George Mason Memorial George Mason (1725-1792), author of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He refused to sign the Constitution because of the absence of a Bill of Rights and a disagreement over the issue of standing armies. The memorial was funded through an effort by the Board of Regents of Gunston Hall, Mason's home in Fairfax, Virginia, which now operates as a museum. The site of the memorial was home to a garden called the Pansy Garden in the 1920s. The memorial was approved in 1990, but groundbreaking did not take place until 2000. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Faye+B.+Harwell">Faye B. Harwell</a> <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Wendy+M.+Ross">Wendy M. Ross</a> National Park Service. <a href="http://www.nps.gov/gemm/index.htm">View original</a>. 4/09/2002 (Dedicated) <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2000-present">2000-present</a>