Fountain returns to Franklin cemetery after restoration

Jul. 11—Members of the Ouleout Valley Cemetery board watched as the statue of Venus Rising from the Sea was lowered into place atop a fountain Tuesday morning, July 11.

It's been almost 50 years since the statue last sat atop the fountain in the Franklin cemetery. The statue of Venus was removed in 1974 and placed in storage, Jeff McCormack, project director and cemetery board member, said. It was lost and was found in a closet in a house in Franklin, a previous Daily Star article said.

The fountain was purchased by Erastus Edgerton, an early settler of Franklin, when he also bought his burial monument. The fountain dates back to 1884. The fountain was designed by the J. W. Fiske Co. in New York City. The company created decorative cast iron fountains, urns, statues and more. After J. W. Fiske Co. closed, Robinson Iron Corporation in Alexander City, Alabama, purchased its patterns and restores fountains from towns and cities all over the United States and from Romania, Mexico and Singapore.

The fountain, which had been painted green, was taken down piece by piece. The original fountain had four cast iron urns, two cherubs holding up Venus on the top of the fountain, statues of Hope and Constance sitting in the fountain and four gargoyles around the base of the fountain. The missing urns and the missing gargoyle were replaced and the statues of Hope and Constance were restored. Pieces were cleaned, restored and painted black with an antique wash.

While the fountain was being restored in Alabama, McCormack moved the base of the fountain a little further from the road and installed a new water system. The fountain will recirculate its water instead of pumping it to a pond. The pond has a separate water supply, he said.

Robinson Iron employee Josh Short said the company restores between four and 10 fountains like the one in the cemetery every year.

"We build new ones too," fellow employee Michael Childress said. "These are very rare. They're all over the U.S., but they are very rare. Every one is different."

Childress said it feels good to be able to restore old fountains because they "mean something to people.

"When it means something to someone, it means something to us too." he said.

Helping Childress and Short with the installation was Nate Swartwout of Butts Concrete. Butts Concrete donated the use of a crane and supplied the "four pours" of concrete for the base of the fountain, McCormack said. The first pour, the original base, was completed in September, while the last pours happened within the past two months. The concrete needs to be painted and the fountain needs to be hooked up to the new piping before the fountain itself can be turned on.

Short and Childress, who helped take down the fountain piece-by-piece in February 2022, drove the pieces of the fountain back to Franklin and spent hours Tuesday reinstalling them. Childress said people passing them along the interstate highways would slow down as they passed them to look at the statues.

Most of the fountain is made from cast iron, but the statues are made from zinc, McCormack said.

McCormack said seeing the statue and the fountain come back restored is "unbelievable," and said, "I wasn't sure it would ever happen."

The cemetery association had to raise $75,000 to restore the fountain, a previous article said. The association raised just enough money for the project, he said.

"It's awesome," Ouleout Valley Cemetery Treasurer Sonja Johns said. "It's all thanks to Jeff's hard work. I just collected the money."

Johns said if people would like to donate toward the project or to the cemetery's upkeep, they can make checks out to the Ouleout Valley Cemetery and mail to Ouleout Valley Cemetery, PO Box 62, Franklin, NY 13775.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.