The rams that graced the brick entry pillars of the Horn Point Laboratory for more than 50 years will return on October 1, thanks to the diligence of local law enforcement, assistance from the DuPont family, support from the local community and the handiwork of an Easton craftsman.
In September 2009, the two 450-pound, concrete ram statues were stolen from the laboratory and subsequently destroyed. Now, a little more than a year later, they have been recreated and restored to their perch thanks to members of the duPont family and the remarkable skills and hours of work of Easton craftsman John Schroeder.
“The theft of the rams was a shock and great loss to the Horn Point Laboratory community. From the day it happened, there was unanimous determination that their restoration was the only imaginable option. We just did not know how it would happen,” said Laboratory Director Mike Roman.
Thanks to the duPont family who employed a sculptor, the remnants of one ram were assembled into a new replica with the missing parts recreated from photos. This fragile replica was the starting point for Schroeder’s recreation of the new rams.
Schroeder first learned the skills needed to recreate the rams from his father an engineer, artist, boat builder and pioneer of fiberglass molds. Along with his father and brother, Schroeder worked at the Franklin Mint in Chad’s Ford, Penn. casting coins, plates and other products from custom molds. From this early exposure to the craft, Schroeder, went on to develop a wide range of entrepreneurial, artistic and engineering skills through diverse life experiences including running a construction company in the Caribbean, boat building, and earning Coast Guard Master certification to captain 100 ton vessels.
For the last 30 years, Schroeder has earned his living on the Eastern Shore, owning a foreign sports car restoration shop in St. Michaels, delivering yachts world-wide and managing his own painting business, JPS Contracting. His clients have engaged him to paint everything from cottages, estates, yachts, planes and even the bridge and lighthouse at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
Upon hearing the news of the stolen rams, Schroeder contacted Roman and offered his skills to create a mold and cast two new concrete rams. The process, which to completion took more than 100 hours, began with layering an inch of clay, purchased in 100-pound blocks, over the entire reconstructed ram sculpture to create a skin. Fiberglass was laid over the clay in seven separate pieces that became the outside hard case for the mold. The clay was then removed creating a void into which liquid rubber was poured, that when hardened, became the actual mold for the concrete pour for each new ram. The final results will grace the entrance to Horn Point Laboratory, looking as if they had never left.
