
Decaying in a
field in Croaker rests the
last vestige of the short-lived
York County attraction,
Presidents Park. The
43, 18-foot tall busts of all
but two American presidents
hauntingly sit
shoulder to shoulder, covered
in stains, cracks, and
peeling plaster. No longer
on display, the busts’ current
owner, Howard
Hankins, hopes that
someday they will be
returned to public view.
It all started in the
late 1990’s, when Everette
Newman dreamt of an
open-air museum with
the cause of educating
and honoring presidential
history. He partnered
with Houston-based
sculptor, David Adickes,
to create busts of each
president through George
W. Bush to stand in
Williamsburg. After five
years and $10 million, the
busts were complete.
Before opening, Newman
ran into a large obstacle:
York County. The County
insisted that Newman
never filed for the correct
permit for the 10-acre plot
of land off of Route 199,
stating that the attraction
was an amusement, while
Newman insisted that it
was a museum. While the
legalities raged, the park
remained in limbo and all
but six of the busts
remained on flatbed
trucks.
Once Newman
successfully sued York
County for appropriate
permission, construction
was halted by Hurricane
Isabel and the storm’s
aftermath. In early 2004,
Presidents Park finally
opened. Guests could
peruse a 10,000 square
foot visitors center which
housed replicas of first
lady gowns, an Oval
Office set (which was
once used for "Saturday
Night Live”), and in 2008,
the contents of the once Annapolis-based Presidential Pet Museum.

The museum had
many things working
against it. Many lauded it
as a tacky tourist trap. The
Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, ironically,
condemned it for presenting
"artificial history.” Its
location wasn’t close
enough to the colonial
district to attract drive-by
tourists and was difficult
to find, situated behind a
motel. Newman hoped to
attract more visitors with
the acquisition of the
Presidential Pet Museum
Collection and a replica of
a Boeing 707 fuselage
resembling Air Force One.
But the park
always hurt for attendance
and funds were
limited. In 2007,
Presidents Park was put
up for sale at a price of
$4.5 million but there
were no serious offers.
The museum kept bleeding
from the high cost of
maintenance of the busts.
Without any offers, the
museum was closed on
September 30, 2010.
That is when
Howard Hankins stepped
in. The local contractor
spent $50,000 and a week
to move the busts to his
family farm in Croaker,
however it wasn’t without
damage. The busts
had to be lifted by a crane
and holes were drilled
into the heads of each
statue. They arrived to the
farm with broken noses,
cracks throughout the
statues, and each showing
various levels of wear. For
nearly a decade, the statues
sit away from public
view. Most eerie of the
sights is a large hole in the
back of the head of the
Lincoln statue.
While Hankins
hopes to one day return
the busts to the public,
insisting they could still
be repaired, he has not
had any success in restoring
the attraction. He
denies requests to see the
statues, stating that he
isn’t zoned for tourism.
Until someone
wants to restore this
unique piece of Roadside
Americana, they will lay
in wait, continuing to rot
away in a Virginia field.
Mr. Hankins did
not respond to multiple
requests to participate in this
story.