MYSTERY PHOTO: Dilapidated structure asks for its location 

Today’s Mystery Photo has seen better days. Tell us what you can find out about this Mystery, and send your information to elliott@brack.net, including your home town. 

That different Mystery Photo in the last edition was the Awakening Sculpture in  Oxon Hill, Maryland.  A similar setting is in Fort Washington, Maryland, George Graf of Palmyra, Va. tells us. The photo came from Cindy Evans of Duluth. 

George A. Duffin of Cumming also wrote: “Having been born and raised in Washington, D.C, I am very familiar and fond of the statue called ‘The Awakening.’ The original location was Hains Point, an East Potomac Park and popular spot for locals at the time.  Years ago, the park flooded and ‘The Awakening’ looked more like a man drowning. Thank you so much for sharing this little known treasure with Georgians.”

Also recognizing the photo was Andrew Phucas, Buford; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex.  Peel writes; “The right arm and head of a large sculpture, is buried in the sand along the waterfront park in front of the Plaza Stage in  Oxon Hill.  Called ‘The Awakening,’ the complete structure is made up of 5-parts (a knee, an arm, a hand, a foot, and a head) which depicts a 100-foot-long statue of a giant awakening and struggling to raise himself out of the ground. Created by J. Seward Johnson in 1980, the artwork was originally installed at Hains Point in Washington, D.C. before being moved to its current location at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill.

“The sculpture depicted in the mystery photo is not the only casting that Johnson has created. A second casting of The Awakening was installed in 2009 in Chesterfield, Missouri and a third one was installed in 2014 at the Grounds for Sculpture, a museum, sculpture garden and arboretum in Hamilton, N.J.”

Share