A Tribute to My Grandfather, Enoch Tanner Wickham, A Great Folk Artist (1883-1970)

My grandfather preferred to be called Tanner or E. T.   All of us grandchildren called him grandpa. I  learned a great deal from him-- he taught me how to make statues, tend a garden, hunt, and survey land. 

I present this page to the public so people can see how his statues looked when they were in mint condition.  His statues still stand, but after 30 years of neglect most are now in poor condition. 
From left to right:  Annie Wickham (E. T. Wickham's wife), E. T. Wickham,  Minnie  Wickham and Charley Wickham .  Photo made in Clarksville, Tn. (1905).

When my grandfather retired from farming he was in his seventies, he had raised 9 children and tons of tobacco.  He left his log house in a hollow close to Palmyra, Tennessee and built a small cabin on Buck Smith  road in the Palmyra area in the early 1950's. He was poor in income but rich in ideas and land (he owned hundreds of acres).  

 E. T. Wickham by his cabin he built  in 1952. The logs, which he hewed himself when he was 15, were taken from a stable.   Notice the goose made of concrete with wings cut from tin.  He always kept hunting dogs and  was an avid hunter. Also note his tool box.  He was a resourceful carpenter who used no electric tools, but could build most anything  he dreamed of.   His original chimney was made of  small logs mortared with mud; later he replaced it with a concrete block chimney. You can see pine trees in the background.  He planted thousands of pines on his property. Photo taken in late 50's or early 60's.  

During the 1950s and throughout the sixties,  he built life-size statues of  animals, relatives,  religious figures, prominent Tennesseans and  other famous Americans.  He was a self-taught artist who made them out of concrete using pipes and wire as reinforcement.  He used stove pipes as molds for making the pillars to the monuments.  He always inscribed captions at the base of his monuments. Most of the statues were placed in a row in clear view of people passing by on Buck Smith road.

Countless people saw these statues and were awed by them.   Most of us relatives, accustomed to seeing his works, thought  his making statues was an interesting and unusual hobby, but nothing terribly earthshaking.  My grandfather enjoyed  talking with his visitors.  He would always halt what he was doing to talk at length with those who stopped by. There were dedication ceremonies for most of his statues.  Many people, including General Westmoreland and Estes Kefaufer, attended one or more of these dedications.

From left to right:  Sergeant York (now kept in the art building at Austin Peay State University),  A world war II soldier (inspired by the death of E. T. Wickham's son, Ernest), Andrew Jackson atop a horse, and E. T. Wickham riding a bull headed out to the wild west.  (mid 1960s photo)

E. T. by his statue of Andrew Jackson.  He made the horse's hind legs unusually powerful and used a steel pipe to support the weight of this massive statue.  (mid 1960s)

A statue of Dr. John Wickham, E. T.'s brother, on horseback.  (mid 1960s)

Building statues was hard, grueling  work, especially for a man in his eighties, but my grandfather single-handedly built each of these statues.  Each of the larger ones took about 6 weeks to complete.  The statue of Andrew Jackson was the most difficult one to build.  Occasionally he got a little help from his grandchildren. 

E. T. working on a statue of Judge W. D. Hudson. Other statues from left to right:  Estes Kefauver, Patrick Henry, and John F. Kennedy.  Real people from left to right: my father, me, and my grandfather.  (mid 1960s)

My brother Rick by a longhorn bull.  My grandfather put wiring in this statue and inserted red  light bulbs into its eye sockets.  At night the bull had a fierce look with its glowing red eyes.  Photo was taken in the early sixties; red eyes were added digitally.

The Schibig brothers, Rick, Joe, Arlen, and grandfather Wickham are sitting on the perimeter of what my grandfather claimed was the largest sundial in the world. (early 60s)

E. T.  sitting on an ox with his son, L. D.,  in the foreground.  My mother asked L. D. to sit on the other bull, but he respectfully declined. (late 1960s)

E. T. Wickham and his children.  From left to right:  E. T. (deceased), L. D. (deceased), Harvey (deceased), Betty, Sister Justina, Iris (my mother), Mary, Rita.  In the background are a covered wagon and a series of statues he made in the mid to late 60s.  Photo taken in late 60s.

