Longer life for Gen. Greene
There’s a lot going on atop the Greene County Courthouse, and according to an architectural firm, none of it is very good.
First, the statue of Gen. Nathanael Greene, a 10-foot wooden figure with its cooper hat held aloft, is deteriorating, so much so that the situation has been described as “critical.”
Then, the wooden deck of the dome on which the statue rests is also crumbling, causing the architect to conclude “the stability of the dome structure is questionable.” A host of other problems were itemized, including the instability of the metal rods that hold down the statue.
This latest crisis follows a $700,000 restoration project to reinforce timbers above the ceiling of a large courtroom. They had pulled loose over time and could have resulted in the courthouse ceiling to come down.
It would be easy to point a blaming finger toward county officials for not recognizing this problem with the statue earlier, but, frankly, it is not their fault. The condition of the statue was not discovered until contractors completing the work on the previous project discovered the rotting Gen. Greene. Also, Miles Davin Sr., who created the statue that has stood tall for the last 15 years, died in 2008, and no one has done any repair work since.
The new statue will be made of fiberglass, not wood, so we hope the new Gen. Greene, once he is placed on the dome, has a much longer life.