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Guestbook
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Welcome to the Wickham Stone Park Guestbook!
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 Susa |
Archived Guestbook Jim Davidson Found this today and could not stop until I had reviewed it all. I grew up in the area when Mr Tanner was doing all this work. As a young boy I helped him set tobacco and remember seeing his team of oxen tied-up with the mules and wagons under the shade trees at Jackson Bros. store in Palmyra on Saturdays. Thank you for sharing this information for all to see. |
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Jack Terrific site! Thanks for making all this information about the statues public. |
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Terry L My brother sent me this link. Like him I remember when there were all intact. To me it was a treasure. It's a shame that most were destroyed but some were saved. |
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Tom L I grew up in Clarksville and I remember when just about all the statues were intact. I was surfing the web this morning and found this wonderful site. Thanks for putting this place together, |
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Theresa S. Five or six years ago on a visit to relative in Clarksville, TN, my uncle who was from the area took my mother and I riding one afternoon. We stopped at this concrete/stone outside museum. I was very sad to see the vandalism. I was also surprised that the place seemed to be abandoned. I took several pictures and will forward them if you'd like. The stone figures were simply amazing! Funny, the thing I remembered most was the stone sink in the cabin. |
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Johnny Wickham E.T. Wickham was my great-grandfather. I'm very proud to see all the support this site is getting. I hope people realize how special these statues are and help restore them. |
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John The statues are a vivid memory from my days at APSU, and I was fortunate enough to have Mr Jay Wickham as a classmate, who told me the backstory behind them and how attempts to prevent further vandalism seemed to be in vain. |
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Joe I was born in a village called Whickham, in the north east of England. But moved 1/4 mile along the road to a village called Swalwell when I was 3. Feeling a bit home sick one night I did google searches for Whickham and Swalwell. Found a couple of sites dedicated to Swalwell, and enjoyed them. Good luck with moving the statues and restoring them, and keep up with the good work on the web site. To me your web site represents the best part of the internet, ordinary people showing the world ordinary people doing extraordinary things. |
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Jonathan Wickham This is such a cool site. I look forward to visiting spring 2007. |
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Diane Jefferson Each trip to this site gives me a greater appreciation of the work required to construct the statues and also the hours of loving effort to develop such a fine website. I am glad that something is being done to protect and restore some, and, I hope eventually, all of the remaining statues. I feel that any restoration and preservation accomplished is in no small part due to your efforts with this web site. |
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Patti Claxton I first saw the roadside statues only about 19 years ago. I am so fascinated by all of this. I would absolutely love to be able to go to the family cemetary and see all the headstones and the angels. This is such a touching and memorable site. I will put it in my favorites. I am not a native of Tn, so this is so amazing to me. I would love for someone to contact me and tell me how I can actually get to see in person this tour...thank you :-) |
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George Hello, yesterday I revisited the Fred Smith Concrete Park in Phillips WI for the first time in about 30 years. The statues have undergone several renovation efforts. Shortly after Fred's death in 1975 the Kohler Foundation purchased the property, assisted in restoration efforts, and deeded the property to the county. Check Google for some helpful links. The local community has a "Friends of Fred Smith's Concrete Park" group that promotes the site, looks after the condition of the statues, takes care of landscaping upgrades, etc. Just thought I'd mention these things as a suggestion for some ways to preserve the Wickham works. All the best, |
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Heather It's amazing to see the evolution this site has gone through with all the improvements, and I thought it looked excellent from the start! The blend of history, great photos, and personal insight into the sculpter of the statues is a great balance. It's a very positive site to come to. |
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Ivan This site gets better all the time. Great work. |
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Marqueta Dudley Gosh - as I looked at these pictures, it took me back to my childhood when my Dad (W. C. Wickham - Grandson of E.T. Wickham) would take us out to the farm for visits. Its things like this that make life beautiful! Thank you |
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Alfred My friend told me to visit your site because she said it's beautiful. She really was telling that truth. Indeed, your site is amazing.I'll surely go visit here again.Keep up the good work! |
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Bo I want to say that I'm very impressed with the information that is available about ET Wickman. I graduated from Austin Peay in 1995, and was introduced to the statues by a friend of mine. She asked me at midnight if I wanted to see the "headless statues". I was a little nervous, but about four of us decided to venture out and see the statues. Well, along the way we got the ghost stories of a lifetime to make the little venture that much more interesting. Just as soon as we pulled up we became scared because we thought we saw and heard ghost/spirits all over the place. I can laugh now but then my heart was running about 10,000 beats per minute. Anyway, this has always intrigued me so I decided to get online today to see if I could find information on this place. I said that something so grand has to have a history and someone has to have a story about it. Now, the scary stuff is gone after viewing all the information and pictures about ET Wickman and his love for creating. I would definitely love to revisit (during the day--ha ha) this area with a new fascination and curiosity to learn and discover more. I would love to see ET Wickman's contribution to the arts displayed on a larger scale. I don't know how that could be done but I know it should be. Maybe this could help stop the vandals from continuing to destroy such a piece of history. Once again, thank you for opening up my mind with all the information about ET's life and works. Great job done! |
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Tracy My sister and I both attended Austin Peay during the late 80's and early 90's. We grew up in Nashville but to us our hometown is Clarksville. My sister still lives in TN and she recently took my nephew and husband on a tour of Clarksville. Her husband who is a photographer asked if she still knew where those 'statues' were because he wanted to take some photos. They drove out there and were shocked at the even more advanced stage of decay (yes, definitely man made decay as well as weather). She called and told me about it and we both reminisced about 'spooky nights' when our dates took us out there as well as our curiosity about what they had once looked like that made us drive out there many times during the day just to try to read the inscriptions. I found your site and your brother's site both tonight on the web and was brought to tears with the wonderful photos and stories about your grandfather. Thank you so much for all your hard work in keeping the memory alive of what was once a grand display of matchless folk art ingenuity. I hate that I didn't see them when they were in full form but I am glad that I don't have to see them now. |
