Base set for Bicentennial Monument

The base has been set and yesterday irrigation work was being finished around what will be the county’s newest landmark ‘ the Bicentennial Monument on Court Square.
The monument celebrating 200 years of Warren County history is beginning to take shape. Concrete has been poured for the two sidewalks leading to the monument in what will be a miniature park.
Suspense has been building as the monument’s design has been kept top secret, with only a few officials and Bicentennial Steering Committee members being privy to the theme of the commemorative sculpture.
The look of the monument won’t be revealed, although a crane is scheduled to set the structure on its base outside the courthouse today.
The Bicentennial Monument will be revealed in a grand ceremony for all to see during the county’s bicentennial celebration July 5. In addition to unveiling the monument, a time capsule will be placed in the base with instructions not to open it for 100 years. Items indicative of life in Warren County in 2008 will be placed in the time capsule.
Bicentennial Monument Committee chairman Larry Flatt says installation is coming together and excitement is building.
‘This is the culmination of about six or seven months of hard work,’ Flatt said. ‘And everything so far is of Tennessee origin,’ he said of the monument itself.
‘The rocks came out of local quarries. The marble is coming out of Knoxville out of the quarry up there. And everything that we’re doing here, as far as services and labor, has been donated. There’s whole list of people who have donated their time,’ Flatt added. ‘So we’re very excited.’