A photographic portrait of Tanner Wickham made in the mid to late sixties by  artist Ned Crouch who is now director of the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center in Clarksville, Tennessee.   My mother said she was at Austin Peay State University in the 1960s and saw this picture. She asked Ned Crouch if she could purchase it, but when he learned that she was Tanner Wickham's daughter he said he would give it to her.  She showed it to grandpa and he really liked it, so my mother let him keep it for a long time.  I remember it hanging on the wall of the middle room of his house.

A concrete angel looks over the tombs of E. T. Wickham,  his son, Ernest and his wife, Annie.   My grandfather made the angel and the three tombstones.   Photo made in the 1970s.

After my grandfather's death, no one was around to guard his statues.  In time they were ravaged by the weather and vandals, mostly by the latter.  Due to the efforts of Ned Crouch, a few of his statues were moved to the art building at Austin Peay State University where they are on display, but most are still standing in a degraded condition where grandpa first placed them.  

On his statue of himself riding a bull, he wrote "remember me boys when I'm gone".  Most  people are soon forgotten after they leave this world, but my grandfather was special.  His fourty concrete statues represent two decades of laborious but enjoyable artwork.  He could have made money off his statues and he could have sold some of his land and had a bigger more comfortable home, but he was content to live in the house he built and to produce statues to express his creativity and to  commemorate the people who he deemed important.  Now, with this webpage, I pay tribute to E. T. Wickham.  He was one of a kind, he did it his way, and he made his mark on the world.  Long live E. T. Wickham!

To view 1960s Clarksville newspaper articles on E. T. Wickham, click:  Wickham  Articles

To view his statues in their more recent condition go to:  http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/wickham/wick2.htm

Authored by Joe Schibig-- email address:   joe.schibig@vscc.cc.tn.us

how e.t. came to discover concrete sculpting

As told by Jack Wickham , Grandson of E.T. Wickham ...

My Dad, Harvey Wickham, son of E.T., told me this story when I was in High School. I asked him what was E.T.'s first work of art, and he said that the earliest thing he remembered was when E.T. bought a farm on Sadlersville Road in Robertson County sometime in the 1920's. E.T. lost the farm in the 1930's Depression and moved back to the old Palmyra homeplace. The story from Dad goes that the mailman did not show up everyday with the mail. E.T. accused the mailman of holding his mail and only coming to the end of the road to their farm every other day or two. E.T. said the mailman was too lazy to ride his horse the extra half mile down the road to the Wickham farm. The mailman took offense and said it wasn't true. E.T. said he thought the man was lying. Finally the mailman said "Tanner, if I never see your face again, it will be too soon." Whereupon, the mailman turned and rode off down the road.

Afterwards, in a moment of inspiration, E.T. went around the back of the house, and in a low area in the back yard that was mostly clay, E.T. poured water onto the ground, and worked up a clay puddle that was pliable but firm. Dad said that when E.T. had it in the right consistancy, he stuck his face in the mud slowly, and then pulled it out slowly. He let it dry for the afternoon, then mixed cement and poured it into the clay mold and let it set overnite. The next morning, he pulled the concrete cement out to reveal a mold of his face. He worked it some to fill in the gaps, painted it in his likeness, and then attached it to the front of the mailbox. Now the archenemy postman had to look at E.T.s "face" everyday while making his duly appointed delivery rounds. Soon afterward E.T. began sculpting concrete decorations and statues.

