The big concrete ram statues at the entrance to the lab were put there by the DuPont family back when this was their hunting retreat. The ram, Don Pedro was one of four rams specially imported from England by breeders around the time of the Revolution. One of the others went to Monticello as part of Thomas Jefferson's collection. At the time, and more recently too, the DuPont family had a strong tradition of raising sheep. Don Pedro became a favorite sire of their flock, and was so loved that they had him cast in bronze. Copies of the bronze statue stand at the gates of many of the family's properties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in Delaware. When the property was willed to the state, and the state built the lab, they became our rams. And while we may have disrespected them a little on occasion (see photo), we also considered them our mascot. So I am extremely disappointed to find that some moron thought it would be funny to use his fancy wench to tear them from their columns. One of them was found several miles from here, badly damaged and standing in traffic. The other has not been located.
2 comments:
That's sad. Was the poor things still blue when it was stolen? It seems an odd time for a High School senior prank.
No, the blue paint was from a couple of years ago when a drunken after-party (after the open house) got a little out of control. Since then, there's been orange and yellow, but both of those have been cleaned up too.
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