Previously, I wrote about the Yuchi people. Their centuries-long connection to the Tennessee River Valley. And their connection to the name Tennessee.
If one knows where to turn,
she can still find pieces of the people
who lived there before we came.
A hundred yards off the Trace. Flanked by a dirt road. One gate, open until 4pm.
The Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall whistles with the spirits of the Yuchi. Its builder, Tom Hendrix, created it. For more than two decades, he wore out three trucks, three dogs and he-forgot-how-many wheelbarrows moving over 2.7 million tons of stone. From land to truck. Truck to wheel barrow. Wheel barrow to wall.
Tom Hendrix Made a Memory
by building one.
At eighty-six, he’s still building. His wall is catalogued by the Library of Congress as the largest unmortared wall in America. Though it isn’t a church, it’s listed among Alabama’s Top Spiritual Places. Every local minister visits Tom’s prayer circle for weekly sermons. Native tribes from around the world conduct ceremonies there. Even Tibetan monks plan pilgrimages to experience the impact of stone piled upon stone.
Tom Hendrix greets visitors and tells stories about his Yuchi great-great-great-grandmother. Her forced march to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears. She arrived in the Midwest, her name erased.
She was Number 59.
But she was Te-lah-nay. Mixer of potions. Keeper of the spirit of the Singing River. Her river. The Tennessee.
She fled Oklahoma and walked eastward. For five years, she criss-crossed unfamiliar landscapes, hid in barns and dodged threats from both animals and people.
Would she find home again?
She stumbled into Lauderdale County. Married a white man. She remained in Alabama until she died, humming the tune of the Singing River.
Tom Hendrix built the Wichahpi Wall in tribute to her journey. He walks visitors around its maze, and he tells her stories.
With every story, he Makes a Memory.
And she hears them. Every one.
Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall is located in Alabama’s Lauderdale County, north of the Tennessee River. It is open until 4pm every day. Tom Hendrix has sold more than 18,000 copies of his book “If the Legends Fade” from this spot. (I can’t even fathom selling 18,000 copies of a book….) Find out more about it HERE.
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Tom Hendrix owns my book.
And you should, too.
Whether you’re visiting the Natchez Trace for real, or you want to experience it vicariously, my books take you there. Get your copies of To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis and Not Without My Father: One Woman’s 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace by heading to my
6 Comments
A friend went for “a walk,” partly to bring awareness to her newly minted book, but what has evolved from that walk is enormous; healed relationships, two more books, and stories, wondrous stories, of interesting and beautiful people. Thanks, Andra. These are such a treat.
I enjoy putting them together, Karen. Especially this one.
Great post. Speaking of making memories, here’s another one: https://storyshucker.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/just-some-vanilla/
That was a great story, Jim. I may reach out to him and ask if I can use some of it for Make a Memory. Thanks for sending me there.
OMG! Once again you touch my heart, and liquid leaks from my eyes, as well as a catch in my chest…what do I attribute this to? Reading your writing. You touch others with your ability to tell their stories. I WILL make it to the Natchez Trace. What a blessing.
That’s an amazing story of family– and one man’s determination to remember those who came before. No wonder it’s a spiritual spot. I’d love to visit there. Maybe one day…
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