By Tim Binnall
The remnants of the now-destroyed Georgia Guidestones have been donated to a local granite museum where they may someday be put on display for the public, though the possibility that the monument itself could be rebuilt remains uncertain. According to a local media report, the Elbert County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to give the massive pile of rubble to the Elberton Granite Association (EGA), which has a museum devoted to the rock that can be found in abundance in the area. The controversial monument was infamously felled earlier this summer by a still-unidentified bomber who blew up one of its pillars.
Remarkably, the decision to donate the Guidestone remnants likely saved them from a rather ignoble fate as EGA official Chris Kubas observed that the board had no desire to keep the materials and "they could’ve just been destroyed and crushed up into gravel and that would’ve been the end of them."Fortunately, the EGA felt that the Guidestones were an iconic symbol of the granite industry and, as such, stepped in to volunteer to be the caretakers of the rubble, some of which they hope to eventually showcase at their museum. As such, the group has now taken possession of the remaining rocks and intend to inventory them to see which pieces could be salvaged for a future display.
That said, the more pressing matter percolating in the small community is whether or not the monument should be rebuilt and, if so, who should bring the Georgia Guidestones back to life. While the site served as a wildly popular tourist attraction in Elberton, it seems that community officials are not to keen on being responsible for reviving them with Board of Commissioners Chairman Lee Vaughn declaring that "the county is not in the monument business." This was echoed by County Administrator Phil Pitts, who told a local TV station that he believes that there is "zero interest" from the board in "an elected body taking a role in rebuilding the Guidestones."
While one might think that the Elberton Granite Association might be up to the task, they have also indicated that they are not interested in spearheading such a project. As such, Vaughn expressed hope that "there is a group that will come together and rebuild and create a foundation to own the Guidestones. The money is there — plenty of offers of donations, both monetarily and work in kind. I think you could get it built at no cost." Although the logistics have yet to be developed, Kubas surmised that the monument will eventually be rebuilt by the community since "it is a huge tourist draw for Elberton" and that "all of a sudden that has dried up — it's gone."