he replica of Mark Twain's study, built by volunteers over the 2009/10 winter months at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in Big Flats, was transported to its permanent home at the miniature golf course at Eldridge Park in time to occupy its place of prominence for opening day (2010 Memorial Day Week-end).

The new study was created using the structure's original blueprints that were loaned to the Eldridge Park Preservation Society by Elmira College, said Bob Lyon, an Elmira dentist who is also the EPCPS (Eldridge Park Carousel Preservation Society) president and spearheads the drive to restore Eldridge Park.

Included in the overall design of the study are many of the decorative items of the original. The eight-sided study is a replica of how the building appeared in 1874, Lyon said, and will feature the original twin-chimney design that was changed in 1875 to the design now seen on the building at its Elmira College location.

The Dalrymple Contracting Co. moved the real Mark Twain study from its original location on Quarry Farm to the Elmira College campus in 1952, and was also on hand to make possible the tranportation of the the study's replica from Big Flats to Eldridge. The EPCPS has plans for the replica to play a key role in the day-to-day goings on at the park including the possibility of being the ticket booth for their 18-hole golf course located nearby the Eldridge Park Carousel.

The miniature course has other features that make it a one-of-a-kind attraction. Lyon said the concrete poured for the holes and the platform for the waterfall make up only a small portion of the course's layout of multiple waterfalls and ponds. When all is said and done, there will be over 200 cubic yards of concrete, 2,200 cubic yards of fill and more than 600 tons of rock.

Transferring the replica of Mark Twain's study from Big Flats to the park hit some snags, but all ended as planned. The process started around 7:30 a.m. one Wednesday in May when a crane lifted the replica onto its transport truck. From there and accompanied by an entourage that included vehicles from the New York State Police, the Chemung County Sheriff's Office, two bucket trucks to move any power lines that might be in the way, two escort vehicles, a tire company truck to deflate the tires in case the flatbed carrying the study needed to get under any elevated railroad tracks, an antique 1951 Chevy, a motorcycle and an EPCPS vehicle.

The procession was halted briefly, Lyon said, when it was discovered the original route contained too many obstructions -- including low-hanging tree branches, tight turns and narrow streets. The final route took the procession down West Water Street to Hoffman Street and then West Church Street. From Church Street, the vehicles turned onto Euclid Avenue to West Washington Avenue.

Then, they traveled down West Washington to the Clemens Center Parkway and up to Eldridge Park, where a second crane waited to lift the study off the flatbed truck and placed it square in the middle of the miniature golf course at Eldridge.

* based on an EPCPS press release to the Elmira Star-Gazette