George Mason Memorial

George Mason Memorial
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
George Mason Memorial at night
Location	Washington, D.C., United States
Coordinates
Established	Authorized: 1990 Groundbroken: 2000 Dedicated: 2002
Governing body	National Park Service

The George Mason Memorial is a national memorial to George Mason in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It is near the Potomac River crossing also named for Mason.

The memorial commemorates the contributions of Mason, a Founding Father who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, served as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and created much of the language, inspiration, and groundwork for what became the United States Bill of Rights.

Mason, an Anti-Federalist, did not sign the United States Constitution because it did not abolish the slave trade and because he did not think it had necessary protection for the individual from the federal government. He was sometimes known as the "reluctant statesman", which was also the title of a biography written about him by Robert A. Rutland.

History

The memorial was authorized by Public Law 101-358 on August 10, 1990, to be developed by the board of regents of Gunston Hall.

The site selected was 900 Ohio drive, close to the Jefferson Memorial. The design features a 72-foot (22 m) long stone wall with a one-third larger than life-sized statue of a sitting Mason, his legs crossed, and a circular pool with a fountain . The landscape architect was Faye B. Harwell and the sculptor was Wendy M. Ross. The groundbreaking was October 18, 2000, and the completed memorial was dedicated on April 9, 2002.

The George Mason Memorial is administered as part of the National Park Service and is within the jurisdiction of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. It is located near the intersection of Ohio Drive and East Basin Drive, SW, which is in West Potomac Park, District of Columbia.

Gallery

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  The George Mason Memorial in December 2014

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  A close-up view of the memorial in December 2014

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  The inscription of the memorial

See also

• List of public art in Washington, D.C., Ward 2

External links

• National Park Service: official George Mason Memorial website
• Wendy Ross Studio: the George Mason National Memorial – the bronze statue's sculptor.
• Mason Spirit: "George Mason Memorial Garden to Be Built near the National Mall" – the GMU Alumni magazine, Winter 2001 issue.
• The Mason Gazette: "The Five-Minute Interview: Wendy M. Ross, Mason Statue Sculptor" – by Colleen Kearney Rich, March 27, 2007.