Wall Of Faces
In last week’s blog I wrote about The Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall, also known as Tom’s Wall that is a few miles out of Florence, Alabama (USA). The wall was built by Tom Hendrix as a memorial to his great-great grandmother who was one of thousands of Indians that the US Government relocated and her journey from the reservation in Oklahoma back to the Singing River (the Tennessee River at Florence).
In this post I will highlight one section of the wall that I found hauntingly intriguing when photographing it. I later learned the story behind this section that I am calling the Wall Of Faces.
The Wall Of Faces is a ten foot section of the Wichahpi Stone Wall. It is filled with limestone river rocks. Years of erosion have left holes in those rocks and the results are many stones that look like faces.
Members of the Lakota Indians visited Mr. Hendrix and modified this section of wall. The told him that all bad things come out of the west, so they positioned the rock faces facing west, saying they would protect Te-lah-ney’s Wall.
Mr. Hendrix placed a stone bench opposite the stone faces so that one can sit, see and study the faces. Some people have found them a little eerie while others have seen them as a humorous addition to the wall.
I didn’t sit and study these faces but I did take photographs of several individual stones. At the time of my visit, I didn’t know the reason they had been put in the wall. I only knew that I found them to be very fascinating.
I plan to make a return visit to Tom’s Wall. Maybe I’ll sit across from those faces next time and think about their purpose.
As always comments are welcome and encouraged.
A larger view of the image above can be seen and purchased here:
