{"id":381,"date":"2014-05-30T09:49:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T14:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/offbeattenn.com\/?p=381"},"modified":"2014-05-30T13:10:44","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T18:10:44","slug":"one-largest-significant-folk-art-sites-us-just-road-outside-palmyra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offbeattenn.com\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"One of the largest and most significant folk art sites in the US is just off the road outside of Palmyra"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Clark Thomas<\/p><\/div>\n

One hot August day in the late 1960\u2019s near Palmyra, Tennessee, E.T. Wickham put down his trowel from working on the statue of Civil War heroes Sam Davis and Bill Marsh. After resting in the shade for awhile,\u00a0he walked to a nearby hickory tree and tacked a small wooden sign to it. The sign read:<\/span><\/div>\n
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Wickham Stone Park<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Folk Artist<\/h2>\n
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\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by http:\/\/wickhamstonepark.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Enoch Tanner Wickham<\/b>\u00a0\u00a01882\u20131970, was a self-taught\u00a0folk artist<\/a>\u00a0who built life-size concrete statues along a rural road in\u00a0Palmyra, Tennessee<\/a>. Wickham began his creations in 1950 at the age of 67 after retiring from being a tobacco farmer and raising nine children.<\/p>\n

The first statue Wickham built was of the\u00a0Blessed Virgin Mary<\/a>\u00a0crushing a snake under her feet. More statues followed of\u00a0Tecumseh<\/a>\u00a0the Indian Chief, and of\u00a0World War I<\/a>\u00a0hero\u00a0Alvin York<\/a>. In 1961 Wickham built an\u00a0equestrian statue<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Andrew Jackson<\/a>. One of his largest statues was a Memorial to honor his son Ernest Wickham and other local soldiers of\u00a0Montgomery County, Tennessee<\/a>\u00a0who died in\u00a0World War II<\/a>. Wickham continued building statues until his death in 1970. By that time, he had built over forty statues using only simple materials of chicken wire, rebar and concrete.<\/p>\n

In 2001 the Customs House Museum in\u00a0Clarksville, Tennessee<\/a>\u00a0had a yearlong exhibition of his work. Today some of the statues still stand along Buck Smith Road in Palmyra in spite of much aging and vandalism.<\/p>\n

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Photo by http:\/\/wickhamstonepark.com<\/p><\/div>\n