Pollyanna Park - Final Phase

Jim Coady, virtual chapter (Wisconsin) puts the final touches to his Pollyanna Park for statues and other Confederate paraphernalia.

Jim’s suggested landing area for Pollyanna Park

A Park for Less Than Heroic Statuary

This park would be located in a beautiful, but desolated portion of our country, preferably close to a city, town, or village that could use the income from tourists passing through. The park might even share the border with Mexico. That would be a first.  There are also the indigenous residents of the land to consider.  We have done much hacking away re-imagining their  mountains and their lands. It would be good if all of the marble and bronze could be left to slowly disintegrate and dissolve into the landscape, leaving nothing as a reminder of what was, and is no more.

The pathways through the park would be rugged but well defined. The monuments themselves spaced some distance from one another, so that it would be a bit of a journey from one to another—in some sense a spiritual journey—not unlike “El Camino” in Spain

Fresh drinking water and simple composting toilet facilities would be strategically located along the path. The monuments themselves would be set in sheltered locations, surrounded by indigenous shade vegetation (cacti?), with simple seating areas were visitors could rest, contemplate, and converse among themselves about their experiences.

 Each monument’s place in our history would be clearly and simply outlined in graphics and text that factually presented a warts and all story of what was happening in the country at the time, what event or historic figure did it represent, what did this statue signify for those who erected it, what did this statue signify for others at the time, what meaning does it have for us now?

Bring the kids…and lots of water.

We can learn from history’s metal and stone reminders of what we thought, what we believed, and what we did. I believe that we need to preserve them and have them out there where we can see them, acknowledge them, learn from them, and move on from them.