SAVANNAH ― With the turn of a valve, what officials call the “jewel of Savannah” sprung back to life Friday morning.
The Forsyth Park fountain, a landmark of this historic city since 1858, returned to operation after a six-month restoration that included a full dismantlement and removal of the cast-iron structure.
The fountain was reassembled in September, but infrastructure work continued into this month. And just as New York’s Statue of Liberty wouldn’t be the same beacon if Lady Liberty’s torch didn’t glow, the Forsyth Park fountain isn’t a Savannah treasure without the waterworks. Mayor Van Johnson calls it part of the city’s soul.
“Every great city has a great fountain,” said Jay Melder, the Savannah city government’s chief administrator. “The Forsyth fountain is loved the world over, but nowhere more than right here as the centerpiece of our world-class community space.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The $650,000 restoration began in June — after the spring wedding season, when the fountain is a frequent backdrop for nuptials. An Alabama-based restorer, Robinson Iron, took it apart and trucked the pieces to its foundry for a summer of cleaning, repairing and in some cases, recasting of features. Special attention was paid to the robed woman who tops the fountain like a star on a Christmas tree, the herons that decorate the midpoint of the two-tiered pedestal and the water-spitting merman and swans that ring the basin.
The reinstall was a some-assembly-required endeavor — the fountain’s hundreds of pieces bolt together. That’s because Savannah’s city fathers of the 1850s ordered it from a catalog.
According to a 1993 academic paper by a local college’s history department, the Forsyth fountain is a copy of one displayed at the 1851 World’s Fair, the first exhibition of its kind. Following the fair’s close, a New York iron foundry, the Janes, Beebe & Co., marketed the design as the “No. 5” fountain, and sister works still stand in Poughkeepsie, New York; Madison, Indiana; and Cusco, Peru.
Savannah paid $2,200 for the fountain in 1858, equal to almost $87,000 today.
The repair job was the fountain’s first since 1988 — the same iron specialists conducted that job — and was done as a proactive measure. City crews repaired and replaced plumbing and resealed the bowl in the months the fountain pieces spent in Alabama.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Johnson, Savannah’s mayor, led the countdown Friday to the fountain’s reactivation and said he had been looking forward to the day — turning it back on meant turning off criticism he’s received during the restoration process.
“This restoration is meant to ensure the fountain runs effectively and efficiently for many years to come,” Johnson said. “People miss it when its gone. Trust me, I know.”
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