Hello Savannah, Goodbye Fountain
Written by Ananya Panchal. Graphics by Ananya Panchal and Jacob Weston
The absence of the Forsyth Fountain cast a shadow over the bright, sunny, steaming summers of Georgia. She was plucked out one June Monday, dismantled, packed and shipped to Alabama for a restoration, one that experts say was long overdue.
The last time the Forsyth Fountain got its touch-up was in 1988. Since then many problems needed to be addressed. Her disappearance shocked the people of Savannah, because it didn’t seem like there was anything wrong. The case of the Forsyth Fountain was that it was kind of like a Monet. In the words of Cher: “From far away, it’s okay. But up close, it’s a big ol’ mess.” In fact, close to her removal, many still continued to take their graduation and marriage photos with the beloved monument. You really couldn’t tell that anything was wrong.
However, coverage of her restoration reveals details of her scars and blemishes. First, the Forsyth Fountain was not just a work of iron, but a mishmash of bronze, aluminum and iron, a “Frankenstein fountain.” The mix of these materials needed to be cleaned and repaired from decades of rust and dirt. Second, she was completely held together through bolts. At the time she was made (somewhere in the 19th century), welding was not common practice. Thus the whole structure, details and all, is completely held together through nuts and bolts, adding another layer of the fountain that needed to be dismantled and deeply cleaned.
A lot of the reason these issues went unnoticed to residents of Savannah is because the fountain was covered in several coats of paint. The bright, white, matte paint that is associated with the fountain played a major part in hiding underlying issues in the structure, but also took away some of the intricate details of craftsmanship that gave the fountain her beauty. Thus, a major part of the restoration also included scraping off some of those excess layers of paint, and giving the fountain the paint job she deserves.
Lastly, a more noticeable issue was her plumbing. The fountain was just not sprouting water with the same gusto across all its nozzles. The fountain had merman figures placed around its central stem that gave off water, but the water shoot with these structures was inconsistent, and sometimes completely absent. However, as of Sept. 15, the fountain is back, all fixed and right to shine. And just in time for the new school year.
The Forsyth Fountain is pretty much synonymous with the idea of Savannah. A simple Google search of the city will reveal hundreds of pictures of the beloved fountain. It adorns nearly every tourist publication, website and poster advertising the city. It’s kind of a big deal.
It brings the people of Savannah, and many tourists, together. In the midst of busy lives and schedules, she has come to be a structure you can rely on. Month by month, year by year, her presence is a reassurance of what is to come, despite the occasional restoration. She has come a long way, sprouting water since 1858. Savannah just would not be the same without her. And we are so happy to have her back.
