War Correspondents Memorial Arch, (sculpture).

War Correspondents Memorial Arch, (sculpture).

Townsend, George Alfred, 1841-1914, designer.

J. W. Fiske Iron Works, founder.

War Correspondents Memorial Arch, (sculpture).

Dedicated Sept. 14, 1896.

Hummelstown purple stone, limestone, terra cotta, zinc.

H. 50 ft. W. 40 ft.

(On a small plaque attached near the base of the Greek youth:) J.W. FISKE MANUFACTURER/26/28/NEW-PARK-PLACE-YORK (On front of monument:) SPEED / HEED (On bronze plaques: names of 157 war correspondents and war artists who described the events of the Civil War) Founder's mark appears.

The monument is a large stone facade consisting of a central arch topped by three small arches, and flanked on one side by a Medieval tower adorned with a large niche containing a zinc figure representing the war correspondent as a Greek youth. The figure, a composite of Pan, Ares, and Hermes, wears a winged helmet, and holds a pan flute in his proper left hand and sword in his proper right hand. Shallow, circular niches around the monument contain busts of Mercury, Electricity, and Poetry, and two horse heads. The large arch in the center of the monument is built of Hummelstown purple stone and the small arches above it are built of limestone from Creek Battlefield, Virginia.

Mythology -- Classical -- Mercury

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Industry

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Poetry

Mythology -- Classical -- Pan

Mythology -- Classical -- Ares

Mythology -- Classical -- Hermes

Animal -- Horse

Outdoor Sculpture -- Maryland -- Burkittsville

Administered by State of Maryland, Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Park Service, Tawes State Office Building, Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Located Gathland State Park, Route 1, Burkittsville, Maryland

The designer of the monument, George Alfred Townsend, erected this monument on his unusual estate at Crampton's Gap near Burkittsville, Maryland as a tribute to his fellow war correspondents. Townsend was the youngest war correspondent of the Civil War, and went on to become one of America's most important journalists and novelists of the Reconstruction Era. Following Townsend's death, his estate became a state park, adopting the name of Gathland from Townsend's pen name, Gath.

The sculpture of the Greek youth was cast by the J. W. Fiske Iron Works. In 1987, the sculpture was broken by vandals, but was restored by the Production Silversmith Shop at Colonial Williamsburg. However, at the time of the March 1993 SOS! survey, the sculpture was temporarily located indoors following conservation. On May 17, 1993, the sculpture was reinstalled in its tower niche, but IAS image files contain photographs taken prior to its reinstallation. For additional information see Mary Gilbert's article in the Herald-Mail, May 25, 1986.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

Maryland Park Service, 1978.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Maryland survey, 1993.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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