Suwanee to Hold Ceremony for 9/11 Artifact

Two years after arriving in Suwanee, the artifact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York finally will have a permanent site.

A dedication ceremony for the 1,600-pound artifact, dubbed Remembrance, and its display will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Town Center Park, city officials have announced.

The display is the work of Georgia Southern University professor Marc Moulton, who was commissioned by the city to create the base after he was selected through a proposal process.

"I've never done anything quite like this," Moulton said in a city news release. "I hope that it will provide a sense of respect and remembrance for the world-altering events it marks. And for those who weren't born yet, I hope the display offers a little bit of the history of 9/11."

The display will include a 9/11 timeline, with stainless steel letters and numbers embedded into a cement pad, the release said. An inverted conical sculpture, with the Manhattan cityscape cut into it, will stand in the middle of the pad. At night, a light-shadow impression, which offers an aerial view of the cityscape, will be projected onto the pad.

The steel artifact arrived in Suwanee in mid-2011, through coordination with Port Authority of New York officials. Suwanee was responsible only for the shipping cost.

An elaborate ceremony was held in September 2011 in front of City Hall to commemorate the artifact and the 10th anniversary of the attacks. For awhile, the piece was displayed in front of City Hall, but it was in storage while its permanent site was debated.

The 2013 ceremony will be "brief," city officials said.

-- Did you attend the original Remembrance ceremony in Suwanee? What are your memories of 9/11? Tell us in the comments below.