Displays of public art in the NC Veterans Park take visitors on a veteran’s journey: life before, during, and after service. The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County is honored and excited to have led the public art project, a beautiful and meaningful acknowledgement of North Carolina’s veterans and their service to our nation, by coordinating with all 100 counties in North Carolina.

One facet of the tribute to our state’s veterans consists of a wall bearing the bronzecast right hands of veterans from every North Carolina county. These hands are identified with the county’s name and represent all veterans from the prospective county – past and present, women and men, living and deceased, from every branch of service.

In order to demonstrate the community’s support for our veterans, each of the state’s 100 counties also chose four additional people whose handcastings are displayed on columns in the park. The names of individuals are not incorporated on the walls or columns because each is intended to represent all veterans and supporters in each county. However, their names are archived in the visitors center of the park.

A third major public art component is a sculpture garden in the Service Plaza. This plaza signifies a Veteran’s life during service; the sculpture garden within is titled "if these walls could talk." Salvaged decommissioned military artifacts are incorporated into the design the sculptures. The salvaged artifacts serve as symbols of the objects "witnessing" events relevant to the lives of veterans during service. Each of the sculptures use one of the following touchstone words as inspiration for their conceptual sculpture design:

Commitment
Courage
Dedication
Heroism
Sacrifice
Service
Strength

These extraordinary public art components truly establish the park as a place for reflection, rebirth and healing.