A 2012 visit to the National Archives for Vance Patterson and his wife Mary Jo led the couple on a 15-year quest to help educated Americans about freedom. The couple was overwhelmed when they saw the actual documents handled and signed by the founders.
“Seeing the words ‘We The People’ put tears in Mary Jo’s eyes, and maybe mine too,” Patterson said.
Life-size, permanent copies of the documents were unveiled at a star-spangled ceremony Thursday in the Monument Park at the Columbus County Courthouse. The display was the 77th erected by the Patterson’s non-profit, Foundations Forward.
The original Charters of Freedom – the declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights – are displayed in the Archives. Patterson owns a metal working business, and with his wife set out to bring the charters to their hometown of Morganton.
“Our goal is to have these available in every community in the country,” Patterson explained, “so parents and their children can see the documents without having to go to Washington, D.C. Not everybody can make that trip, but everyone needs to know the foundations of our country’s freedom.”
Two years after their first trip to the Archives, the first charters outside of the archives debuted in Morganton. Getting the dimensions of the documents was an adventure, Patterson said.
“They don’t exactly let you go in and measure them,” he said, laughing.
The couple instead restored to unconventional ways to get the sizes right – Patterson stepped off the width and depth, while Mrs. Patterson took notes.
Later, Patterson said they added the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, along with the 19th, which gave women the right to vote, and the 24th Amendment, which eliminated the poll tax and further opened voting to minorities. Patterson hired a nationally-known calligraphy expert to create the plaque holding the later amendments, so they would fit with the facsimiles of the original documents.
Patterson said the Charters should not be called a memorial or monument.
“We want these to be blue sky classrooms,” he said, “where anyone can see and read what the founders envisioned.”
The park is in a greenspace beside the former courthouse branch of Truist Bank. The county acquired the property when it purchased several former BB&T locations. The bank building itself now houses county offices.
During the renovation of the original courthouse, several of the monuments and markers were moved to the corner lot, which had been overflow parking for the bank. County Manager Eddie Madden said the county had to mow and maintain the property regardless, and the location was a natural for the markers that were displaced by the courthouse project.
The event hosted a large crowd of elected officials and dignitaries, including Ret. Rear Admiral Benny Suggs, the Crusoe native who retired from Harley-Davidson Motorcycles to work at N.C. State University. Representatives of local garden clubs, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans Association and Veterans Memorial Park were also in attendance.
The park is located at 107 Jefferson St., Whiteville, and is open daily. The space is handicapped accessible and parking is available onsite.
