly what that fence would look like,” noted Borough Warden Joan Crick.

In late spring, landscapers removed the overgrown yews at the edge of the triangular park and everyone watched with interest as the project proceeded. New lighting designed to highlight the monument and its inscription at night was installed over the summer. Handsome clay brick pathways and an apron of brick surrounding the monument base were laid in time for the Labor Day Parade. People agreed the memorial park was looking better and better.

Then, in October, a perimeter fence of 30-plus four-foot-tall granite posts was installed with wooden fence rails planned between the posts, and the rumblings started. People did not like the fact that the fence seemed too massive for the site, nor did they like that it partially obscured the monument’s base, the benches, and the memorial slabs with plaques naming those Newtown residents who fought in wars.

By the time the Department of Transportation decided the fence’s Main Street side must be removed and set back farther from the road for sightline reasons, the general opinion seemed to be that this was a mistake. The granite fence did not fit the original architect’s conception of an open park when it was first dedicated as the Peace and Liberty Monument in 1931.

As a result, the board voted 4 to 2 on November 14 to permanently omit the granite fence from the plan and the posts were hauled away. The project’s final phase including installation of perennial plantings, small trees, and bushes, will be completed in the spring.