"She'd pulled on rain boots, driven about an hour and trudged through the mud of what her tour guide called "an industrial dump" early Saturday with dozens of other tourists to see "The Presidents Heads," a private collection of every ex-POTUS's sculpted likeness from Washington to George W. Bush. They're arranged in haphazard rows, with Andrew Jackson occupying a prime front spot simply because the owner likes his hair. The vibe is Stonehenge-meets-"The Walking Dead.""
"Before they started sinking into the ground, the busts fashioned from concrete, plaster and rebar - was that Styrofoam poking through some cranial holes? - stood about twice the height of a basketball hoop. They each weighed at least five tons. Time has not been kind. Chester A. Arthur's entire jaw is missing. Ulysses S. Grant has lost a chunk of his right eyebrow. And Franklin D. Roosevelt was "scalped" in transit,the tour guide noted, by a Route 199 overpass."
In Croaker, Va., a private collection of sculpted presidential busts sits in a muddy field, many badly deteriorated. The concrete, plaster and rebar figures were originally the polished centerpieces of a $10 million park created by a Texas sculptor who studied in Paris. The park went bankrupt in 2010 after six years, and the five-ton busts began sinking and breaking. Visitors now make muddy pilgrimages to view the rotting heads, noting missing jaws, peeled noses, chunks of eyebrow gone and Styrofoam protruding through skull holes. The decayed display prompts reflection and has produced a waiting list for tours.
Read at The Washington Post
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