Page 20 - Demo

20 | October 2024
What’s the Story on this Headless Dinosaur Abandoned Beside a Lonely Florida Backroad?
Drivers heading along the backroads in Hernando County, Florida might spot this strange figure on the side of the road.
It’s a large, headless sculpture of a brontosaurus, with its inte- rior exposed to the elements.
But it has a name: “The Lake Lindsey Dinosaur.”
It can be found along Lake Lindsey Road near U.S. Highway 41, though there are no signs or markers nearby to indicate why such a large decoration is just sitting out in the open like this.
However, local lore explains that the sculpture stems back to 1966, when artist August Herwede began its construction.
Herwede was reportedly inspired to build the dinosaur thanks to the Dinoland exhibit at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and he set out to create a statue to scale with the prehistoric bronto- saurus — meaning it would have stretched around 60 feet long and over 30 feet tall. Herwede crafted the beast with a wooden frame and wire-reinforced concrete shell.
“It would be hollow, with access to the inside from a hole in the beast’s belly,” says one source – the Nature Coaster website “He dug a pit to be its swamp home at the curve on State Road 476 and began construction.”
But disaster struck in 1967 while Herwede was building the statue. He fell from the creature’s shoulders, breaking his neck and ultimately dying from the accident.
Herwede was buried in the nearby Lake Lindsay Cemetery, and many of the other small sculptures on his property were sold off. However, his family left the brontosaurus as-is to commem- orate Herwede.
That’s not where the story ends, though.
Nowadays, the dinosaur is owned by Steve Eaton, who lives just up the hill on his 5-acre property.
Eaton’s brother Kevin regularly decks out the statue for the hol- idays, putting up garlands, lights, and other festive decorations. “For fifty years, this dinosaur sat untouched,” says Eaton. “I
thought something should be done with it. It would be nice if someone would finish the front half — if they know how to do that — but I decided to decorate it.”
The statue is reportedly equipped with a security camera, too, helping to safeguard the strange attraction from vandals and looters.
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