Who would have thought an angry exchange between E.T. and a mailman would have lead to his statues being on display at the 1982 World's Fair!

history carved in stone

Every county in Tennessee has its own history and amazing stories to tell. Each county has her own uniqueness. Some stories and legends are well known throughout our state, while others, are merely shadows, cast over time, quite literally, hidden beneath aging stone. In searching for stories; it’s hard for me to choose or narrow down, any one legend or tale that shines over them all. They all shine, either individually or uniquely, with much respect to their corner our state. Tennessee and her people, offer me a colorful pallet, of interesting stories and charming tails, which are truly inspirational to write about. You don’t have to look very hard to find amazing stories of great people in Tennessee. Lucky enough for me, I found some very interesting history right here at home. Living here in Montgomery County, I could not have been luckier. Not far from my home, in western middle Tennessee, is an astounding piece of history. Known by few outside of Clarksville yet regarded by many throughout the world.
About 9 years ago, taking a Sunday drive, my husband and I stumbled across these incredible statues along an old sleepy road. Although, damaged by time and assaulted by vandalism, these statues told us a narrow story about an unknown man. The emotion of seeing these incredible statues in person is purely beyond description. It is my struggle to articulate the enormous grief we felt, in viewing these astonishing masterpieces in ruins .The history lost here was immense and unforgivable. We offered our extreme anguish to the artist who put them there,yet there was so many unanswered questions. Why would someone destroy these amazing sculptures? Why were they left unattended on a mysterious abandoned Rd? Why was there nothing done to protect them? Who was this man, who left his legacy for all to see? These questions bewildered me for a long time. After digging a bit deeper, to find the man behind the stone, I finally found an interesting story of a pure country boy, who believed that life was what you make of it. Quite, literary.
Back in the 1700’s, The Wickham family ancestors came to the new land. Upon that land, The Wickham family legend began .In the mid 1800’s, a small cabin was build in a deep hollow in Palmyra Tennessee. That old cabin was built with love and country pride. It still stands today. It is affectionately known as Wickham hollow. Enoch Tanner (ET) Wickham was the youngest of 13 children; born to Elizabeth (Marsh) Wickham and Robert L. Wickham in 1883. Elizabeth and Robert were humble people, grateful to God for blessing them with a basket of children. Back in those days, people didn’t have very much, so the dear lord and his lessons was the best thing to give. Robert was a hardworking man that loved his community. Every 4th of July, he would gather his boys together, to butcher a steer and have a community BBQ for friends and neighbors. So growing up Wickham was more than lifestyle; it was a family reasonability, sure to make a country boy proud. Like many folks back then, the Wickham household, thrived on good old country values and sweet potato pie. It was a slow and deliberate lifestyle of hard working men with modest and respectful woman. Most family spirits belonged to God and the people back then liked it that way. Through the course of that simplicity, ET learned early in life, what it took to become a man. He used the tools gifted by his parents and implemented them rising his own brood. After Marring Annie Yarbrough in 1906, ET an Annie set out to start their own legacy. Together, having 9 Children. They surrounded their 4 sons and 5 daughters with lots of love, tender Godliness and deep-rooted family values.
ET loved all his children, but his girls were well protected by old fashion rules and blue steel. Have you ever heard the old song of Wolverton Mountain? That was a song written back in 1962. It was based on a true story of a country man, Clifton Clowers out of Arkansas. Back then, men kept their daughters under lock and key, and ET was no exception. He kept those girls on a tight leash and was on the ready for any men to come calling.
