Community Corner

Farewell, 'Lava Rock Mountain'

Curious structure at Water Street traffic signal on the Green to be repurposed for flower beds.

For years, drivers cutting past Headquarters Plaza and the 1776 on the Green, either down to Spring Street or up to the Green via Water Street, have been greeted by an unusual artistic installation at the Water Street and Park Place light. 

What was it?

"It was a freaky mountain thing," Kendra Arnold, co-founder of Bike and Walk Morristown said when she noticed on Thursday that "freaky mountain thing," a collection of various odd rocks, was gone .

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Business Administrator Michael Rogers said the piece, unofficially called "Lava Rock Mountain," had been removed by the town in order to conduct sidewalk repairs. 

While Lava Rock Mountain won't be coming back in its previous form, it's not going away completely. Some of its rocks are to be repurposed by Kathleen Margiotta, director of the town's Clean Communities program, for flower beds, Rogers said.

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"It was definitely bizarre," he said, noting he had for a while tried to find out its origins. As far as he could tell, it had been installed there sometime in the 1980s.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Arnold, not much a fan of the structure herself, did wish she had known it was slated to be removed so she could give it a proper sendoff.

"No one will miss it," she said. "But, we didn't get to say goodbye."


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