John Henry park full steam ahead

By Christian Giggenbach

The multimillion-dollar John Henry Historical Park slated for Summers County is moving ahead “full steam” and could be completed within three to five years, park officials said Tuesday.

Co-project director Rick Moorefield said a meeting was held Tuesday to review qualifications of archeological firms for surveys that must be completed prior to breaking ground on the proposed 26-acre park.

A $128,000 federal transportation enhancement grant, dispersed by state officials, will be used to pay for this and two other surveys, he said. About $25,000 has already been raised of the $32,000 needed as matching funds necessary for the transportation grant.

Moorefield said the 26-acre tract of land, purchased from CSX, is pie-shaped and runs from the mouth of the Great Bend tunnel into the community of Talcott.

It’s too early to say what type of admission fees will be assessed for the park, Moorefield said, but the park would be owned by the Summers County Commission and be “self-sustaining.”

“We will be developing a business plan for the park and looking at the administration and maintenance costs,” Moorefield said Tuesday. “The county won’t be looking to make money from this venture and we will be sensitive about fees. We want this to become a family destination that educates people about our history of the railroad and the Talcott area.”

Moorefield said phase one plans also include relocating the 750-pound bronze John Henry statue that was erected in 1972 and is located at a park outside of Hinton and Talcott. In years past, vandals have pockmarked the steel drivin’ man’s statue with buckshot and pulled it from a pedestal with pickup trucks.

“We believe the John Henry statue would be a lot safer in the new park,” Moorefield said.

Bill Dillon, the park’s other co-project director, said efforts are being made to purchase the actual tunnel that is believed to be the site of the great race between John Henry and a steam shovel, which spawned the legendary folklore figure.

“We would love to encompass the whole park with a small gauge track similar to the one that the Beckley Exhibition Mine has and have an open car run into the Great Bend tunnel which closed in 1974,” Dillon said. “We’d also like to replicate the depot that was torn down in the mid-1950s.”

Moorefield said fundraising for the park will begin in earnest after the business plan has been developed. Until then, figures of how much the park will cost are sketchy, he said, but will probably run over “one million” dollars.

A visitors center, gift shop, hiking trails, and museum are also part of the park’s plans.

And what of those critics who believe the legend of John Henry did not take place in Talcott? An October 2006 book by Scott Reynolds Nelson says the contest took place at Lewis Tunnel between White Sulphur Springs and Covington, Va., and another book says the incident took place in Alabama.

“Two history professors, one of them from West Virginia University, have done the only definitive studies on John Henry,” Dillon said. “One of the professors interviewed a man that worked alongside John Henry on the Great Bend tunnel who witnessed the race.”

Dillon believes there’s evidence to suggest John Henry could also be buried nearby and the archeological dig could very well make prove that point.

He also threw down the gauntlet for his own contest to once and for all end the controversy about of the nation’s most beloved figures.

“To those who don’t believe that John Henry’s legend began here in Talcott, then I would gladly challenge them to a debate anytime,” Dillon said.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com