I first met Jerry, known locally as “The Dinosaur Man,” or “Lucky” by those few individuals he called friend, back in 2011. He had been involved in a nasty 10-year dispute with the town of Houlton over the condition of his property, located atop Drake’s Hill for a couple of years and wanted to tell me “his side” of the story.
His property, dubbed “Seven Wonders of God Creatures,” was featured in a number of magazines and websites as it was included on several “oddities to see” lists. Photos of his work have been taken by Portland photographer Tonee Harbert and were included in a 2007 exhibit at the University of Southern Maine titled “Off the Grid: Maine Vernacular Environments.” Later that year, the Blue Moon Gallery in Houlton exhibited Harbert’s photos of Cardone’s work.
At one point, I’m sure his artwork was an impressive collection. He sculpted all sorts of creatures, from dinosaurs to bigfoot to aliens and Santa Claus. His pieces clearly showed a keen eye for sculpting pieces of wood into whimsical creatures. He once told me he wanted to create a park-like attraction that people would be able to come and view his work.
The entrance to his property featured a large gate reminiscent of the film “Jurassic Park” with most of his artwork contained inside to keep people from stealing or vandalizing it. Other pieces, however, were placed along the outside of his fence, or could be viewed from the roadway due to their massive size.
But time had taken its toll on his property. Many of the sculptures were starting to rot and there were piles of decaying wood that Jerry simply hadn’t gotten to yet. Add in numerous mounds of garbage that had not been taken care of and as one might suspect, this led to a number of stray animals taking up residence on his property, which further exacerbated the tension between the town and the artist.
The two sides eventually wound up in court, and when Jerry failed to meet the timeline spelled out by a judge to clean his property, the town stepped in and razed much of the land, while trying its best not to destroy many of his prime pieces of art, such as a massive dragon-like creature that stood 25 feet tall.
Jerry was sent a bill from the town in the amount of $56,038 to cover their costs in razing the property. Afterward, he suffered a nervous breakdown, which landed him at the Acadia Hospital in Bangor. Upon his release, he simply moved back in and continued to live on the site, which featured several dwellings and once housed radio transmission equipment.
After spending some time with him, Jerry would stop into my office from time to time. He usually had some piece of material he wanted me to write a story on or wanted to submit a Letter to the Editor. Most of the time, though, the things he wanted printed were just too far out there for us to consider.
He regularly spoke of being abducted by aliens. And he also spoke of the time he died and met God, who sent him back to Earth to make art. He had become a bit of a recluse in the past few years as his health started to fade.
His past is also a bit of a mystery. He once told me he was connected to the Gambino family. In all his legal matters, he went by the name Jerry Cardona. I remember asking him, “Jerry, what exactly is your last name?” and he told me he had gone by lots of different names, but preferred to simply be known as “Dinosaur Man.”