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Arlen This website is now hosted by Webado.net Thanks for your great support in the rehosting, Christina! |
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Christina Hi Arlen, Love how this site has evolved.Obviously a labor of love. |
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China Thank you for this site. It is very educational and full of information about what one should visit in this part of Tennessee.I would love to experience first hand your grandfather's art and lifework. I can just imagine the love and respect he poured into these lasting tribute to American Art and History. Your grandfather's art will continue to inspire others. |
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Shawn Just want to say HI! I love this place! |
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Millie DesEnfants I have enjoyed spending this Sunday afternoon with your memories of your father, grandfather. It is such a nice website. I am originally from Kentucky. He sounds like some of my family, and the countryside is so familiar. I am 77 years old and of course I do enjoy "looking back!" Thank you for such a nice website. |
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Mark I visited the statutes for the first time in the 70's. Am now living close by. It's a shame what the vandals have done to them. You have built a very nice website. |
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Sandy Herndon Buckner I've enjoyed the virutal tour of the Wickham Stone Park. The park was 'just up the road' from where I grew up and I enjoyed visiting it and "Mr. Tanner" as a child. |
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Sharron Thanks Arlen for the nice note you left is my guestbook. Have missed you in the forum. I too have been busy.Glad my picture intriqued you, lol, but really half a face is better then a the whole face. |
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Mark Wickham Great bit of history. Deserves to be saved. The web site is a good start. I plan to visit next time I'm in the area. |
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Bernice Wickham I was just browsing today - and came across the E T Wickham sites! Thanks for the information. Now my husband and I are on the trail to see just how we fit into the family tree! ...and we're planning a trip to Tennessee! |
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Julie Nice improvements, Dad! It makes me happy to know you are doing this- both for the gift that it is to others and to yourself.I also like how the network of links is becoming more intricate. Proudly, |
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Christina Nice to see how your site has evolved. Much improved over the earlier version, a good setting for its worthy subect |
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John I've visited the web site several times while it was being developed, but never looked at the vandalism pages until today. The pictures of the damage that has been done to these statues makes me sick. The ignorance behind these acts is appalling. It is obvious to anyone with eyes to see that these statues are a valuable part of our heritage. Most of the damage was probably done in a drunken stupor, but perhaps some signs would give a few people pause before acting. Something on the order of "Please refrain from damaging these statues. They are irreplacable works of folk art by a patriotic American. The statues can never be replaced, since the artist has passed away. Their loss would steal part of the heritage of all Tennesseans." |
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Paul I have been thinking and telling people about this place for a while and now theres finally a website for it....thanks for getting it up, I actually learned alot about it here, I had no clue to the real story. :D I visited this place when I was stationed at Fort Campbell a few times, and it is a very cool place, if only the ignorant vandals would keep away from it hopefully it will be around for many more years. |
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Mike I greatly appreciate that you have this site available. I grew up in the Salem community and have visited the statue site many times, especially during the early 70's. I think about the statues often because I have always been so impressed with what your grandfather did. Even in the 70's they were being vandalized and I hated to see it. I would be glad to do what I can to help preserve them. Thanks again. |
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Johnny Nice site. I liked your site so much. best wishes. |
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Arlen Some disturbing photos of recent vandalism of the statues have been added to the What's New page. |
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Ray Gelinas I am grateful that I could play a very small role in this web site. There has to be a way to preserve Mr. Wickham's work. I hope some day we can turn the statue site into an actual "Wickham Park". Heaven help the people causing distruction to this art if I catch them!!! I'm trying to see if Austin Peay University will give their art students "extra credit" if they white wash the statues and paint the letters on them. Thanks to Mr. E.T. Wickham for such beautiful work! It needs to be preserved for generations to come! Ray |
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Arlen I have added some recent photos of the Fort Campbell soldier statue. Thanks to Ray Gelinas for sharing these beautiful photos. |
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Diane Jefferson Every time I see this website it is greatly improved. So easy to navigate. The then and now examples add a lot to comments. |
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Arlen I added the TOUR navigation so that you can now tour the 1969 park and then CONTINUE the TOUR to see the way it looks today. |
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Rick Tennessee Mon, June 20, 2005 02:19 Very good website with good navigational pages. Photos are excellent :-) |
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Carolyn Interesting site! |
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Patty nightshade_1965@hotmail.com http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nightshade/Index.html Cunningham, Tennessee Thu, May 26, 2005 19:53 What a wonderful site for a wonderful person. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Wickham but have visited his |
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Heather Wow. I've seen E.T. Wickham's (my great-grandfather's!) artwork before and have admired it but this website featuring the inside perspective from family on both the man and his works really brings a new dimension of appreciation. My favorite, I think is the Davis and Marsh handshake. I hope the best efforts can be made to preserve the statues and their heritage. Thanks for the incredible site! |
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John Preble Good Site -thanks for putting public. I will help spread the word about it. Visit my museum one day. John Preble |
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Janet Great site! :-) |
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Arlen The Wickham Stone Park Guestbook is now available! |
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