John Henry Park is on West Virginia Route 3, about a mile west of Talcott, WV, directly above the east portal of Big Bend Tunnel on what used to be the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad (now CSX).
This, Talcott locals claim, was the site of John Henry's famous battle with the steam drill, although arguments continue over whether this could, in fact, have been the location of that mythic event. It has been pointed out, for example, that there were several tunnels in the local area, as well as further afield, that went by the name "Big Bend". In addition, there are no records of a steam drill ever having been employed on this particular Big Bend tunnel.
I have visited the park quite a few times and the photos on this page are from various visits.
Talcott is a small, unincorporated community in southern West Virginia straddling the Greenbrier River ten miles west of Hinton. It is about a hundred miles from Roanoke, VA, but because of the winding, two-lane country roads, it can take up to two hours to get there.
Talcott styles itself as the "Home of the John Henry Legend" and, in the week after 4th July every year, a number of local events are held to commemorate the legend. These include a parade, bluegrass music, exhibits and fireworks.
The park is little more than a turn-out off the winding, two lane highway. The view above is looking south.
The State of West Virginia has erected a plaque commemorating the legend of John Henry in a small plot by the road side and there is, of course, the statue of the man himself. The caboose apparently once served as a visitor centre but it has obviously been closed for years.
It was spring when I last visited the park. The view above is looking north on the road down to Talcott.
See a 360° flash panorama of the park location by clicking this link:
The statue was commissioned by the Hilldale-Talcott Ruritan Club for the 100th anniversary of the 1872 completion of Big Bend tunnel.
Below the plaque featured on the statue's base.
Michigan sculptor Charles Cooper produced the 750 lb eight-foot bronze statue.
Cooper delivered the statue to Hinton in late December 1972, just making the anniversary it was intended to commemorate. A mobile crane supplied by the newly formed Chessie System lifted it onto a flat car and a special train ran to Talcott through Big Bend Tunnel to the east portal. The statue was then lifted onto a truck and carried up to the park to be placed on its base by the Chessie crane.
John Henry: truth or myth?
The truth about John Henry will probably never be known. In the famous song that describes his story, he is born strong and grows to become the greatest steel driving man in the land. When the owner of the railroad on which he is working buys a steam powered hammer drill, to save his job and those of his crew, he challenges the owner to a contest: him against the steam drill. Although he beats the drill, John Henry collapses exhausted and dies, and he is replaced by the new steam drill in any case.
In Steel Drivin' Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson argues that John William Henry, a prisoner in Virginia leased to work on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in the 1870s, is the basis for the story. However, he suggests the contest actually took place at Lewis Tunnel, between Talcott and Milboro, VA.
On the other hand, John Garst has suggested the contest took place at either the Coosa Mountain Tunnel or the Oak Mountain Tunnel on the Columbus and Western Railway (now part of Norfolk Southern) near Leeds, AL, on 20th September 1887. He bases his claim on documentation and the account of one C. C. Spencer, who claimed in the 1920s to have witnessed the contest.
In the view above, the paved road on the left indicates the bed of the original railroad track to the first Big Bend Tunnel, completed in 1872.
When built,the tunnel was 6,477' long. In 1917, however, it was effectively extended 23' when a ventilation plant was built on the western portal.
When a second tunnel went into service in 1932, indicated by the single line of track in the view above, the original tunnel was renamed Great Bend Tunnel. It was finally taken out of service in 1974 and the tracks were lifted soon after.
Above, 1932 Big Bend Tunnel is on the left, renamed Great Bend Tunnel is on the right.
John Henry Park is upper left, directly above the Big Bend Tunnel portal.
Above, the eastern portal of 6,188' long Big Bend Tunnel.
Above, three views of Great Bend Tunnel in the winter of 2009.
It took one thousand men three years to finish working from both west and east portals, as well as from two vertical shafts down which men and mules were lowered in large buckets. The crews eventually met, at which time, a celebration was held with a barrel of bourbon, and a gold watch for the first man to break through. Many workers were newly freed slaves, schooled only for heavy labour under the South's system of slavery. Although well paid at $1.25 a day, it was back breaking, dangerous work.
Above, when I visited in early spring 2011, a fence had been built across the opening to the tunnel. This is to stop anyone entering the flooded, boulder strewn structure.
During construction, the air inside the tunnel would have been thick with noxious black smoke and dust, and hundreds lost their lives through rock falls, asphyxiation and silicosis, as well as the casual violence that went with construction camps. Their bodies were dumped into makeshift, sandy graves just outside the tunnel portals.
In many ways, steel drivers were amongst the most skilled of 19th Century manual labourers. They worked twelve hour shifts, wielding 14 lb hammers to drive drills into the rock to place powder charges. As many as fifty holes, sometimes 14' deep, were required for each blast and, once the rock was blasted free, it had to be shovelled by hand and hauled out in mule carts.
As a figure of American folklore, John Henry is, in many ways, an epitome of the indomitability of individual effort (a recurrent theme in American culture and life), as well as signalling the increasing marginalisation of the skilled American working class during the nation's relentless industrialisation during the 19th Century.
The fact that he is also African-American complicates things and, for African-Americans, his meaning is perhaps far more complex.
Above, looking east along the trace of the ex-Chesapeake & Ohio railroad grade leading to Great Bend Tunnel.
This is now a public access road, which allowed me to take photos of the tunnels on the left. The fencing on the right shows the limits of CSX property. From there, you can get some good views of action on the line.
In 1972, the C&O, Baltimore & Ohio and Western Maryland Railway merged to form the Chessie System. In 1987, the Chessie merged with the Seaboard System to form CSX Transportation.
There has, for some time, been a promise of a new site for the park and statue, and re-opening of the museum about a half mile east towards the outskirts of Talcott.
However, the signs are rickety and weather beaten, perhaps like the promise itself...
Related Links:
John Henry Park Location
John Henry: The Steel Driving Man Discussion
NPR John Henry site
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The most recent volume on John Henry is Scott Reynolds Nelson's Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend published by Oxford University Press in 2006 (click on the cover to search for this book on Bookfinder.com).