ET provided for his family by rising tobacco. Having many fields to tend, friends would share in the labor and profits. Whilst, he trusted his helpers, this unwittingly invited the wolves into the henhouse, so to speak. Finally one day, his daughter Mary could not hide, her undying love any longer. She ran off at the age 25 with ET’s farmhand, twice her elder, to become his wife. Unbeknownst to ET, one by one, he found himself surrendering his daughters to the destiny of time. It was hard to let his children go, especially his Son Ernest, who was killed in world war II. Despite his great sacrifice to his country, Et was a patriotic man, loving his country and life. He had the bull by the tail, on a downhill run. Taking in such pleasures, in hunting, ,enjoying his grandchildren, reading American history, and staying close to nature. ET left school in the 3rd grade to help his mother, after his father’s death, but the lack of his formal education never hurt him any. One thing for sure, he accomplished anything he set out to do. He built every home he ever owned. He was a great recycler. Utilizing his blacksmithing skills, coupled with concrete and some back yard junk. He took good old fashion ingenuity to a new level. This man could build anything. He even built the bed he slept in. Complete with a feather tick mattress.
One day he decided he could hatch himself some chicken eggs. So there he laid for 21 days, leaving the nest no longer than a mother chicken would, and was able to hatch his own eggs. After he retired from tobacco farming, he began to create sculptures of concrete. It was said his first piece was a self sculpture. After feuding with the mailman over an apparent disagreement, the mailman had exclaimed, “ if I should ever have to see your face again ,it would be to soon!” So ET, and his playful personality, then decided, that his mailman was going to see him like it or not. He began creating a mailbox using his face as mold. I imagine that mailman was not too pleased.
ET was a nice person just like his father, he loved people. So across the street from his cabin he built a community clubhouse called the united sportsman’s club of Palmyra. There, he would welcome social gatherings like turkey shoots and BBQ’s .It was a place where people could speak their political minds and talk of social concerns. He found time to talk with anyone who wanted to listen. His sculpturing didn’t began until he was in his mid 60s.
His first life-size sculpture was a memorial to his son Ernest, who had died under friendly fire. Upon completion , he had the state senator Estes Kefauver and General William Westmoreland, Commanding General at Fort Campbell KY, to come and dedicate his work. Back then, it was quite a spectacle. Many dignitaries and local people came to watch with much respect. ET, being the man he was, offered his statue to Westmoreland as a gift to Fort Campbell. It didn’t take long for soldiers to be assigned to guard the sculpture while the finishing touches were being applied. They soldiers stayed for two weeks. As, recalled by family, the day, the helicopter came to his little town of Palmyra. ET was quite humbled by the whole affair, he was asked to jump in an accompany his works to the Fort Campbell base. He obliged and was amazed by the life changing experience. After that, Et went on to create many life size statues, depicting political figures and historical events. He included meaningful saying and personal writings that he inscribed using a nail. He even sculptured his powerful oxen that plowed his land for so many years. This mans work was so amazing, that some of his art has been preserved at the Clarksville Customs House Museum and Austin Peay State University. He even created two statues of his faithful hunting beagles, that were placed at the entrance of his home, like two lonely lions guarding an english castle. They made their way to the worlds fair. In his lifetime, Et Created 40 life-size statues. After digging his own grave, on August 27th 1970 ET died at the age of 87. Although ET, never lived to see the horrible vandalism come to pass, His family told me, he knew it was coming .Before his death, he was getting scared to live on that old forgotten road. He guarded his property, with a rifle next to his bed, propped up by an old log , complete with a leather flap over the barrel to conceal its presents. Et was burred next wife and son, marked by home made tombstones complete with a larger than life angel guarding his journey to the promise land. In 2006, the family had decided to move his treasures closer to kin where they could be better protected. Although moving these heavy statues is an overwhelming task, it is almost in completion. Sadly enough, some of his works were shot up so bad and greatly disrespected, they were at a complete loss. ET’s grandson has a website in dedication of his grandfather. www.wickhamstonepark.com. I Hope you take the time to view Arlens website. Enclosing, I want to everyone to remember this old saying that ET believed in. “When I die, burry me deep, with a Jug of molasses at my feet, and a big fat biscuit in my hand, and I’ll sock my way to the promise land.” Thank you ET for giving us so much. His history will forever be carved in stone.

