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Presidents Park

Presidents Park was a ten-acre sculpture park and associated indoor museum formerly located in Williamsburg, Virginia in the United States. The park contained high busts of the presidents of the United States from George Washington to George W. Bush.

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

The statues were sculpted by Houston artist David Adickes, who was inspired as he drove past Mount Rushmore in the early 2000s when returning from a trip to Canada. They were produced in Adickes' studio in Houston, Texas.

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.

The park had financial troubles and was closed on September 30, 2010. 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. The location was eventually purchased by a rental car company.

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. In 2017, National Geographic showcased a video in which Mr Hankins expresses a hope to rehabilitate the statues for a park in the future.

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".

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.

Sources

External links

The Presidents Heads