Tom's Wall

Today I visited Tom's Wall. I told my roommate, my friend, my mother, and my grandmother and they all said, "What is that?" Tom Hendrix's great-great-grandmother, a Native American, was forced to move from her home near the Tennessee River in Alabama to Oklahoma because of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Along with thousands of other Native Americans, Te-lah-nay walked to Oklahoma. The rivers there did not sing like the Tennessee River, or the Singing River, did. She chose to walk back, which took her five years. After hearing the stories of his great-great-grandmother and reading her journals, Tom wanted to honor her somehow. A Yuchi woman told him, "All things shall pass away, only stones will remain." In 1988 he began building a wall from rocks, each rock representing a step she took on her journey. It is estimated to be about 8.5 million pounds of rock in the wall.

Only one side of Tom's Wall from across the road.

Tom's Wall is actually quite famous. It is currently the number one stop on the Natchez Trace. If you have seen the Muscle Shoals documentary, you know Tom Hendrix and the wall are in it. (If you haven't seen it, do it ASAP! It is awesome.) Tom wrote a book about his great-great-grandmother, Te-lah-nay, and her journey that inspired him to build the largest unmortared wall in the United States. There was an article about it in The New York Times in 2014. Actually if you google Tom's Wall, there are several different articles.

The rocks in this section are representation of all grandmothers.

When I pulled up to Tom's Wall, Tom met me at my car. He asked where I was from and began to tell me about the wall. He showed me the first rock he laid and all the different rocks people bring him. Mr. Hendrix said, "I have worn out 3 trucks, 22 wheelbarrows, 2700 pairs of gloves, 3 dogs, and one 87 year old man." Other than the person leaving when I arrived and the couple people that showed up while I was there, I was there alone. Tom counted about 260 people on Saturday though.  He said the wall was for women. Then he pointed out a section that he said represented the grandmothers. He told me to walk around. There are two sides separated by his driveway. He told me the one side "was sad", it was her trip to Oklahoma, but the other side was her journey back and "it was an adventure."

Tom Hendrix and I in the prayer circle.

The wall is a spiritual place. There is a prayer circle on one side of the trail. Tom said he has preachers and priests come weekly to prepare their Sunday sermon. It is a beautiful place.

I could probably go on but I think it is best you visit Tom yourself. It is about 15 miles away from Florence. It's also free to tour Tom's Wall and it's open daily 8am-4pm.