2004 - Lady Liberty
I ended up short on time yet again this year, so I went to http://www.spookmaster.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns/pumpkin-carving-patterns-ladyliberty.jpg and got this pattern and carved it in less than an hour just before the first trick-or-treaters arrived. My daughter and wife insisted that I do something more than the basic triangle eye face I was ready to do... they say I have a reputation to uphold. :-) Well, it went over well, and being just days before a presidential election, lady liberty seemed like a good pick.
About the Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the
World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal
neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor,
designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886.
The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France,
is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess
of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking
the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at
her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States:
a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad.
Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician
Édouard René de Laboulaye, who commented in 1865 that any monument
raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of
the French and American peoples. Due to the troubled political
situation in France, work on the statue did not commence until the
early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the
statue and the Americans provide the pedestal and the site.
Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the
statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for
publicity at international expositions. The arm was displayed at the
Centennial Exposition in 1876 and in New York's Madison Square Park
from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the
Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened due to
lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the World started a
drive for donations to complete the project that attracted more than
120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. The
statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, and
assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's
Island. The statue's completion was marked by New York's first
ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by
President Grover Cleveland.
The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board
until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been
maintained by the National Park Service. The statue was closed for
renovation for much of 1938. In the early 1980s, it was found to
have deteriorated to such an extent that a major restoration was
required. While the statue was closed from 1984 to 1986, the torch
and a large part of the internal structure were replaced. After the
September 11 attacks in 2001, it was closed for reasons of safety
and security; the pedestal reopened in 2004 and the statue in 2009,
with limits on the number of visitors allowed to ascend to the
crown. The statue, including the pedestal and base, is closed until
October 28, 2012, so that a secondary staircase and other safety
features can be installed; Liberty Island remains open. Public
access to the balcony surrounding the torch has been barred for
safety reasons since 1916.
