A Charters of Freedom monument is being considered for the Washington waterfront.

During the City Council’s Feb. 27 meeting, Mayor Mac Hodges said he met with Beaufort County Commissioner Gary Brinn, Ron Lewis and others interested the project to discuss its details. The monument would include replicas of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Lewis, a retired Marine Corps 1^st lieutenant and member of Foundation Forward, a private nonprofit, proposed building the monument at a Beaufort County Board of Commissioners meeting earlier this year.

“It takes a space 10 feet deep by 18 feet wide. There’s four pages of the Constitution in the center. … Then the Declaration and the Bill of Rights on each side as a standalone unit,” Hodges told the council. The proposed site for the monument is at the end of Respess Street, where there are flagpoles and two other monuments.

“But we are agreed that it’s going to go on the waterfront down where the other monuments are?” asked Councilman Doug Mercer.

“That’s where he (Lewis) wanted to put it,” Hodges said.

The waterfront site is best because more people visit the waterfront than some of the other sites considered, such as Havens Gardens or Veterans Memorial Park, Hodges said.

Some of the Charters of Freedom monuments around the nation were built with limestone, granite or brick, Hodges said. The cost of a monument varies based on types of materials used and other factors, according to the mayor.

“They raise their own money so we’re (the city) not looking at any money. We’re just looking to see if council is OK … we’ll put right behind those two (existing monuments). I think that would be a great place to put it,” Hodges said.

Foundation Forward seeks donations from civic organizations, businesses and other sources to raise money for monuments, he added.

City Manager Bobby Roberson reminded the council the proposed site is inside the city’s historic district “and we have to let them (Historic Preservation Commission) buy into it. There might be some other individuals, when it comes to the waterfront, with difference of opinion.”

Roberson suggested the city conduct a public hearing on the proposed project to get input from city residents and others.

At his meeting with the county commissioners, Lewis said the purpose behind the monuments is educational: rather than school-aged children traveling to Washington, D.C., to see the documents, the 3,143 local governments across the U.S. should have access to them at home.

Also included in the monuments are time capsules, the contents of which are determined by the locality, that are to be opened on Sept 17, 2087, the 300^th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.

The county commissioners are expected to make a decision about pursuing the project during March’s regularly scheduled meeting.

News Editor Vail Stewart Rumley contributed to this article.