Croaker resident Howard Hankins can now say that almost all of the presidents of the United States have stayed at his farm.
Hankins recently finished hauling away 43 busts of American presidents—every president besides Barack Obama—from Presidents Park in York County to his farm. By the time Obama was elected, the park was unable to afford a bust of him. The park closed in 2010 after being plagued by years of financial problems including lower than expected ticket sales and the sluggish economy’s impact on the park’s investors. It had been for sale since 2007, and a pair of attempts at auctioning the property with the heads revealed little interest in the land and its distinctive 20-foot-tall sculptures.
Hankins, who owns HB Hankins in Newport News, said it took a week to haul the presidents away. He used a crew of workers from his company, which helped to build the park. They chiseled holes in the heads of the busts large enough for someone to fit their shoulders in so that a crane could hoist the busts out of their previous resting place. Once the busts were secured on a truck, they were driven to the farm in Croaker, which attracted attention from other drivers.
“We got a lot of attention,” Hankins said. “Everybody on the interstate was slowing down and taking pictures.”
Seven of the busts were larger than the others, so Hankins said his crew had to operate flagger trucks driving in front and behind the vehicle. Getting the 20,000-pound busts out of the park was a unique operation that Hankins said cost him almost $1,000 per head, though he is now the owner of the collection of busts.
What’s the plan now?
Hankins wants to re-open Presidents Park somewhere in the area. He said he has been researching how to go about doing that, though nothing is concrete at the moment. In addition to securing the busts, Hankins also obtained all of the material that was on display in the park’s building.
“I sure would like somebody to find a place to put them in the area,” Hankins said. “It wouldn’t be like it was before. You could do the area a good service.”
Hankins said the man who originally sculpted the busts is available to resculpt any parts of the busts that were damaged in transport, including the holes in all of their heads. The busts will also need to be re-painted before being displayed again.
The busts are currently arranged in four rows of 11 on Hankins’ farm, occupying almost two acres. When the busts are moved again and set up wherever their future home may be, it will likely cost more to move them, Hankins said.
“When they came to the park the first time each one was in two pieces and they were put together there and welded,” Hankins said. “I took them away in one piece.”
With the removal of the heads, the York County iteration of Presidents Park appears to have come to a close. In September 2012, the lender who financed the project obtained the land in a foreclosure.
