What are the dimensions of the sandstone block, which marks the spot
where the original cornerstone stood October 10, 1860 ? If the
sandstone block extends below the ground, be sure to include that
measurement. |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
30 Jul 2005 07:07 PDT
You're probably already familiar with this page on the history of the cornerstone:
http://www.leonidaspolk.org/Sacred%20Cornerstone%201%2024.html
which says, among other things:
"Cornerstone site within Louisiana Circle, as bisected by University
Avenue, is occupied by a memorial substitute sandstone block; unknown
placement date."
I presume this is the block you are referring to. Since not even the
placement date is known, it appears that the history of the block has
been lost, and it would seem likely that its precise dimensions are
not known either.
Can you let us know your thoughts on this, and perhaps a bit of
background on your interest in this topic. It might help spark a clue
in the course of our research.
Thanks,
pafalafa-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
politicalguru-ga
on
30 Jul 2005 09:11 PDT
Dear Hose,
I have found a picture of the stone, from the same site that
Pafalafa-ga has brought:
Google Image for the Cornerstone
<http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.leonidaspolk.org/images/Cornerstone-site-block-039.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.leonidaspolk.org/Sacred%2520Cornerstone%25201%252024.html&h=193&w=300&sz=17&tbnid=izDyYYlFpL0J:&tbnh=193&tbnw=300>
This might be helpful in assessing the dimensions, as there are trees around.
However, if you need exact dimensions, this might be a problem. Have
you already contacted someone at Sewanee?
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Clarification of Question by
hose7-ga
on
01 Aug 2005 05:05 PDT
Yes, I am familiar with the polk site. The placement date of the
sandstone block may not be known, but the literature states that the
sandstone block is taken from the wall which supported the Sacred
Cornerstone, which was made of Tennessee Pink Marble. The literature
says the Cornerstone weighed six tons, and at another place it says
nine tons. Since I am assuming the Cornerstone was no larger than the
sandstone blocks supporting it, and since I know (from Google Answers)
the weight per cubic foot of Tennessee Pink Marble, then, if I can
find the dimensions of the sandstone block, I can establish an upper
limit of weight for the Cornerstone. And, yes, I have asked a Geology
Professor at Sewanee to hire a student to go measure the sandstone
block, but he has not responded.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
01 Aug 2005 05:24 PDT
If you can, please be more specific about the "literature" you have
cited. Knowing the sources you qre referring to would be a big help
in further researching this topic.
Thanks,
paf
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Clarification of Question by
hose7-ga
on
01 Aug 2005 07:57 PDT
I doubt that the literature will help you -- it's full of false
statements -- and it's very rare -- but, here goes: George R.
Fairbanks, in his book "History of the University of the South", H.&
W.B. Drew Co.,1905, page 264: "This cornerstone, a massive block of
Tennessee marble, was laid on a heavy foundation course of blocks of
Sewanee sandstone and overlaid with similiar blocks. The foundation
still remains undisturbed, the writer having caused one of the upper
blocks to be placed there properly marked to designate the spot
'U.S.'.". I take this statement to be true to the fact. Arthur Joseph
Lynch, in his book, "George Rainsford Fairbanks - A Man of Many
Facets",The Shambles Press, Los Altos, California,1999, page65,"They
sang psalms, they offered prayers, and then Bishop Elliott deposited
in the cornerstone (a six-ton block of Tennessee variegated marble) a
Bible," etc.etc. I suggest that you forget about the one source that
says the cornerstone weighed 9 tons -- that was probably a
typographical error. I doubt that it weighed even six tons. Keep in
mind that what I want is the measurement of the sandstone block.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
01 Aug 2005 09:05 PDT
No luck yet on the size, but I did come across a bit of history that
might be of interest:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/elliott39/elliott.html
ADDRESS OF THE
RT. REV. STEPHEN ELLIOTT, D. D.,
TO THE THIRTY-NINTH Annual Convention
OF THE Protestant Episcopal Church,
IN THE DIOCESE OF GEORGIA.
1861
...On Wednesday, October 10, I assisted in the presence of a very
large assemblage of the Bishops, Clergy and Laity of the Church, in
laying the Corner Stone of the main building of the University of the
South. This great enterprise, thus successfully inaugurated, has been
checked for the winter, by the confusion of public affairs, and the
temporary division of the Dioceses which made up the Board of
Trustees; seven of them having seceded and formed "the Confederate
States," while the remaining three adhered to the United States. The
recent action of Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina, all of which
have passed ordinances of secession, will soon re-unite the Ten
Dioceses under one Government. Meanwhile the funds which have been
subscribed are securely invested, bearing, good interest, and ready
for use when the condition of things shall make it prudent to resume
the active work upon the University.
==========
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/protestant/protestant.html
...From Corinth I proceeeed to the chosen site of the "University of
the South," where the Trustees had been summoned to meet for the
two-fold purpose of laying the Corner-Stone of the first and principal
building, and of perfecting and ratifying the Constitution and
Statutes informally adopted at a previous meeting, Both of these
objects, I am thankful to say, were accomplished under the benignant
smile of an overruling Providence. Of the particulars of that day
which witnessed the Laying of the first stone of our magnificent
enterprize, I will not here speak. You may have learned them long
since from almost every public print in our land. This only will I
say, that so long as Learning, and Religion, and Patriotism, and the
Church of God, shall have a place in the hearts of our countrymen, so
long will the 10th of October, 1860, be remembered with a gratitude no
words can express, and which will gather strength with each successive
age. The Constitution and Statutes, as then amended and adopted, are
herewith laid upon your table, to receive, as I trust, the same
measure of approbation from this body individually and collectively
which has been already cheerfully accorded not only by other portions
of our Church, but by the voice of public opinion, and the general
consent of the Learned Educationists, both of our own and of foreign
lands. Nothing now seems wanting to full and speedy success but the
increase of our subscription list so auspiciously begun a year or two
ago. Let me here repeat the confident hope which I have heretofore and
often expressed, that when the Authorized Agents of that noble
enterprize shall present its claims upon the friends of Education and
of the Church in Mississippi, we shall not fall behind the example
which has been set us in our neighboring Dioceses.
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Clarification of Question by
hose7-ga
on
01 Aug 2005 11:28 PDT
All that is interesting, and I have read reams of such. But I was
hoping that some researcher would live near Sewanee, or would know
someone there,and would measure the sandstone block for me. My
question has a serious motive. I have entered the realm of myth, which
I define as a fiction which is given great tenacity because it serves
an important social purpose. I am trying to apply science to the myth.
I doubt that you will find the measurements of the sandstone, because
no one has seen any reason to measure it. I doubt that anyone measured
the Sacred Cornerstone.
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