After destruction of the Georgia Guidestones, there is talk of rebuilding Elbert monument

Two days after the Georgia Guidestones were destroyed by a bomb last Wednesday, a group of Elbert County residents gathered at the crime scene with a backhoe to dig further into the mysterious 42-year-old landmark.

When the Stonehenge-type monument north of Elberton was unveiled in 1980, it was noted that a time capsule was buried 6 feet below the gigantic stone monoliths.

"We dug down about seven feet until we hit compacted Georgia red clay that had never been disturbed — and we found nothing," Chris Kubas, executive vice president of the Elberton Granite Association, said Friday. "We didn't know what we were likely to find anyway." 

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The lack of the time capsule is yet another mystery clouding the Georgia Guidestones, a roadside attraction that had brought thousands of tourists a year to Elberton. The granite sculpture generated publicity over the years in numerous books, television documentaries and social-media hype.

Explosion at Georgia Guidestones

The Guidestones were destroyed in the predawn hours of July 6, when residents heard the thunderous roar created when someone set off a bomb that shattered one of the 19-foot-high, 28-ton blocks of granite. The capstone set atop the monument was also heavily damaged.

Teams with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation bomb unit and U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the type explosive used, but GBI Agent Jesse Maddox said Friday those results have not been released.

The GBI also released a video showing the explosion, along with a silver sedan leaving the scene.

News of the destruction was carried in media sources around the world.

Now that the county's most widely-discussed landmark is gone, there is some talk about rebuilding.

"I've had several granite manufacturers tell me they would be interested in donating resources and materials to rebuild if ultimately that is decided," Kubas said.

"We have not had conversations about that and I'll have to get together with my board of directors next week and talk about how we want to handle it from the granite association side," he said.

Elbert County Board of Commissioners Chairman Lee Vaughn said the board discussed the Guidestones at its July 7 meeting.

Who owned and maintained the granite Guidestones?

Elbert County was gifted the monument many years ago, but Vaughn said he doesn't know why the structure was accepted by the former commissioners.

"It should have stayed in private hands or the granite association," he said.

However, Vaughn said the county will not take on the task of rebuilding the monument.

The Guidestones had sat on five acres of land and there is a clause in the deed that states if the monuments were ever moved, the land would go back to the original landowner, Vaughn said.

He said he didn't believe there would be an issue with the landowner if a group does want to rebuild the monument.

"It was an oddity," Vaughn said, adding it was not a Christian monument nor was it anti-Christian.

After the explosion damaged part of the monument, Vaughn said the GBI asked for permission to bring the remainder down because they wanted to dig into the blast area, but investigators were concerned about the stability of the remaining stones.

He told them to go ahead and push it over.

"I caught a lot of flack for that from citizens," Vaughn said.

Vaughn said he received a phone call from a man in Tennessee who had never visited the Guidestones yet wanted to make a monetary donation for a rebuild.

Vaughn noted the popularity of the Guidestones among visitors and tourists. Some people even held weddings at the place some considered "America's Stonehenge."

The Granite Association, formed in 1951, is expected to discuss the Guidestones as one of its former members, Joe H. Fendley Sr., was instrumental in working with the mysterious man who paid to have the stones cut and erected with its messages for humanity.

"We consider ourselves the largest granite manufacturers in the world," Kubas said. "Elberton probably pumped out about two-thirds of all the headstones in the United States."

As for what the granite companies and tradesmen think about the Guidestones, Kubas said he hopes to find out in coming weeks.

The legend of the Guidestones, according to the site's history, is that a man using the alias of Robert C. Christian proposed and had the monument built with messages for future generations. The man, according to the story, did not live in Georgia but had a great-grandmother who hailed from the state.

The gray granite for the monument came from the Pyramid Quarry just outside Elberton and now under new ownership. The site for the Guidestones was selected on a high ridge along Georgia Highway 77, seven miles from Elberton and eight miles from Hartwell.