published Atlantic Highlands Herald 8 September 2005

story and photos
by Allan Dean

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — Mt. Mitchill, a 13-acre County Park, sits high atop a peak in Atlantic Highlands overlooking Sandy Hook, the tranquil Raritan Bay, the New York City skyline and the location of the absent towers across the bay. It is from that vantage point that the Monmouth County 9/11 Memorial Monument will greet and inspire visitors to the park.

Walking from the parking area below along a sidewalk displaying a timeline of the tragic events, visitors can see the statue ahead. And they are transcended as they arrive at the statue at the crest of the hill and see the vista beyond and the stark reminder of the vacancy in the New York skyline.

Minervini was putting some final touches on the monument Wednesday. "People have been magnificent," said Mr. Minervini of the folks coming up to him while he worked.

He was etching feather lines on one wing with an air-powered fine chisel.

The eagle has a 9-foot wingspan and will have clutched in its talons a 5-foot long twisted steel I-Beam taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Center Towers salvaged by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's office. The I-Beam will be installed soon. The County is painting the beam, a move the artist says is unnecessary.

Beginning with a 40,000 pound block of unblemished Indiana Limestone, Minervini and two assistants chipped away at the soft stone over the last year - though 9 models - until all that remained was an elegant and fiercefully determined American Eagle weighing 5,000 pounds.

On Tuesday, the eagle was hoisted from the artist's Freehold studio and mounted on its base at Mt. Mitchill in Atlantic Highlands. The base is a table 12 feet in diameter with a 2-foot high chambered edge.

"I looked at the beam. It was an imposing figure. It had to carry, taking this beam up to heaven. I translated that in the eagle," Minervini said.

The light colored stone will not discolor over the years, according to the artist.

The base contains panels with the 147 names of individuals lost from Monmouth County etched into the polished dark stone by town. Their age is also included. Victims who were born in Monmouth County, raised in Monmouth County, or lived in Monmouth County at the time of death are eligible for inclusion on the memorial.

The County 9/11 Memorial includes a sidewalk leading up to the monument. The walkway contains a timeline with the times of the attacks on the towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93.

The monument was funded through contributions, so far totaling $953,392.00, from private individuals, companies, and government grants.

Jim Gray, Monmouth County 9-11 Memorial Committee member who lost a son in the World Trade Center attacks explained on the committee website, “The memorial will obviously have a special place in my and my wife’s heart, and we hope it will for everyone in the county.”

Minervini said that after he had begun carving the eagle, he learned about a legend of a Minnesota native American tribe that would "tie their prayers to the feathers of an eagle to send them to heaven."

"I wanted this to be acceptible to the families, said Mr. Minervini. "Taking the physical reality to the spiritual. There are too many slabs with names on them."

Minervini first picked up a chisel at age 8, under the watchful eye of his grandfather, a stonecutter. He has studied under the famed Bruno Lucchessi and has worked on the National Cathedral.

Minervini's next major project will be a memorial to police officers who died during 9/11 and for others who have died in the line of duty.

Monmouth County will unveil its 9/11 memorial at 2 p.m. on September 11 at Mount Mitchell on Ocean Boulevard in Atlantic Highlands.