ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The Confederate monument in downtown St. Augustine is being taken down.
Wednesday morning, crews were working to ensure the obelisk was steady enough to be brought to the ground. The full memorial will be moved later this week, according to crews on site.
Crews were on the memorial around 6 a.m., getting it strapped up to lift it 1 inch. They kept it lifted for 10 minutes to make sure it was stable before before bringing it to the ground carefully.
The City of St. Augustine hired a company to move the nearly 150-year-old memorial to the Trout Creek Fish Camp about 20 miles away, where there will be a park built for it.
"We’ll have to take it apart, move it in two pieces," said Jeremy Patterson of Progressive Construction. "And then we’ll mortar it back together. When we’re done, you’ll never know the thing was ever moved."
The city commission voted 3 to 2 in June to remove the monument from Downtown St. Augustine. It has had fencing around the area, with the base boarded up ever since.
The site has also seen a good deal of protesters gathering to demonstrate against its removal, with some people wearing and waving Confederate flags.
A lawsuit filed to prevent the removal was dismissed earlier this month.