John Paul Jones Park

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• Location: 101st Street between Ft. Hamilton Parkway and Fourth Avenue; Bay Ridge; Southern end of park
• Sculptor: Albino Manca (medallion)
• Architect: Mark Sullivan, Sullivan Group Design LLC (monument and landscape designer)
• Description: Low, crescent-shaped granite wall with bas-relief medallion of Verazzano and inscription
• Materials: Lac du Bonnet granite and bronze
• Cast: Medallion 1964
• Dedicated: October 27, 2004
• Donor: Italian Historic Society of America
• Inscription: Top inscription:
  INSPIRATIO PER EXEMPLUM - INSPIRATION THROUGH EXAMPLE /
  
  Far left section: THIS GARDEN HONORS THE LEGACY OF ITALIAN-AMERICAN / JOHN N. LACORTE (1910-1991) /
  
  Middle left section: JOHN LACORTE CHAMPIONED AWARENESS OF THE POSITIVE / ACHIEVEMENTS OF ITALIANS AND ITALIAN-AMERICANS. HIS EFFORTS / LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (1949), WHOSE MISSION IS TO PERPETUATE THE NAMES OF THOSE OF ITALIAN HERITAGE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE / ADVANCEMENT OF HUMANKIND. /
  
  Middle bottom section: THE VERRAZANO MEDALLION, THE WORK OF ARTIST ALBINO MANCA / (1898-1976), WAS ORIGINALLY COMMISSIONED TO COMMEMORATE THE / 1964 DEDICATION OF THE VERRAZANO-NARROWS BRIDGE, VANDALIZED / AND LOST FOR MANY YEARS, THE RESTORED MEDALLION HAS BEEN / INCORPORATED INTO THIS COMMEMORATIVE GARDEN. /
  
  Middle right section: AMONG THESE INDIVIDUALS WAS GIOVANNI DA VERRAZANO (1480-1528), / THE FIRST EUROPEAN TO SAIL THROUGH THESE NARROWS TO DISCOVER / UPPER NEW YORK BAY AND THE HUDSON RIVER IN 1524, EIGHTY-FIVE / YEARS PRIOR TO HENRY HUDSON'S ARRIVAL. THE DEDICATED EFFORT / OF JOHN LACORTE LED TO THE NAMING OF THIS MAGNIFICENT BRIDGE / AFTER THE GREAT ITALIAN EXPLORER /
  
  Far right section: THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE JOHN LACORTE WAS GUIDED BY THE PRINCIPLE / "INSPIRATIO PER EXEMPLUM," WHICH BECAME THE MOTTO OF THE ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. / JULY 4TH, 2003 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK /