Pictures of the Week 2008-44
Hello All,
We would venture to say that most of you have never heard of Tom Hendrix, “The Stone Talker.” Mr. Hendrix and his wife live in northwest Alabama in a rural setting near the Natchez Trace Parkway. For the past 31 years he has been building a stone wall as a memorial to his great-great-grandmother, Te-lah-nay. She was among the American Indians removed from the area in a mop up operation in 1839, a year after the Trail of Tears.
Te-lah-nay was a young girl when she and her sister were captured near Florence, AL. The girls were 15 and 16 years old. They were loaded on boats with other captured Indians and taken to an area near Savannah, TN, where they were then forced to walk to the Indian Nations in Oklahoma. Over half of the Indians died before reaching Oklahoma. Te-lah-nay spent one winter in Oklahoma before she escaped. She spent the next five years hiding while walking back to her homeland in northwest Alabama.
Mr. Hendrix says that since his great-great-grandmother’s journey was made taking one step at a time, he decided to build the wall one stone at a time to honor her and his ancestors. He has lovingly placed stone after stone as a tribute to the special lady who felt a remarkable kinship to this land and the Tennessee River. He points out that the wall does not belong to him--it belongs to all people.
The wall contains a stone from every state and 127 countries, territories and islands. There is a stone from high on Mt. Everest, and even a meteorite that fell in 1907. But the majority of the stones come from the Tennessee River Valley. The wall wanders in graceful curves and is higher and wider in some places than in others. It is built like one’s journey through life, which is never straight Mr. Hendrix states.
It is the largest unmortared stone wall in the United States, the largest memorial to an American Indian woman and quite possibly, the largest memorial to a woman in the U.S. The wall contains over 7 million pounds of rock, each placed there one stone at a time.
Mr. Hendrix says he has worn out 1,400 pairs of gloves, four trucks, 29 wheel barrows, 3 dogs, and 1 old man hauling stone for the wall. He loads his truck by hand (which holds 900 pounds of rock), drives it home where he loads the rock into a wheel barrow and wheels it to the wall. He then places the rock on the wall one stone at a time. Doing some quick math, by handling each rock 3 times, that is over 21 million pounds of rock he has lifted by hand!!
If there was ever a testimony to hard work bringing good health he would be it. Mr. Hendrix is 76 years old, and he doesn’t take prescription medicines. He doesn’t wear glasses even for reading. The last time he went to a doctor was 43 years ago, but he can’t remember why!! He is an herbalist. His knowledge of the medicinal powers of herbs was passed on to him by his grandmother.
It was a real pleasure to meet Mr. Hendrix and to listen to him talk. To say he was awe inspiring would be an understatement. The wall is way too large to capture in one or many photos. Within the wall are special areas such as a prayer circle, an area dedicated to Te-lah-nay’s sister, a music area, and stones with faces watching over the wall. The following photos are taken at various places along the wall. If you are ever in this neck of the woods we would highly recommend it as a place to visit. You won’t find a large parking lot or a gift shop or anything else that resembles a commercial operation. It is truly one man’s passion to honor his ancestors.
We would venture to say that most of you have never heard of Tom Hendrix, “The Stone Talker.” Mr. Hendrix and his wife live in northwest Alabama in a rural setting near the Natchez Trace Parkway. For the past 31 years he has been building a stone wall as a memorial to his great-great-grandmother, Te-lah-nay. She was among the American Indians removed from the area in a mop up operation in 1839, a year after the Trail of Tears.
Te-lah-nay was a young girl when she and her sister were captured near Florence, AL. The girls were 15 and 16 years old. They were loaded on boats with other captured Indians and taken to an area near Savannah, TN, where they were then forced to walk to the Indian Nations in Oklahoma. Over half of the Indians died before reaching Oklahoma. Te-lah-nay spent one winter in Oklahoma before she escaped. She spent the next five years hiding while walking back to her homeland in northwest Alabama.
Mr. Hendrix says that since his great-great-grandmother’s journey was made taking one step at a time, he decided to build the wall one stone at a time to honor her and his ancestors. He has lovingly placed stone after stone as a tribute to the special lady who felt a remarkable kinship to this land and the Tennessee River. He points out that the wall does not belong to him--it belongs to all people.
