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Planning Efforts for Charters of Freedom Monument in Avery County Currently Underway

On April 16, 2015, the Avery County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to accept a Charters of Freedom Monument for its citizens. Planning efforts are currently underway between the Board and Foundation Forward, Inc.

Foundation Forward, Inc. is a Morganton-based non-profit organization that works to gift and install monuments that display the Declaration of Independence, the U.S Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as they are displayed in the rotunda of the National Archives building in Washington D.C. The documents to be displayed in Avery County are ¼” etched bronze with each document weighing over 60 lbs. The documents in the replica monuments are etched in bronze and encased in granite structures built to last 300-500 years.

“Foundation Forward works to provide access to the Charters of Freedom as an educational initiative,” states Vance Patterson, a businessman who – along with his wife Mary Jo – established Foundation Forward in order to bring the documents closer to students and citizens who may not have the opportunity or means to visit the originals in person.

Three North Carolina monuments have been placed in Burke, Cherokee, and Buncombe Counties, as well as one in both Illinois and Indiana. More North Carolina county monuments have been approved, as well as others in New York and South Carolina.

For more information, or for media statements, please contact Foundation Forward, Inc. by phone or email. More information about Foundation Forward, Inc. can be found at www.chartersoffreedom.com.