Statues:The People They Salute
Overview about my Blog series
Have you ever wandered through a park and come upon a statue and wondered who or what inspired it? Maybe it towers above you. Maybe it can meet your gaze ‒ eyeball to eyeball. Sometimes it is shining gold. Other times it is a dark aged metal. Perhaps it was chiseled from marble or some other stone.
No matter its size or texture, it usually commands my attention. On closer inspection a plaque is usually present. Raised gold lettering on black, or carved recessed lettering often tells about the individual or event that the statue is honoring. These words may cause buried knowledge about the subject to rise, but often the honoree is being met for the first time.
Parks are not the only location for encounters with statues. Town squares, museums and our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. are home to many statues. National Statuary Hall in the Capitol has two statues representing each state. Most of the people these statues honor I know little or nothing about. When I first learned about these statues, I was curious. I wanted to know more about who inspired the statues. Why should we remember these individuals and their accomplishments? I decided to start a series of posts to share what I discover. (Started that 5 years ago now! I’ve written up 70 of the 100 statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection so far…Click the image of National Statuary Hall to link to the Table of Contents for my series.
Click the name to read the post, at the end of the post click Table of Contents to return to the list & read another 😉) I hope I have sparked some curiosity and you will check out what I find.
Table of Contents
Colorado- John “Jack” Swigert Jr.
Connecticut- Jonathan Trumbull
Delaware-John Middleton Clayton
Minnesota- Maria Louisa Sanford
New York- Robert R. Livingston
North Carolina- Zebulon Baird Vance
Pennsylvania- Peter Muhlenberg
Rhode Island- Nathanael Greene
South Carolina- John C. Calhoun
South Dakota- William Henry Harrison Beadle
Washington- Mother Joseph Pariseau
Wisconsin- Robert M. LaFollette
West Virginia- Francis Harrison Pierpont
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VIRGINIA WOMEN’S MONUMENT
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Other Statues
Car of History– one of the oldest sculptures in the US Capitol
Sybil Ludington– a true fearless girl
Edwin Booth– saved President Lincoln’s son
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker- only Woman to receive Medal of Honor
Edgar Allan Poe- Father of the Detective Story and other mysterious writings…
The Statue of Freedom– stands atop the U.S. Capitol
The Statue of Liberty– Lady Liberty’s full name is “Liberty Enlightening the World”
BY GEORGE! He’s Gone… a statue of King George III that stood in Manhattan was pulled down on July 9, 1776
SIGNERS of THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Diana Erbio is a freelance writer and author of “Coming to America: A Girl Struggles to Find her Way in a New World”. Read more in her series Statues: The People They Salute visit The Table of Contents and the Facebook Page. (I’ll be adding the Substack Table of Contents here as I transfer the Blog Posts. Please subscribe to this Substack 😊🇺🇸🤓)
Follow her at X (formerly Twitter) @DianaErbio
Just discovered you via your comments on Tara Ross’s American history posts on FB. I am looking forward to following you here.
It be good to be back with you Diana!