Preston fixing up Revolutionary War memorial
Efforts to refurbish Preston’s Revolutionary War Monument aren’t lacking anything that $15,000 couldn’t cure, organizer Ron Tanguay said Friday.
“We’ve got about $10 in the bank, but we’re pushing ahead,” said Tanguay, secretary of the Preston Memorial Committee and Preston VFW Post 9452’s adjutant, during a tour of work at Patriots Park on Route 165.
The site’s centerpiece, a 30-inch-by-18-inch cast iron eagle, was removed from its pedestal three weeks ago. Now in three pieces because of water damage, the eagle is being refurbished by Waterford-based blacksmith Charles Sedell. Organizers hope to have it back by the end of this month. A large cedar tree has been taken down with its stump waiting for a volunteer to uproot it.
“There’s plenty of work but not a lot of money,” Tanguay said.
The committee has abandoned plans to move the monument from the state-owned land where it sits because of the delicate nature of the 2,300-pound stone structure, which has stood in its present position for 45 years, he said.
Preston Historical Society President Linda Christensen is also president of the memorial committee and has applied for grants to help defray expenses. She and her husband, Mark, are working closely with Tanguay on the project. The committee has recruited help from various sources, including the Board of Selectmen and the town’s Redevelopment Agency.
Selectmen are in talks with state government and Connecticut Light & Power Co. to add a flood light to a utility pole to illuminate the site, First Selectman Robert Congdon said. The committee hopes the state Department of Transportation reduces the size of a large stop sign at the entrance of Route 165A and takes down No Parking signs along Route 165, Tanguay said. Widening the shoulder of Route 165A to create parking space would be welcome, he said.
Redevelopment Agency Chairman Sean Nugent said his board may donate some benches from the former Norwich Hospital after getting approval from its salvage partner, Manafort Brothers Inc.
Lisbon Home Depot Storage Manager Randy Duplessis and Team Leader Chris Kaminski have contributed time and materials. Medtronic Merocel Plant Manager Scott Quaratella and Group Leader Debbie Paige have donated cleaning chemicals.
MJ Enterprise’s Marty Melgey is working to create a brick tribute garden. The garden will contain the 160 names of Preston residents who fought in the Revolution with additional bricks being sold for $50 each to lifetime sponsors. The garden’s circle will be half made from flowers and hedges, Tanguay said.
Tanguay raised the subject of creating a flag using the town seal with its eye-catching turkey insignia with the Board of Selectmen. After no one objected to the board, Tanguay ordered a custom flag from New York-based Gettysburg Flag Works. The 3-foot-by-5-foot flag costs $78.
“It will be the only one in existence,” Tanguay said.
It will fly alongside a Bennington flag commemorating the Revolutionary War period. Two flag poles are being ordered from Gettysburg Flag Works with a total cost of about $1,400, Tanguay said.
The Preston VFW is considering paying for the flag work and is likely to vote on the idea at its November meeting, Tanguay said.
The monument project began in December 2010. By completion time in summer 2013, committee members hope to solve the mystery of what Mark Christensen calls the “Preston Monolith,” a rectangle block of granite with mysterious writing that appears to have the year 1862 or 1869 carved into it.
“We’re not going to move it,” Tanguay said. “Hopefully, someone will come forward to tell us its significance.”
