George Mason Memorial
| George Mason Memorial | |
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IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
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 George Mason Memorial at night |
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| Location | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Coordinates | 38°52′46″N 77°2′21″W / 38.87944°N 77.03917°WCoordinates: 38°52′46″N 77°2′21″W / 38.87944°N 77.03917°W |
| Established | Authorized: 1990 Groundbroken: 2000 Dedicated: 2002 |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
The George Mason Memorial is a memorial to George Mason in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.
It commemorates the contributions of George Mason, an important American Founder who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and served as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Mason is often thought of as the "forgotten Founder."
Mason, an Anti-Federalist, did not sign the United States Constitution because it did not abolish the slave trade and because he did not think it had necessary protection for the individual from the federal government. He was sometimes known as the "reluctant statesman," which was also the title of a biography written about him by Robert A. Rutland.
[edit] History
The memorial was authorized by Public Law 101-358 on August 10, 1990, to be developed by the board of regents of Gunston Hall.
The site selected was close to the Jefferson Memorial. The design features a 72-foot (22 m) long stone wall with a one-third larger than life-sized statue of a sitting Mason, his legs crossed, and a circular pool. The landscape architect was Faye B. Harwell and the sculptor was Wendy M. Ross. The groundbreaking was October 18, 2000, and the completed memorial was dedicated on April 9, 2002.
The George Mason Memorial is administered as part of the National Park Service and is within the jurisdiction of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. It is located near the intersection of Ohio Drive and East Basin Drive, SW, which is in West Potomac Park, District of Columbia.
[edit] Gallery
[edit] External links
- Official NPS website
- "George Mason Memorial Garden to Be Built near the National Mall", Mason Spirit, Winter 2001 (GMU Alumni magazine):
- "The Five-Minute Interview: Wendy M. Ross, Mason Statue Sculptor", The Mason Gazette, March 27, 2007, Colleen Kearney Rich
- "George Mason National Memorial", Wendy Ross Studio
- IUCN Category V
- Artworks in the collection of the United States National Park Service
- Buildings and structures completed in 1990
- George Mason
- National Memorials of the United States
- Monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C.
- National Mall and Memorial Parks
- Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C.
- United States National Park Service areas in Washington, D.C.
