The Bust of James Monroe awaits restoration at the Presidents' Garden at the Westmoreland County Museum Charles F. Gillette Garden. Photo by Patricia Neleski
By Patricia Neleski
Garden Coordinator/Research Librarian
Montross—Since December, visitors to the Westmoreland County Museum have asked, “Why are the busts of the presidents covered in black plastic?” One visitor even asked if George Washington was wearing a Darth Vader disguise!
No big mystery: the busts are being restored by an expert in statue preservation and restoration. Work was halted for the winter and won’t be resumed until March when temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees. The presidents’ faces will be seen again in the garden in a few weeks, and full restoration will be completed by the end of May.
The bust of George Washington at the Westmoreland County Museum has been covered for the winter to protect it during the restoration process. Photo by Patricia Neleski, 2024
The busts, located across the street from the old Westmoreland County Courthouse in the Charles F. Gillette-designed President’s Garden, are a grouping of three statues depicting the three U.S. presidents born in the Northern Neck: George Washington, James Madison and James Monroe. Gillette was a renowned landscape architect for over 50 years and designed the garden to showcase these marble busts.
The repair work is being funded by grants from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) and the Garden Club of the Northern Neck, along with donations from museum members and the community at large.
Installed in 1948, the statues are the work of world-famous sculptor Attillio Piccirelli, who created busts of Jefferson and Monroe in Virginia’s Capitol Building as well as the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C.
“After many decades of exposure to harsh environmental conditions, these marble busts require restoration of some minor chips and damage. If the presidents’ busts are not repaired and protected immediately, these historic items will be destroyed and lost to the visiting public,” said Mary S. Wasenko, Regent of the Leedstown Resolutions chapter of the NSDAR in her letter supporting the donation of $4,000 for the project.
“We are grateful to the DAR, the Garden Club of the Northern Neck, and our members for their generous donations to restore and repair these busts,” said Rosemary Mahan, executive director for the Westmoreland County Museum. “These gifts will allow the public to enjoy these beautiful works of art for years to come.”
While the busts are the showstoppers, at the center of the garden is a sundial embossed at the base with names of all eight U.S. presidents born in Virginia: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Benjamin Harrison, James Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Woodrow Wilson and George Washington. The sundial is also in very bad shape, according to the grant requests.
“Over the years, very little has been done to maintain or restore the busts and sundial. Due to the decades of harsh environmental conditions and lack of maintenance the stone has become porous and fragile, and the concrete on the base of the sundial is cracked and broken,” said Brianna Morris, former executive director of the Westmoreland County Museum. “All three busts have areas where there are cracks and crevices that must be filled with epoxy marble bond and then sanded multiple times with various grit levels and polished.”
“Additionally, the left side of the nose on the bust of Madison has begun to break off and must be rebuilt and repaired before moving forward with its restoration.”
The Garden Club of the Northern Neck donated $1,500 for the restoration.
Community donations for the project came to $1,557.39, bringing the total donations for the work to $7,057.39. Of this total, only $5,057.39 has been received. The DAR is paying their donation in two installments: the first upon awarding the grant and the second will be paid upon completion of the work.
However, the total cost for restoration is $8,800. The Westmoreland County Museum needs to raise $1,742.61 to complete the project in time for the 2025 deadline from the DAR donation agreement.
Hinson, owner of Headstone Preservation and Recovery, LLC was contracted to complete the work. To date, he has completed the following phases of the restoration: he has used appropriate and environmentally approved epoxy marble bond to fill pitted surfaces, cracks, and crevices of each bust; he has rebuilt and repaired the left side of the nose on the bust of James Madison where it had begun to break off using the epoxy marble bond; he has used a Dremel tool to sand each bust multiple times using various grit levels and used a Dremel tool to polish all surfaces of each bust.
Work still to be completed is: repairing chips to the base of the sundial and installing a thin cement casing around the column at the base of the sundial as well as final polishing and sanding of all three busts.
“These sculptures are amazing to see; however, if left untreated they will lose their unique features and will start to crumble away,” Morris said in her 2023 grant application. “If they are left in their current state, some of the fine details will be lost. Currently, some of the waves of hair have vanished. On James Madison’s bust a piece on the side of his nose has been lost.”
Mahan, who stepped into the executive directorship upon the untimely death of Morris in April, 2024, couldn’t agree more.
“We need to preserve this history while we can,” Mahan said. “These statues represent our country, our history, our community, for generations to come.”
To finish the task of saving Madison’s nose, and to remove the black plastic from George’s face, donors can donate here: https:///www.westmorelandcountymuseum.org