42 giant statues of presidents’ heads are crumbling on private property in rural Virginia. Here’s why.

• Decaying statues of presidents in Croaker, Virginia, regularly attract tourists.

• The statues have been on private property since Williamsburg’s Presidential Park closed in 2010.

• Tours of the statues are offered periodically, and their homes may be renovated in the future.

More than 2 million visitors flock to Mount Rushmore each year to see the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. National Park Service.

But more than 1,500 miles away, the minds of another group of presidents have unexpectedly become a tourist attraction in their own right.

in Croaker, VirginiaAbout 10 miles north of Williamsburg, 42 presidential statues have stood on private land for more than a decade, crumbling and decaying from weathering. The 15- to 20-foot-tall busts were originally a park attraction in Williamsburg, which closed in 2010. They would have been destroyed if a man named Howard Hankins had not saved them.

Now Hankins, in partnership with photographer John Plashal, periodically gives head tours of his property, hoping to do his part to preserve history. And while minds are still in turmoil, their fate may soon change with a possible redevelopment project.

See the story behind the shattered heads and how they gained a second life as a tourist destination.

The concrete and steel heads were created by Houston-based sculptor David Adickes.

Adickes created three sets of sculptures inspired by his visit to Mount Rushmore in 1994. Some busts from other sets have since been purchased, according to Adickes. website.

For example, Greater Houston’s Aldine Management District purchased a bust of John F. Kennedy in 2023; This bust currently stands outside the entrance to George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Adickes died last year at the age of 98.

Originally, the busts were located in Presidents Park in Williamsburg.

Created by local entrepreneur Everette Newman and Adickes, the attraction in historic Williamsburg operated from 2004 to 2010.

The busts, each 15 to 20 feet tall, were well cared for in the 10-acre park that Hankins helped build.

“The extraordinary part of visiting Presidents Park will be standing up close to these giant heads,” Hankins said. National Geographic In 2017. “You almost feel like they’re looking at you from the work the sculptor has done on them.”

The park closed in 2010 due to financial difficulties. The land was auctioned in 2012 and eventually won by a car rental business.

Hankins was then hired to destroy the heads.

Hankins, a commercial recycler by trade, was contracted to oversee the disposal of heads on the industrial stone crusher. After all, he didn’t have the courage to crush them.

“Instead of doing so, he spent tens of thousands of dollars of his own money to move the heads, which were worth over 20,000 pounds each, onto his own property to save them,” photographer John Plashal told Business Insider in 2020.

The property, a 400-acre farm and industrial recycling area, is located 10 miles north of Williamsburg in rural Croaker, Virginia. The process of transplanting the heads cost him about $50,000, Hankins estimates. Smithsonian Magazine reported.

Some statues were damaged during the move.

Among the damaged statues Lincoln’s According to Smithsonian Magazine, the head fell off, leaving a giant hole in the back.

Other presidents suffered injuries and lost appendages such as noses during the move, which involved lifting the statues with a crane and transporting them on a flatbed truck.

Hankins’ high hopes for the heads remained unfulfilled for years.

“He was hoping that he would either open his own park or that an exotic and wealthy art collector would come along.” [with] a big check,” Plashal said.

Hankins told National Geographic that he would “love to find a way to build an educational park where our children from all over the country can come,” adding that simply sitting in one area cannot be the fate of the statues.

Tourists became interested in visiting the harsh abandoned heads.

Tourists documenting it on social media began to attract attention. When people started using Instagram and Snapchat, heads “spread like wildfire,” Plashal said.

He noticed that the statues were different from the others abandoned place The representation of powerful men was there because it contrasted sharply with their state of decay.

It also caught the attention of Plashal, whose work as a photographer was compatible with the sculptures.

Plashal has a passion for capturing abandoned places, especially in Virginia, where his work is based. According to him, one of the photographer’s goals is to “photograph and document places that offer decadent beauty and unique histories.” website. The heads were in perfect harmony.

Plashal was particularly fond of taking images of heads at night; When he could photograph them against the stars, he was giving them back some of the glory they might have lost as they decayed.

He soon realized that the heads were more special than they seemed.

Having already achieved some success as a photographer and storyteller, Plashal was approached by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as a co-speaker.

“They sent me all over the state to tell the entire history of abandoned places that I found, documented and photographed,” Plashal said.

He realized he could apply this storytelling talent to abandoned heads.

Plashal decided to help Hankins give the heads new life.

Since Hankins had already spent a small fortune saving the statues from destruction, Plashal agreed that the statues could serve a greater purpose than just sitting in a field. He also knew from the attention on social media and from visitors in person that the demand was there.

But because they are Hankins’ private property, any visitors who come to see the heads up close are trespassing, perhaps without realizing the property is private, Plashal said.

“A lot of people think the statues were found in a wheat field or something,” Plashal said. he said.

He came up with a plan to give head tours of Hankins’ property.

The first tour, held in 2019, was met with enthusiasm.

“I approached Hankins about doing this because presidents’ heads were the most abandoned place in Virginia, if not the world, and it got blown up,” said Plashal, pictured above during a tour in 2019.

The heads in their current state are far more popular than Presidents Park has ever been.

“There are a lot of people who want to see these,” Plashal told Hankins.

Because Hankins has legal concerns about the potentially dangerous nature of the heads, Plashal has guests sign waiver forms before entering the facility.

Tours are still offered periodically.

Plashal offers paid tours to a limited number of attractions called “Night of the Presidents”, both a day and night tour.

Stories and facts about the heads are shared, and guests can win prizes in the presidential trivia game.

A recent vote could bring about a favorable change in the presidents’ house.

In June, the county’s Board of Supervisors voted on a rezoning project that would add a museum, residential units and commercial space to the land around the statues, in addition to partially restoring the statues and turning the heads into a proper attraction.

However, WTKR News reported that the board “voted 3-2 to take no action on the project.” reported. The board plans to reconsider the proposal in the fall, but Hankins said he is in no rush.

“I believe it will happen when it’s right, so I can’t worry about it,” Hankins told WTKR News.

Plashal believes the heads will attract interested visitors for years to come, turning the area into the Easter Island of North America.

“Preserving history meant a lot to me,” Hankins told National Geographic in 2017.

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