Published: July 23, 2008 10:09 am         

Statue for courthouse ready to be cast in bronze

CUMBERLAND - Descendants of officers who served in the Continental Army and Navy were the first to see the George Washington memorial statue commissioned for Cumberland last week in Boston.

Sculptor Susan Luery toasted the project with several members of the General Society of the Cincinnatus. Members of that select organization are related to former members of the nation's oldest military hereditary society.

"I am now finished sculpting George," Luery said in a July 15 e-mail to the Times-News.

Foundry workers will travel from Baltimore to her Massachusetts studio next week to create the mold, made of rubber and plastic, from the current foundation of clay, steel and assorted materials. The bronze statue is made from the mold and it will then be delivered to Cumberland.

"This fall we'll be seeing the actual unveiling of it," Luery said.

Luery said the project "probably took longer than most" others she has completed but the end result is well worth the time. The delay, she said, was due to some "serendipitous" happenings.

"I ran an ad for a model and I had seen the exhibit at Mount Vernon that talked about how they had recreated Washington at different ages," Luery said. "The model that answered my ad looked amazingly like Washington at 19."

In addition, Luery received permission to study an original bust of Washington sculpted by French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon in the 18th century at a private library in Boston.

"That was just a great honor and tremendously helpful," Luery said.

Knowledge obtained from research with the Virginia and Maryland historical societies also helped Luery create the memorial. But knowledge and historical details go only so far, she said.

"There was a point to which this is more about the man than the coat or the musket," Luery said of other 1750s-era items she reviewed. "What I hoped to portray (was the) strength and vision of Washington at that point in his life, a certain sense of idealism apparent then."

Washington is to be portrayed as a 21-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army. He will be holding a Long Land Pattern Brown "Brown Bess" musket.

The 7-foot-6-inch statue will weigh about 1,400 pounds. It is to be placed on a 36-inch pedestal on the northeast corner of the Allegany County Courthouse lawn. The statue will be positioned so Washington is facing in a northwestwardly direction.

Howard Buchanan, chairman of the $70,000 project, said he's been kept updated on the status of the project by Luery. He said the 3-foot, hexagonal pedestal on which Washington will be posted will be adorned with plaque inscribed with the names of the project's top donors. The group will be known as The Patriots Society, Buchanan said.

The project has been funded through a mixture of private donations and funds from the city of Cumberland's hotel/motel tax revenue.

For more information on Washington, log on to www.mountvernon.org.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.