I had to go back. I wanted my sister, a kindergarten teacher, to see the place where one of America's folk heroes supposedly lived and died. I wanted to go again myself.
I remembered my last trip, on a rainy, foggy day. As I opened my car door at the tunnel, I heard the sound of hammer on steel. It was uncanny, surreal. I stood silent and listening, then finally realized that it was no ghost, but a man working on something on the other side of the screen of trees along the train tracks! So once again I made the short drive from Pipestem Resort to Talcott, West Virginia, to step back into history, this time with my sister, her husband and Larry.
Who was John Henry? Was he a real man? Did he really beat a steam drill in a contest, and die with the effort? Most school children learn the song but little about the man behind it.
No one knows all the answers about this American legend. That there was such a man who worked on the Great Bend tunnel in Talcott, West Virginia, seems to be fact. A freed slave, reports from people who claimed to know him said he was a mighty man of almost six feet, possibly from Virginia or North Carolina.
In southern West Virginia a monument to this legendary figure was erected over the tunnel where he supposedly lost his life. An annual festival called John Henry Days is held every July.
Want to know more? try these websites:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Comments are moderated so may not appear immediately, but be assured that I read and enjoy each and every word you write, and will post them as quickly as possible.