Written By Kathleen Chute
http://www.runwiththewild.com

where are the statues now?

Information about the current location and condition of the statues is on my http://WickhamStonePark.com site but I have summarized it here.

STATUE/ CONDITION/LOCATION

Blessed Virgin Mary with Snake/ Destroyed ...
Archway with cross / Fair / Buck Smith Road
Sleeping Dogs / Good / APSU/
Tecumseh/ Destroyed / ...
Wickham Family Cemetery Angel/ Good / Wickham Cemetery
Small Crucifixion / Good / Museum/
Bird and Flagpole/ Good Oak Ridge Road
Virgin and Children of Fatima,Three Sheep / Fair / Buck Smith Road
Joseph and Christ Child/ Poor / APSU
Totem Pole / Poor/Eagle saved/ ...
World War II Memorial / Poor / Oak Ridge Road
John Wickham on Horseback and Plaque with Bull's Head / Poor / Oak Ridge Road
Andrew Jackson / Poor / Buck Smith Road
Sergeant Alvin C. York / Good / APSU
Rider and Bull / Poor / Buck Smith Road
Austin Peay / Poor / Oak Ridge Road
Estes Kefauver, Patrick Henry, J.F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy/ Poor / Oak Ridge Road
Team of Oxen and Covered Wagon/ Poor / Buck Smith Road
W.D. Hudson / Poor / Oak Ridge Road
Sam Davis and Bill Marsh / Poor / Oak Ridge Road
Ft. Campbell Soldier / Good / Fort Campbell
Lester Solomon, Daniel Boone, Piomingo and Sitting Bull/ Poor / Oak Ridge Road
Father Ryan / Destroyed / ...
Crucifixion / Destroyed / ...

Buck Smith Road is original site in Palmyra, TN
Oak Ridge Road is relocation site for smaller statues. Its at Oak Ridge Road/Wickham Cemetery Road crossing.
APSU is Austin Peay State University, Clarksville,TN. Statues are in Trahern Art building
Museum is Customs House Museum, Clarksville,TN. I don't believe the Wickham Exhibit is on view now.
Fort Campbell is Fort Campbell,KY. Statue is in front of Soldier's Chapel

JOIN the new ET WICKHAM STATUES FaceBook Group

wickham stone park ... the movie!

enoch tanner wickham portrait

This is a photographic portrait of Enoch Tanner Wickham taken in the late sixties by artist Ned Crouch.


I am a human man moulded of a divine hand, I am. Every wrinkle in me He doth know for He do be with making me so. Solitariness I have known ‘n must admit to it have I been prone. Yet, enjoy I to be on my own creating beings of the world be known. Being of a divine hand I am so, I am. -Richard of Eire

e.t. wickham, chief tecumseh and cd cover art

E.T. Wickham's Tecumseh statue stood over eight feet tall. With a cocked tomahawk and a war bonnet of real turkey feathers, it was quite an imposing sight!



The statue was built on the backside of the cabin (next to the flagpole in the photo below). Since it was hidden from plain view it gave kids quite a scare when they ran around the cabin.



Recently Clothesline Revival used a black and white photo shot in the seventies for the CD cover art of their album "Of My Native Land". The title of the CD is from a chiseled quote on the base of the nearby flagpole from the poem The American Flag by Father Charles Constantine Pise(1801-1866):

THEY SAY I WOULD FORSAKE THE FLAG OF MY NATIVE LAND,
BUT WOE UNTO THE FOE OR STRANGER
WHOSE SACRILEGIOUS HAND WOULD TOUCH THEE
OR ENDANGER FLAG OF MY NATIVE LAND

whimsical man

Lester Solomon was a contemporary of E.T. who shared similar views about preserving the local wooded areas. This statue was one of the last statues built by E.T. and is the leftmost statue in the previous post.

There is a bit of a whimsical quality about the facial expression which is why I labeled it the whimsical man.

cowboys and indians

Maybe Cowboys and Indians is not quite the right label for these statues. True, there are statues of pioneer Daniel Boone and Indian Chiefs Sitting Bull and Piomingo , but the fourth statue is of a contemporary of E. T. Wickham. This was Lester Solomon, a soil conservationist for Montgomery County, and whose work E.T. greatly respected.

