Why Is This Field Full of Huge Presidents? | Short Film Showcase
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It was an outdoor walking park with descriptions of each president on sign boards. The park was spotless; very nice place for the family and stroll your little babies around in their strollers. Pretty neat. It wasn't in the best location, so it failed through the recession and the park was finally closed. Its sat dormant for probably two years or so, and a new developer came in. They asked if I could come and remove the statues; they were putting a new business and car business instead of going to the crusher. I brought them up to the farm, and there they are, their new home.
I looked at the statues and said, "You know, I think I can pick these things up and move." They are 20 to 22 feet tall; they weigh about eighteen to twenty-two thousand pounds. We probably spent close to fifty thousand on moving the Presidents down here over about a three-week period. It took about six men, ten hours a day. The presidents are pretty isolated; even my neighbors are aware of their existence back here. The weeds have grown up around them, shorts, snakes, and alligators, and all little frogs— they love them.
The unusual part of visiting Presidents Park would be standing close to these enormous heads. You almost feel they're looking at you, the way the sculptor did the work on them. It's an overwhelming feeling to be next to these giants of men who represented our country and built this strong country we live in. [Music]
When Obama was elected, the funds weren't available to purchase him, and the original investors said they've done enough. They did get in a bomb ahead; you know, it's a small one— a couple got dropped. I think Lincoln fell over backward and unfortunately broke the back of his head out. It's kind of ironic that that happened.
There's a lot of interesting facts about the presidents that many people don't know. Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia. James Buchanan was the only president not to marry. Warren Harding lost the White House china set in a game of poker, I believe. Martin Van Buren was the first person to use the phrase "okay." It was said that James Garfield could write a sentence with his left hand in Latin and a sentence with his right hand in Greek at the very same time.
Whoever Cleveland had to have his jaw removed because of cancer, and they replaced it with rubber. Ulysses S. Grant got a speeding ticket on a horse. Andrew Jackson had taught his parrot how to swear, and they had to remove it from his funeral to keep it from swearing.
It meant a lot to me to preserve history and to be able to pass something like that on. I mean, I loved to find the means to build an educational park for our kids to come to from all over the country. I really want to do something with these guys; I mean, this cannot be their fate sitting in this field and being crushed. I do crush concrete, and I don't want to do that. If I have to leave them here, it would really disappoint. But you know, there's been a lot of effort put into saving them; I could use employed or some help maybe. [Music] [Music]