Presidents Park's term may be up as site goes on market

WILLIAMSBURG

The presidents are in peril.

You might know them better as The Big Heads – 42 colossal busts of the nation’s leaders that make up a quirky roadside attraction near Water Country USA.

In the eight years the 20-foot -tall presidents have been around, they haven’t gotten much respect: They’ve been booted out of town. Barely survived a zoning battle. Stood stoically as they became the butt of jokes. Quietly waited for company as the heat and cold cracked their brows and peeled their paint.

Now, the giants of history are up against the giant of retail.

Everette H. Newman III, a Williamsburg developer who ignored cries of “tacky” to become the driving force behind Presidents Park, said his investors are in negotiations with Wal-Mart to sell the 10-acre property.

A group from North Carolina bankrolls the attraction. Ticket sales are finally up, Newman said, but one of the investors has died and the heirs want to cash in.

Newman, who runs the day-to-day operation, said he hopes the deal doesn’t go through. At the age of 70 , he’s been in on plenty of projects – including the start-up of Water Country. But “this one means more to me than the others,” he said. “I really do believe the park is a noble cause.”

Still: “My first obligation is to my investors. I need to make them happy. And if selling makes them happy and me unhappy, I’ll sell.”

A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said she isn’t aware of any talks with Presidents Park. Just across the road from the attraction, earth movers are carving out land for the Marquis Shopping Center, home to a new Target, Kohl’s, JCPenney and the like. Towering white heads make for an odd neighbor.

“I haven’t seen a signed contract,” Newman said, “but the property is definitely for sale.”

It went on the market over a year ago for the asking price of $4.5 million. No one knows what will happen to the presidents if it sells.

Demand is likely to be limited. At 10 times the circumference of a real commander-in-chief, the busts aren’t exactly lawn ornaments.

And then there’s the price tag: The Big Heads have been appraised at $100,000 each.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Presidents Park was hatched in Texas. Native son David Adickes, best known for sculpting oversize statues – including a 67-foot-tall Sam Houston – decided he wanted to carve the country’s presidents. All of them. He began at age 68; five years later, he was done.

Adickes, now 80, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. In 2000, he told The New York Times that he was inspired by a visit to Mount Rushmore. Size did matter.

“You’ve got to have that 'wow factor,’ ” he said, “or no one is going to come see it.”

Working from photos, paintings and etchings, Adickes sculpted each president from clay, then formed molds. The final product is cast concrete over a steel framework. Each bust stands 16 to 18 feet tall – plus pedestal – and weighs 7,500 pounds.

Adickes made two presidential sets, then looked for a place to display them. One set wound up on 53 acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Blessed with more elbow room, that Presidents Park offers hiking and snowmobile rentals, and is a hit with the RV crowd.

Last year, it made the final cover of Life magazine, a feature devoted to “America’s Hidden Treasures: 21 places you’ve got to see to believe.”

The reception hasn’t been as warm in Virginia, the Mother of Presidents. In March 2000, the first six heads rolled east, only to be met with an injunction from York County officials, in whose territory the park officially lies.

Zoning folks said Newman hadn’t secured the proper permits. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation condemned the whole concept as “artificial history.” Williamsburg leaders pronounced it “not the type of tourist attraction which enhances our region.”

Thomas Jefferson, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover and Martin Van Buren were caught in the crosshairs. The press picked up the story worldwide.

York County supervisor Tom Shepperd, who was not in office back then, learned of the presidents’ predicament while traveling in Korea.

“It was reported by a Japanese newspaper,” Shepperd said. “It turned out to be kind of a circus. To me, it was an embarrassment.”

Newman, desperate to get the busts off the flatbeds, trucked them through the tunnel to the Norfolk Botanical Garden, where they were welcomed as a temporary display.

“Of course, a lot of the people saw it as a big eyesore in the middle of the garden,” said spokeswoman Amy Dagnall, “but kids absolutely loved it, and the parents loved it because the kids loved it.

“They were humongous, though. I remember standing there next to them and it was just like, 'Wow. I’m looking right up this president’s nose …’ ”

Newman filed a lawsuit against York County and won – an outcome that brought the presidents back across the water and sent the county administrator running for a job opening in Portsmouth.

The park opened quietly four years ago. Since then, it has struggled for visitors. Somewhere along the way, it was nicknamed “Mount Rushmore East.” It has been described as “a strange American version of Easter Island.”

Sitting just off the shoulder of Route 199, the massive statues do startle. Trees that once screened them were lost to storms. Now, drivers drop their jaws as gleaming heads materialize from nowhere.

Admission runs $11.75. Normally, it’s a few bucks more, but several of the park’s exhibits have gone on the road. Newman leases a package that includes reproductions of an Air Force One fuselage and a handful of first ladies’ gowns, plus an Oval Office set once used on Saturday Night Live. All were dispatched to the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Genuine artifacts are in short supply.

Upstairs in the visitors center, a pet museum offers a couple of original images of executive dogs, cats and horses. Downstairs, a glass case proudly displays a tarnished bell, worn by the last milk cow to graze on the White House lawn.

The presidents wait out back, placed chronologically just a few feet apart along a circular path – like a super-sized putt-putt golf course without the holes.

It doesn’t take long for reverence to settle in. Signs tell tales of leadership, sacrifice and devotion. Wind whispers through the pines. Piped-in patriotic music sets the mood and covers the hum of nearby traffic. Visitors lower their voices.

Hector De La Paz, a tourist from Chicago, stood in front of John Quincy Adams earlier this week, staring up at the sixth president’s solemn gaze and bushy sideburns.

“There’s just something about the size of them,” De La Paz said. “It gives you a feeling you can’t get anywhere else.”

He didn’t seem to notice that Adams’ lips were peeling. Maintenance on the statues is never-ending.

Condensation is the biggest enemy, causing paint to bulge and blister. Vents are being installed to release moisture. Holes are being cut in the top of each presidential head.

Newman said he’s carrying on as if Presidents Park will last forever, despite the fact that his investors grow impatient for returns. He said the attraction is just now finding its footing.

“We’re paying part of our mortgage payment now,” Newman said. “A couple of years ago, we didn’t pay any of it.”

If Wal-Mart walks away from the table, Newman hopes to turn the place into a non-profit museum.

The status could bring grants and help draw more school groups.

Come November, the presidents must make room for a newcomer. If Adickes isn’t up to the task of carving an Obama or McCain, Newman plans to put the job out for bid.

“This place grows on you,” he said. “I’ve always been a history buff, but I never knew much about the presidents. Now, I find myself increasingly fascinated by the men behind these statues.”

Resting on a bench after making the rounds, Shirley Poe of Swartz Creek, Mich., said The Big Heads stirred her pride:

“I almost felt like I should salute every one.”

Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com