LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – The City of Lumberton is reviving a project to build a veterans memorial park after it was delayed because of Hurricane Matthew.
City manager Wayne Horne says the park will pay tribute to the men and women who served our country since the beginning, from the Revolutionary War to to the War on Terror. City officials plan to host Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Fourth of July events there in the future, and they hope it will also teach people something new about our country’s history.
“The park itself will hopefully have monuments from different wars. That way, the park will serve as an education tool for schoolchildren who come in and tour it. So if the kids In the county and surrounding areas a come in, they can see the history of the different wars,” said Horne.
Horne says it could be years before the park is finished but preliminary planning discussions are underway.
“County commissioners have approved the city’s lease agreement for the site. We budgeted roughly $100,000 in our current year budget to start the process of developing the infrastructure,” Horne said.
The memorial park will be built on the traffic circle on Water Street. City officials chose the roundabout because of its central location, and they want people passing through town to be able to see it.
Horne says the city is teaming up with the county to evaluate each step of development.
“What we suggested and what our council approved and the county commissioners approved is a joint committee made up of representatives from the county commission and city council to allow evaluate each step as we go through with development of the park in terms of the layout, the type of memorials that will go In there,” he explained.
It’s unknown at this time when construction will begin or when the park will be complete.
