Old Building Stone Recycled for Georgia Fountains

This large granite block is among the stones from an 1880s bank building recycled to anchor East Machen Square in Georgia. We don?EUR??,,????'?????<

The “anchor” of historic Machen Square East in Brunswick, Ga. is 10 tons of granite.

Workers placed three granite blocks, the heaviest weighing about 6,000 pounds, and three capitals that comprise a triangle of three fountains in Machen Square in Georgia. The stones were formerly the bases and the capitals of columns of the First National Bank Building constructed in the 1880s and razed in the 1950s.

The project’s designer, landscape architect Jerry Spencer, told the Marietta Daily Journal three brick walkways will lead to the fountains, which will be paved in an octagonal shape. Grass will sprout between the sidewalk and the fountain, where granite benches and other stones will be laid. About 20 granite stones will be used.

A handful of spectators watched as workers from Port City Pool carefully guided the drilled holes in the stones into place over the PVC water pipes.

Watching the granite blocks threaded into place was certainly a precise undertaking. Any miscue would shatter the PVC, but Al Vicent's Port City did a flawlessly job. Black plaster and tile lining will make the fountain watertight.

The DeLong-Sweet Family Foundation donated $155,000, most of the funding for the project.

Machen Square East should be complete by the end of April. Restoration of Machen Square West will follow.