Georgia Magazine - August 2022 - 26

NEVER FORGET
★ ★★
Athens trail memorializes 9/11 victims
By Victoria Scharf DeCastro
T
he Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks-on the World Trade Center's
Twin Towers in New York City; the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.; and
the hijacked plane that crashed in an open field near Shanksville,
Penn.-left an indelible impact on America.
For Georgia resident Bob Hart, it was a call to action.
Hart and his wife, Nancy, were scheduled to visit New York City in
October 2001. After the attacks, they weren't sure what to do.
" We decided to go ahead and go on that trip, " Hart says. " It was bizarre
and surreal as we flew in because you could look over where we normally
would see the Twin Towers, and you could still see the smoke rising there a
month afterward. "
The Harts usually traveled to New York every three or four years. They
loved the Broadway shows and the hustle and bustle of the city's busy streets.
But this time they experienced a city they never had seen before.
" There was no honking of horns. People were walking quietly; nobody
was doing the yelling that you hear in New York. We walked by fire stations
and the doors were completely open and folks had been leaving flowers all
over them. People wanted to talk to people. It was strange being there, "
Hart recalls.
On the flight home, Hart told his wife that he wanted to do something to
honor those who had lost their lives.
" I didn't want these folks to be forgotten, " he says. " So, Nancy said: 'OK.
Let's go ahead and do it.' "
Hart expected other, grander memorials to be built to honor the lives
lost on 9/11, but he understood that their planning, design and construction
would take years. He wanted to get something up immediately. He decided
to build a memorial trail on a wooded section of his property in Athens.
Hart thought the project would take a year or more to complete, but,
once the word got out, various members of the community and local artists
volunteered to help.
" We had it up in about six months, " Hart recalls. " It was amazing. "
The result is a trail adorned with various forms of art; several benches
Top: At the trail's entrance, Bob Hart studies the log kept
in the visitor's box that documents all the victims' names
and where they are memorialized on the trail. Above: This
sculpture memorializes those killed at the Pentagon. The
black beams depict the fi ve sides of the building. The 254
rocks represent Sept. 11, the 254th day of the year.
26 Georgia Magazine August 2022
for rest and contemplation; and three sculptures representing New York City,
the Pentagon and the crash site in Pennsylvania. Ninety-nine wooden posts
are placed throughout the trail; each displays the names of 29 or 30 victims.
At the trail's entrance, visitors can search a box to help locate where a
specific victim's name appears on the trail.
There is one exception to the random order of names: Leslie
Whittington of Maryland; her husband, Charles Falkenberg; and their
daughters, Zoe, 8, and Dana, 3, who were killed aboard American Airlines
BOB HART
VICTORIA SCHARF DECASTRO
ISTOCK.COM / IMAGEDEPOTPRO
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Georgia Magazine - August 2022

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