The circle originally featured a statue of Admiral Samuel Francis DuPont (1803-1865), but the DuPont Family (of "better living through chemicals" fame) thought it wasn't fancy enough to honor their illustrious ancestor. They got permission to move the original statue to the family estate in Winterthur, Delaware and hired Henry Bacon and Daniel Chester French (the pair who brought us the Lincoln Memorial) to design this fountain instead. The fountain features three scantily-clad figures who represent the three elements necessary to navigation: wind, sea, and stars.