Members from the Long County Historic Preservation Committee, Long County Garden Club and Long County Beautification Committee recently met to decide how a memorial walk and wall would be reconstructed at the Ludowici Garden and Well Pavilion.
According to information from the groups, a contractor was hired several years ago to build a brick walkway and wall at the site. A small grant was obtained for the project, and memorial bricks were sold to help fund it. The group said that none of them could definitely say why the project wasn’t completed by the contractor, but they agreed that many of the bricks that were purchased now are damaged.
Lisa Overbey, who works with the Long County 4-H Club and is a Garden Club member, said that the 4-H Club began taking care of the area several years ago because no one was maintaining it. Students cared for it for three years until the Garden Club was approved to assume the care. She said that in March 2011, the Long County Commission agreed to purchase necessary bricks for the repair of the project, but none have been bought.
Price Chapman of the Historic Preservation Committee said the committee was approached about completing the project. He said that after looking into the matter, they discovered that many bricks, including the memorial bricks, were damaged and could not be
used.
Chapman said that he was told that funds in the Garden Club were available, so he approached Overbey about accessing them to begin work on the project. She said that because the club is not active, she could not disperse any of the money.
Ludowici Mayor James Fuller, who attended the meeting, said he and the city council have taken several steps over the past three years to clean up the city. He said that the project needs to be completed and that the city will continue to maintain it as it has been doing.  
“New businesses like McDonald’s and Flash Foods are coming to the city, and we need to continue to clean it up to draw more businesses,” Fuller said.
Long County Commission Chairman Robert Long, who also was at the meeting, said all vested parties need to come together and work on the project.
The parties will meet again at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Long County Extension Office. The meeting will be open to the public. They said that at this meeting, a committee will be picked to look at the project, determine how many current bricks need to be replaced, have a cost to replace the bricks and determine an estimate to finish the work.