Another Martinsville Project

This is what I have been working on lately:

Front view.  The ground will be filled in so that the wall in front is 2 feet high.  Letters spelling Linn Park will be mounted on this wall.

The Rowe Foundry of Martinsville has designed and poured "the World's Largest Anvil" which weighs over 5300 pounds.  It is going to be displayed in the Linn Park.  The Park seemed an especially fitting place to display it since Alexander Linn was the town blacksmith for many years.  The old blacksmith shop had to be removed because it was past repair when the Linn property was given to the City as an addition to the adjoining small city park.

We decided it would be good to combine the anvil display with a display of the park name.  Once this decision was made there have been a plethora of things brought to our attention that must be decided in order for this to happen.

We now have an anvil stand 6 1/2 feet high with a retaining wall 2 feet high.  There is a distance of 15 feet from the stand to the wall on which the letters spelling Linn Park will be mounted.  Flowers will be planted between the wall and stand to add beauty to the area.

The angled part of the base was added this week.  The anvil will be anchored by the 4 bolts which are visible.

This photo shows the area in front of the anvil which will be filled with dirt so flowers can be planted.

After much consideration we have decided to use Dryvet to cover the stand and cultured stone to cover the wall.  Once that decision was made we found that the same person did not do both jobs so we needed two separate installers.  We have decided on a color combination for the Dryvet & stone which coordinates with the color of the Amphitheater, ordered the Dryvet and found someone who can put it on.  We are now in the process of looking for a mason who would have time to install the stone.

I want to talk with a mason before I order the stone because I have a couple of questions.  Will he want some of the area around the wall filled in with dirt first, or would he rather have it all exposed even though we are only covering 2 feet with stone?  Since the fill dirt will probably come within 6 inches of the top will it be all right to leave the back concrete only or should we add stone for the top few inches?    We are leaning to no stone on the back but would like the advice of the mason.  Whether stone is added to the back also determines the size of the cap stones we will need.

Once the wall is covered we need to decide what size, font, material & color the letters for the park name would look best and find someone to install them.  We would also like to add a plaque to the anvil stand, or it could be freestanding, with information on the Linn family and why the anvil was placed there.

We will need 3 or 4 loads of topsoil to level and fill in around the wall so we will have to find the soil somewhere and someone to truck it for us.  Then we need someone to excavate the area when all this is done.

We are doing our best to make sure this new addition to the Park will be beautiful when it's finished.  I will be glad to see how it turns out.