MLK memorial's stonework 11,000 miles closer to D.C.: After more than a decade of effort, a few chapters of controversy and a 47-day ocean voyage from China, a small blue and white cargo ship pulled into Baltimore's Canton Marine Terminal at 6 a.m. Friday bearing the shipment of stone blocks that will make up Washington's national memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The 159 granite sculpture blocks, which weigh 1,600 metric tons, were thought to be the vessel's only freight. They were carried, with little fanfare, aboard the BBC France, a modern 300-foot-long vessel operated by the German-based shipping firm BBC Chartering.
As officials with the King project watched, the crated blocks were unloaded and placed in temporary storage near the port. They will remain there until construction crews are ready to start assembling the memorial this fall on a site amid the cherry trees near the Tidal Basin.
