Trail of Tears Memorial, Jerome, MO
The path is not clear.
Your name is Larry Baggett.
These two truths, one of which would change due to the second, are forever intertwined in the never-ending corridors of history.
Along the path of Route 66 in Jerome, MO, off Exit 172 for Highway D, a lone memorial and passageway stands forgotten by most and in increasing disrepair and disarray. It is a place to grieve, a doorway into the next wherever for a broken and decimated people trying to pass on, and a statement of reverence by an irreverent man who decided to believe and then took an opportunity to do his part to redress an uneven balance.
Larry Baggett bought the land and built a house for his wife on the property. Among the architectural touches were a stone retaining wall, which started events in motion. Unknown to Larry at the time, his property rested on the path of the "Trail of Tears," the name given to the route by the Cherokee and other Indian tribes forced off their native lands during President Andrew Jackson's tenure after the signing of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The path was so named because the forced evacuations of the Indian tribes, including women and children, occurred mostly during times of inclement weather, and tens of thousands of Native Americans died from a combination of sickness, exposure and starvation on their way to reservation lands in Oklahoma.
Where Larry enters the story is in his telling, before his passing in 2003, of why the various memorial sculptures and tributes to the Indian culture and population are in abundance through the property. After he built the stone wall, a knocking on his door during the nighttime hours commenced and persisted even after his checking and finding no mortal person on his property; the story goes that even his dogs, who slept by the door, were unaffected by the knocking. After this went on for a time, Larry describes a visit from an elderly Indian man, "who looked about 150 years old," who explained to him that the property was on the passageway of the Trail of Tears and that the spirits of the Cherokee could not pass until stairs were built over the stone wall to allow passage.
Larry did in fact build the stairs, and the knocking apparently ceased as soon as they were finished. He went on to build other tributes to Indian living and culture, including a sweat lodge, a garden house, fountains, and the stone entranceway to his property that you see here. It is unfortunate that the property, which was apparently bought in 2013, has suffered indignities such as missing heads from the sculptures and broken windows throughout the various buildings on the property in the last few years.
If you are interested in more information, several sources, both on this Route 66 memorial and on the Trail of Tears itself are available. David Wickline's Images of 66 book has a post on it, and there is a Facebook page under the title Larry Baggett's Trail of Tears Memorial, hosted by his grandson, that has several interviews with Larry as well as many photos including, as of this writing, some recently discovered photos at the grandson's aunt's house of the construction as it was being completed.
Trail of Tears Memorial, Jerome, MO
The path is not clear.
Your name is Larry Baggett.
These two truths, one of which would change due to the second, are forever intertwined in the never-ending corridors of history.
Along the path of Route 66 in Jerome, MO, off Exit 172 for Highway D, a lone memorial and passageway stands forgotten by most and in increasing disrepair and disarray. It is a place to grieve, a doorway into the next wherever for a broken and decimated people trying to pass on, and a statement of reverence by an irreverent man who decided to believe and then took an opportunity to do his part to redress an uneven balance.
Larry Baggett bought the land and built a house for his wife on the property. Among the architectural touches were a stone retaining wall, which started events in motion. Unknown to Larry at the time, his property rested on the path of the "Trail of Tears," the name given to the route by the Cherokee and other Indian tribes forced off their native lands during President Andrew Jackson's tenure after the signing of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The path was so named because the forced evacuations of the Indian tribes, including women and children, occurred mostly during times of inclement weather, and tens of thousands of Native Americans died from a combination of sickness, exposure and starvation on their way to reservation lands in Oklahoma.
Where Larry enters the story is in his telling, before his passing in 2003, of why the various memorial sculptures and tributes to the Indian culture and population are in abundance through the property. After he built the stone wall, a knocking on his door during the nighttime hours commenced and persisted even after his checking and finding no mortal person on his property; the story goes that even his dogs, who slept by the door, were unaffected by the knocking. After this went on for a time, Larry describes a visit from an elderly Indian man, "who looked about 150 years old," who explained to him that the property was on the passageway of the Trail of Tears and that the spirits of the Cherokee could not pass until stairs were built over the stone wall to allow passage.
Larry did in fact build the stairs, and the knocking apparently ceased as soon as they were finished. He went on to build other tributes to Indian living and culture, including a sweat lodge, a garden house, fountains, and the stone entranceway to his property that you see here. It is unfortunate that the property, which was apparently bought in 2013, has suffered indignities such as missing heads from the sculptures and broken windows throughout the various buildings on the property in the last few years.
If you are interested in more information, several sources, both on this Route 66 memorial and on the Trail of Tears itself are available. David Wickline's Images of 66 book has a post on it, and there is a Facebook page under the title Larry Baggett's Trail of Tears Memorial, hosted by his grandson, that has several interviews with Larry as well as many photos including, as of this writing, some recently discovered photos at the grandson's aunt's house of the construction as it was being completed.