In 1898 a public subscription was undertaken to place a fence around the Maine Memorial Plot at the Key West Cemetery. A set of elaborately sculpted bronze ornaments were placed on the gates leading into the plot.
Within the fenced area, owned by the US Navy, are buried the remains of 27 sailors killed when the battleship Maine exploded and sunk in Havana Harbor in February, 1898.
The Key West Art & Historical Society (KWAHS) has received a $28,400 grant from the Florida Department of State, division of Historical Resources to preserve the valuable historic bronzes. The grant would insure that the magnificently crafted pieces will be placed on public display at the Key West Museum of Art & History at the Custom House.
They will become part of the larger historical exhibit Remember the Maine which will be showing through Jan. 2001.
"Sometime in 1929, in an attempt to disguise their value, the US Navy painted all of the bronzes and they were not discovered until the restoration of the plot in 1997," said Joe Pais, assistant director of KWAHS. "We are working in cooperation with NAS Key West engineers to insure the proper transfer, display and interpretation of the bronzes at our new museum," Pais continued.
Pais noted that the grant activities are a cooperative effort between the State of Florida, the US Navy and the local non-profit historical group. Funds will allow for the creation of hand-made gates that will be exact replicas of those at the Maine Memorial Plot.
The bronzes will be placed on the replicated gates in the "In Memoriam" exhibit area.
"We almost lost these priceless bronzes," said Pais, "but our friends at NAS and in Tallahassee agreed that we should make every effort to preserve them and keep them here in Key West."