In the late 1980s, sculptor Jim Sardonis created a pair of whale flukes and placed them on the hillside just below I-89’s Exit 4. Sculpted from black African marble, two great whales are about to disappear below the Green Mountains rolling like waves out to the distant horizon.
About two decades ago, the sculpture was sold and moved to South Burlington, surrounded by I-89 and corporate offices.
This photograph recalls a time when those leviathans breathtakingly breached and dove into the heart of the Green Mountains.
Soon, the whales will be seen again at their original site. Sardonis has been commissioned by the Vermont Community Foundation to create an even larger pair in bronze to be installed next spring.