‘Precious’ stones being preserved
Prescesky house, on the former Upper Clements Park site, was destroyed March 30
Stone from Prescesky house will be preserved until Annapolis County council can determine what it wants to do with it.
The house, located on the former Upper Clements Park property, burned in a suspicious fire on March 30.
Councillors debated a motion April 18 to authorize staff to clean up the remains of the structure fire. Coun. Michael Gunn said residents want to know what will happen with the stone, with people wanting to purchase some of it.
Coun. Lynn Longmire said she had heard some stone had already been taken from the site.
“These stones are precious,” she said. “This house was a beautiful property at one time. And, I believe in my heart, that we did not do it justice. We didn’t look after it and those stones are the last remaining parts of that property and should be looked after.”
Peter Prescesky built the home in the 1930s. The province purchased the property in 1972. It built Upper Clements Park, which opened in 1989, for $23 million. The municipality purchased the 10-hectare property in 2020 for $600,000 after the theme park closed in 2019.
The house was used for various things while the park was open, including a haunted house.
Municipal staff will determine where to safely store the stones and will report back to council with how much was salvaged. Funding for the cleanup, estimated to be about $24,000, is coming from the operational reserve account.
It cost an estimated $10,000 to have an excavator knock down parts of the structure to allow firefighters better access to put the fire out. The remainder of the structure was demolished for safety reasons.
The building was not insured.