THE craftsman BEHIND THE cRafT
The Craftsman behind the craft
Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Walter Howell knows intimately that blacksmithing is not for the faint of heart or the tender of skin. “I tell kids,” says Walter, “that if you don’t like burns, bruises, and black buggers, don’t even think about getting into this.” That’s sage advice from someone who has had them all in the course of his iron working career.
Walter is an artist with a hammer, and a craftsman with an artist’s eye. From his shop in Henagar, Alabama on Sand Mountain, he makes ornamental iron pieces for homes and businesses, while keeping alive an old profession that most people think died out with the horse and buggy. He is quick to point out that he doesn’t make horseshoes. What he does make is fancy iron gates, hardware, hand rails, miniature plants and snakes, shutter stays, tables, street address signs, rib turners, and anything else that can be fashioned from hot iron over a blazing, 2,400 degree fire. It’s physically demanding work that can be dangerous and exhausting. But, says Walter, “I get excited every day before I fire up that forge. It’s just something I’ve gotta do.”
Walter came to blacksmithing rather late in life. For years he and wife Rhonda ran a horse farm in north Georgia. On a whim he decided to try to make an iron gate for the couple’s Sunset Stables farm, a creation that eventually featured a sunset with clouds, all made from welded, cold iron. Someone from Prater’s Mill in nearby Dalton saw the finished gate and invited Walter to set up a booth the following weekend. So with short notice, and with welding equipment in hand, he set up his first sales and demonstration booth and began to get serious about expanding his skills.
The first thing he knew he needed was more training. Encouraged by long time teacher Jack Towns in Catoosa County, Georgia, he enrolled in a class offered by Susan Madasci, and developed his skills so quickly that by the second day he felt like he’d been working with hot iron for years; by day 3 he was helping to teach the other students. “I hadn’t planned on being a blacksmith, although I remember when I was kid thinking that a blacksmith I’d seen was pretty cool,” says Walter. “It wasn’t planned; I reckon it’s something I was supposed to do.”
Full Story
Cherokee Plantation
story and photos by Holley Midgley
On the lower slopes of Lookout Mou
ntain, at the edge of Fort Payne, Alabama, sits a magnificent Greek Revival mansion now called Cherokee Plantation. Flanked by enormous trees and a neatly manicured, gently rolling lawn, the stately home naturally conjures up thoughts of an earlier age. But there is truly more here than meets the eye. For encased within the walls of Cherokee Plantation is the cabin that gave it its name: the 220 year old childhood home of legendary Cherokee leader John Ross.
It is believed that Cherokee Plantation is the oldest surviving home in Alabama. It was built in 1790 by Daniel and Molly Ross. Their third child, John, spent his formative years here. He would grow up to be a successful businessman, and the first president of the Cherokee nation. Later, he founded Ross’ Landing, the immediate predecessor to Chattanooga. His brother Andrew was one of the original justices of the Cherokee Supreme Court, located at the Cherokee capitol of New Echota, about 50 miles away, in Georgia. Together with their 7 siblings they spent their childhoods playing in the woods and fields surrounding Cherokee Plantation.
Originally Cherokee Plantation was a two room, two-story cabin constructed of gigantic hand hewn oak logs, chinked with mud. In the first of numerous modifications, an identical two story twin was soon built next to it; the two were then joined by a classic dog trot hallway. When the original structure was built, its individual log pieces were first laid out in the yard; each beam had a Roman numeral chiseled into it so that it could be put in its proper place when the house was erected.
Today there is a little door on the home’s second floor which can be opened, revealing part of the original wooden shingled roof under the newer modern roof. The Roman numerals can still be seen on those original roof beams. In the kitchen, a small section of the original oak log walls has been left exposed to view, revealing the massive and still solid wood.