Note that these four statues are not on a raised base as were most of the other statues. E.T. was past 85 when he began building this statue and his age was limiting his abilities to create statues on a grander scale.

The dedication ceremony for these statues occurred on July 13, 1969. The honorable Judge William O. Beach presided over the ceremony as each individual statue was in turn unveiled. It was a festive occasion with the Montgomery County Ramblers providing some musical entertainment for the sizable crowd.

Find more information about these statues at my Wickham Stone Park website.

patriotic verse

E.T. Wickham was very patriotic. Many of his statues had patriotic themes. The World War II Memorial, Alvin York and Patrick Henry statues, as well as his flagpoles come to mind.

E.T. had two flagpoles on his property on Buck Smith Road. One was located next to the World War II Memorial and the other was located next to his log cabin. The flagpole by the cabin stood next to the Chief Tecumseh statue . The bottom of this flagpole was encased in concrete and enscribed with the quote you see above from the American Flag poem written by Father Constantine Pise.

curious bird

Perched high atop the flagpole by the cabin is this curious bird. Is it eagle, turkey,goose or some hybrid?
E.T. never said. This unknown bird had large wings cut from tin and attached to its concrete body.

Look back at the previous photo to see the location of the flagpole and bird in reference to the log cabin.

pioneer cabin

After raising a lot of tobacco and nine kids, E.T. and his wife Annie decided in 1952 that it was time to move from the hollow to the ridge. He had hundreds of acres from which to choose a building site but he finally decided on a stretch of land on Buck Smith Road. There was never any thought about hiring contractors to build the cabin. In the pioneering spirit he built the cabin ground-up using rough hewn logs from a barn he helped build when he was only 15.

The cabin was small, measuring only 11 by 27 feet. Its hard to imagine there were three separate rooms in the cabin. It even had a fireplace in one of the rooms. The kitchen had a small concrete sink that was fed by gravity from a roof-mounted tank. It could not have been comfortable but it suited his needs and it was close to where he wanted to build his statues.

liberty bell

Most of the Wickham statues are now in disrepair. Time and vandals work to destroy all. This section of the Liberty Bell remains.

work break

The year is 1963 and E.T. is shown taking a break from building this statue to honor local and national politicians he admired. One of the politicians is President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated that year. Estes Kefauver, senator from Tennessee, and Patrick Henry,the patriot, were other political figures he admired. Robert Kennedy was added six years later in 1969.

politicians

The four figures represented in this statue are Estes Kefauver, Patrick Henry, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. When the statue was dedicated in 1963 it only had three figures. The fourth figure of Robert Kennedy was added in later. This photo is a rare one actually showing Robert Kennedy. In front of the podium is a concrete sculpture of the cracked Liberty Bell.

chicken wire, rebar, and concrete

E.T. Wickham is shown here sculpting the Sam Davis and Bill Marsh statue. He was 82 when he began work on this statue in 1965 and it took him about six weeks to complete it.

All the life-size concrete statues were built with the simplest of materials. He would use rebar or steel pipe as the base. Then he would fashion chicken wire around the metal to form the body and limbs. Finally cement was applied and formed using a trowel to create the statue.

More information about the handshake statue is available from Wickham Stone Park Davis-Marsh

handshake

This statue shows Civil War hero Sam Davis and bearded Bill Marsh shaking hands near the end of the war. Sam Davis is known as the boy hero of the Confederacy because he was only 21 when hanged for espionage by the Union Army.

Get souvenirs of this statue from the online Wickham Stone Park Gift Shop.

folk art world

Wickham Stone Park (circa 1969) is a collection of folk art, consisting of over 30 life-size concrete statues of political figures,Indian chiefs, politicians,patriots and religious figures. The park is the lifetime creation of Tennessee folk artist Enoch Tanner(E.T.) Wickham (1883-1970).

More information about the folk art of E.T. Wickham is available at Wickham Stone Park.


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