This design looks awfully familiar, I know that I’ve seen it somewhere before…
DETAILS
- The 351-foot concrete monument at the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site in Fairview, Ky., juts above the cornfields and tobacco barns and can be seen for miles around.
- The Jefferson Davis Monument is the tallest concrete obelisk in the world and was constructed as an unreinforced concrete structure. The Davis obelisk is two-thirds the size of the Washington Monument. The walls are 7 feet 8 Inches thick at the base, 2 feet thick at the top.
- 4th tallest monument to honor an American.
- The monument walls were constructed with a base mix placed in 2-foot lifts with a form-board finish, covered with a 1-inch thick white cement face mix.
- The birthplace monument was conceived in 1907 at a reunion of the Orphan's Brigade of the Confederate Army in Glasgow, Ky.
- In April 1909, the group paid $7,025 for the seven parcels of land that now include the structure and the park. About $150,000 toward the monument construction was raised in the next eight years.
- Construction began in 1917 but stopped for a time during World War I after being deemed unnecessary work during the wartime by a U.S. inspector.
- The dedication was held June 7, 1924, with total cost about $200,000, before installation of the elevator.
- The United Daughters of the Confederacy raised an additional $20,000 and the Kentucky General Assembly then kicked in $15,000 for the elevator construction in the mid-1920s.
- The elevator was dedicated in 1929.
- More recent renovations and restorations have improved the facility and its user-friendliness. A new interpretive museum and visitors center opened in 2001.
- The repair project of the Jefferson Davis monument, has been awarded a 2004 Award of Excellence in the historic category by the International Concrete Repair Institute. Concrete repair materials were placed using form and pour techniques, and were anchored to the original base mix concrete by embedded dowels.
- In addition to the monument, the grounds have picnic facilities, a playground area and two covered pavilions.
HOW TO GET THERE
The Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site is at the intersection of Kentucky Highway 115 and old Highway 68, also called Jefferson Davis Highway.
To get there from Nashville, go west on Interstate 24 to the Oak Grove/Pembroke exit, which is Highway 115, the first exit in Kentucky. Go right for about a dozen miles. You'll pass through Pembroke, and by the time you reach the outskirts of that town, you'll see the monument several miles away.
Park grounds are open year-round. Elevator tours to the top of the monument are scheduled from April 1 to Oct. 31. The visitors center and museum also is open during those months. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tours can be arranged in the off months by contacting park superintendent Mark Doss at 1-270-886-1765.
Inside the visitors center, there is a museum and a video presentation focusing on Davis' life, which included stints as a U.S. senator and secretary of war before the West Point graduate's years as president of the Confederacy.
Tours of the monument and the museum are $4 a person. If a person chooses not to ride the elevator to the top of the monument, the museum cost is just $2. For those under 12, the cost is $2.50 for the whole tour, $1 for just the museum.
Until a recent story in the Daily Press, I had never heard of this Monument before. Kind of an oddity, and a weird parallel to the Washington Monument. Interestingly enough they both completed repairs and face lifts in the last few of years. As road side attractions go, I bet alot of folks go a couple miles out of the way to stop by.
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