The wall contains a stone from every state and 127 countries, territories and islands. There is a stone from high on Mt. Everest, and even a meteorite that fell in 1907. But the majority of the stones come from the Tennessee River Valley. The wall wanders in graceful curves and is higher and wider in some places than in others. It is built like one’s journey through life, which is never straight Mr. Hendrix states.
It is the largest unmortared stone wall in the United States, the largest memorial to an American Indian woman and quite possibly, the largest memorial to a woman in the U.S. The wall contains over 7 million pounds of rock, each placed there one stone at a time.
Mr. Hendrix says he has worn out 1,400 pairs of gloves, four trucks, 29 wheel barrows, 3 dogs, and 1 old man hauling stone for the wall. He loads his truck by hand (which holds 900 pounds of rock), drives it home where he loads the rock into a wheel barrow and wheels it to the wall. He then places the rock on the wall one stone at a time. Doing some quick math, by handling each rock 3 times, that is over 21 million pounds of rock he has lifted by hand!!
If there was ever a testimony to hard work bringing good health he would be it. Mr. Hendrix is 76 years old, and he doesn’t take prescription medicines. He doesn’t wear glasses even for reading. The last time he went to a doctor was 43 years ago, but he can’t remember why!! He is an herbalist. His knowledge of the medicinal powers of herbs was passed on to him by his grandmother.
It was a real pleasure to meet Mr. Hendrix and to listen to him talk. To say he was awe inspiring would be an understatement. The wall is way too large to capture in one or many photos. Within the wall are special areas such as a prayer circle, an area dedicated to Te-lah-nay’s sister, a music area, and stones with faces watching over the wall. The following photos are taken at various places along the wall. If you are ever in this neck of the woods we would highly recommend it as a place to visit. You won’t find a large parking lot or a gift shop or anything else that resembles a commercial operation. It is truly one man’s passion to honor his ancestors.
During the week our friends
Stacy and Joan pulled into the campground with their rig. Our paths have crossed in previous years of
traveling--once in Colorado and another time in Oregon. They will be here a
month or so. It is always fun catching
up on the happenings in their world.
They have been on the east coast of the United States this past summer.
We took a drive this week to
the southeast around Smith Lake. We are
told it is the largest lake in Alabama.
The water level was very low due to the draught the southeast is
experiencing. Our target destination was
the Historic Jail in Houston, AL. A log
jail was originally built in the late 1850’s.
However, it was burned during the Civil War. The current jail was rebuilt in 1868. It is built of hand-hewn logs peppered with
square horseshoe nails placed every couple of inches to prevent prisoners from
“sawing their way to freedom.” There is
a 4-inch hole cut through the logs in the back of each cell so that prisoners
could “do their bodily duties.” The Historic Houston Jail is the oldest log
jail in Alabama and the second oldest in the nation.
One morning we noticed a mega
yacht coming up river. It pulled into
the Florence Marina and has been here a number of days. The home port for the yacht is Ft.
Lauderdale, FL. Doing a little research
we learned that it is 130 feet long, has two 2800 HP diesel engines, and holds
9,500 gallons of fuel. How would you like to fill this baby with fuel at
today’s diesel prices!! This time of year there are a lot of cruisers traveling
the Tennessee River to see the beautiful fall colors.
There are a number of bass
tournaments held annually on the Tennessee River. Currently there is a Corporate Executive
tournament taking place. There are 42 teams competing for a top prize of
$100,000. Each team consists of four
fishermen and two boats. Two of the
fishermen are corporate executives from the companies sponsoring professional
fishermen and the other two are the professionals. It has been fun watching the action. These 250HP bass boats can really
scream!! We watched one of the
“weigh-ins.” It is quite a production with TV crews filming the hoopla. Some of
their RV’s in the campground had some amazing graphics on them.
One evening, while sitting around
the campfire with friends, we had an “out of world” experience. Barb had heard on the morning news that the
International Space Station would be passing overhead in early evening and
would be visible by the naked eye. Sure
enough, right on schedule, what appeared to be a huge bright “double star” came
overhead passing from northwest to southeast.
It really moved fast across the sky, disappearing only for a second
while the brightness of it blended when crossing paths with the shining
moon. It was awesome!!
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns