Model of "Reaching through the shadow" memorial planned for Croton Landing Park.
Our village, Croton, is very fortunate to be working with two neighboring communities, Cortlandt and Buchanan, on a permanent site for a remembrance memorial dedicated to 9-11. We obtained a huge, wonderful, twisted, grotesque, and animated beam from the One World Trade Center to use for the memorial.
A thoughtful, short video compiled by the design team offers some insight into the approach we are taking to the site and how to use the fourteen foot long steel beam. The beam weighs one ton and has no single straight edge or plumb sections any more.
My favorite part of the beam–so far–is the marching lines bolt along its top side. The bolts twisted in all directions as the Tower fell. They look like a parade of individuals to me–each as a person looking in a different direction while not conflicting with each other. They alone are a very lively composition. America marching optimistically up a beam.
The Croton Landing park site on the Hudson River is due north from the WTC 9-11 Memorial site–about 35 miles as the crow flies. The location within the park chosen for this memorial is at the northern terminus of the new walking trail that has become very popular for watching sunsets or getting some air. At sea-level just a few feet from the water’s edge at high tide, the memorial site has magnificent views up and down the Hudson. The river is at its widest at this point–almost 3 miles across–in Haverstraw Bay.
A sundial will replace the grassy circle at the northern terminus of the river walk trail. The face of sundial will be paved with cobble stone and inlaid stone hour marks. The steel beam itself will be the ‘arm’ of the sundial, anchored into a large boulder, pointing out the passage of hours and seasons with its own shadow, ever-changing.
The only hurdle now is raising the money to pay for the installation. This community project has really attracted help from folks from all walks of life and from young to old. That coming together may become the most important legacy of remembering 9-11 in this way.
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