After Years Of Planning, Renovation Of Veterans Memorial Park Begins

ORLEANS – Veterans Memorial Park as it has been known for decades is gone. The monuments inside the downtown park have been removed, while last week excavator operators were busy regrading and removing soil.

The ongoing work marks the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one. After years of planning and discussion, ground has officially been broken on a renovation of the park that will improve accessibility and more fully honor veterans of America’s past and future conflicts.

Plans call for a fully accessible park with newly paved walkways and brick circles and other memorial areas, as well as new benches, landscaping and upgrades to the park’s existing monuments. Separate monuments will honor veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, while space will also be dedicated for a new boulder and plaque to commemorate veterans of the Civil War.

“I was happy to have helped this long overdue project move forward to honor important members of our community,” Town Manager Kim Newman said Monday. “Orleans should be very proud of this beautiful park and I look forward to seeing its transformation.”

For Kevin Higgins and his fellow members on the town’s Veterans and Memorial Day committee, the effort to bring about the park renovation has been a labor of love. During a ceremony in the park in 2016, Higgins noticed a local veteran observing the proceedings from outside because it wasn’t accessible to people with disabilities. So began the effort to redesign the park, which received the public support of the select board in 2020.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Higgins, who chairs the committee.

The restoration, which was designed by David Hawk of Hawk Design, was held up due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the committee continued to chip away at the project, which is being funded in part through a total of $277,500 in grants awarded in recent years through the Community Preservation Act.

“We talked about it for so long,” Higgins said. “So many people have come back to me saying ‘The money was allocated back in 2022. What’s taken so long?’ But there’s a process.”
Construction on the park is being carried out by GFM Enterprises of South Dennis. After the site is excavated, hardscape work will be done to accommodate the circles and walkways planned for the park’s interior. Foundations will be poured for the monuments, while drainage, electrical and irrigation work will also be done.

Working alongside the committee has been Veterans Memorial Park at Academy Place, Inc., the nonprofit group that has been raising funds for the project through the sale of memorial bricks.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Brian Sosner, the nonprofit’s president.

Sosner said the bricks that have been sold to date are expected to be set in a brick circle on the north side of the park. The deadline for purchasing a brick for the circle is coming up in early May, but memorial bricks will continue to be sold for placement in other dedicated areas of the park going forward. The bricks are layed in such a way that they can easily be substituted for future memorial bricks, he said. Meanwhile, donations will continue to be received for memorial bricks to honor Korea and Vietnam veterans, as well as those in the Global War on Terror.

Higgins said the start of work in the park has already led to some renewed interest in purchasing the bricks.

“It was hard for them to raise money for something that didn’t seem like it was happening. But I can attest, my phone has been blowing up lately with people saying ‘Is it too late to get a brick?’” he said.

Advocates were initially looking at a potential early June timeline for getting the bulk of the work completed, with the repointing and resetting of memorials to be done later in the year. But with Memorial Day just weeks away, Higgins said the committee isn’t about to force anything.

“We want to do it right, because we don’t want to come back before the townspeople in 15 years saying ‘Oh, we need to do this because corners were cut.’”

“It’s a lot of moving parts,” said Jen Morris, owner of GFM Enterprises. “There’s other entities that have to come in as well besides just us.”

But come November, Higgins said he expects the park will be ready to host its first Veterans Day ceremony, which he said will likely feature recognition of the new park.

“I can’t be more happy that the town has put their efforts into moving this park forward and honoring the veterans,” Higgins said.

For more information on the park or to purchase a memorial brick, visit www.vetsparkacademyplace.org.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com