By Kolby LaMarche

After months of committee review and public contention, the Burlington City Council voted 11-1 last night to reject a donated wooden sculpture meant to replace the long-removed Chief Greylock monument in Battery Park, citing deep concerns over tribal recognition and community division.

The decision brings one phase of a prolonged discussion to a close, but leaves the prominent lakeside spot in the park without a statue representative of Vermont’s native communities. 

For nearly four decades, a towering wooden figure stood watch over Lake Champlain in Battery Park as a local landmark. Hungarian-born sculptor Peter Wolf Toth carved the piece in the early 1980s as part of his Trail of the Whispering Giants series. 

Offered at no initial cost to the city, the sculpture was dedicated in 1984.

Local Abenaki community members at the time named it after Chief Grey Lock, also known as Wawanolewat, the Western Abenaki leader born near the Missisquoi River around 1670. Grey Lock became renowned for his resistance during Dummer’s War in the 1720s. The statue stood for more than 40 years before Vermont’s harsh climate took its toll, with large pieces falling off before its removal. 

By 2024, assessments showed the structure had severe internal rot. The city removed the statue last summer due to public safety concerns, dismantling it in pieces. Only the base now remains.

In response, the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, a state-recognized tribe based in Swanton, offered a replacement. Using funds from a 2022 City Council resolution supporting Indigenous initiatives, the tribe had commissioned Vermont artist Brandon Wilson of Mountainside Sculpture & Design in Jay to create a new wooden piece. 

The sculpture, valued at around $20,000, was offered as a donation. Additional city funds had been discussed for potential installation through public art programs.

The proposal moved through Burlington City Arts processes, with reviews and recommendations in 2025. The Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (REIB) committee, different from the REIB department, ultimately recommended acceptance.

Yet the project became caught in broader disputes over Vermont’s four state-recognized Abenaki tribes. 

Leaders from Abenaki communities at Odanak and Wôlinak in Québec have challenged the legitimacy of the Vermont state-recognized groups, questioning lineage and representation. 

They urged Burlington to reject the Missisquoi-commissioned work and pursue broader consultation.

These concerns surfaced in public testimony throughout the process, in Burlington and Montpelier. 

Burlington Daily News previously reported on the council’s February meeting, where members delayed a vote on accepting the gift. Councilors sought additional public input and referred the matter to the REIB committee amid passionate comments from both supporters and opponents.

By Monday night’s meeting, opposition had grown stronger. Residents speaking during public forum argued that approving the donation would overlook documented descendants of Grey Lock, insert the city into intertribal matters, and potentially honor contested representations of Abenaki heritage.

Council discussion reflected the weight of those concerns, with councilors seeming to be quite uneasy on weighing in. 

Several members, including some who had supported advancing the process earlier, indicated they could no longer back acceptance. They emphasized avoiding harm and pursuing more inclusive dialogue. 

Councilors stressed they were not attempting to rule on tribal legitimacy questions, which extend beyond municipal authority, but rather weighing the suitability of this specific gift for a city-owned park.

Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s administration had supported elements tied to the 2022 Indigenous initiatives resolution, but the council’s vote represents the final local action for now.

The rejected sculpture, already completed, now sits in limbo, likely to be declined. 

The council, nor the mayor, gave any indication of what may come next for the empty statue-base. It is likely, given the climate around the issue, that until the question of legitimacy is resolved, Burlington will not make a move.