WOODSTOCK - A 14-foot metal sculpture of a hand-crank telephone will be unveiled on the common Monday morning, marking 25 years since the last call was made on the privately owned Bryant Pond Telephone Co.'s old system.

The village of Bryant Pond on Route 26 was the last in the nation to use the hand-crank system, which was owned and operated by Elden and Barbara Hathaway from their home. Their daughters, Susan Glines and Linda Stowell, will share their remembrances at the unveiling at 10 a.m. at Remembrance Park on Route 26.

The sculpture was made by Gil Whitman, 81, of Woodstock, a cousin of Elden Hathaway. Whitman's family was the fourth to settle in the town, after the Bryants.

Crafted of black steel, the candlestick-style telephone weighs 1½ tons. Whitman has devoted the past six months to designing it to the scale of one inch equal to a foot and fabricating the pieces. T.W. Dick of Gardiner put it together. It cost about $25,000.

"I'm very happy to have participated in it. It represents the end of an era," said Whitman, who will turn 82 next week.

A lifelong professional sculptor, Whitman has works displayed all over the country, including a 20-foot-tall hockey player cast in steel for the Philadelphia Flyers' team.

Monday's dedication will serve as a kickoff to garner pledges and donations to finish paying for the sculpture. The park committee is also planning to build a fieldstone wall around the common that will seat 100 people, and eventually, a gazebo. A new flag pole is already at the site.

At 11 a.m. Monday, a 100th birthday party for the Whitman Memorial Library will begin just down Route 26. Whitman's great-uncle built and donated the building. On the lawn is an 8-foot-tall, bright yellow and black tiger swallowtail butterfly weighing about 1,000 pounds that Whitman created and donated five years ago.

Children and their parents, as well as community members, are invited to take part in games, music and other activities.