Will they come? — 04/03/08

Fri, May 16 2008

— Count us as skeptics against those who think a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln carved some 70 years ago will become a tourist attraction to help the economy of Owsley County.
But Owsley County officials disagree. They are planning to use $80,000 in coal-severance money to purchase the property where the Lincoln likeness is located. They hope to secure grants to clean up the site, build a hiking trail and perhaps a campground — all in hopes of attracting visitors to one of the state’s poorest counties.
According to sometimes contradictory local histories, a wandering peddler named Granville Johnson etched the carving in the 1930s as a way to thank the family of John Williams Sr. for taking care of him while he was sick. The life-size sculpture of Lincoln is cut into the flat side of a large sandstone boulder. It shows Lincoln wearing a long coat and clutching a book in his left hand. His right arm ends at the elbow.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum lists it in a national inventory of folk art. But it has never been a tourist attraction. In fact, even some residents of the small county seat of Boonville don’t know of the sculpture’s existence.
The Lincoln sculpture would tie in nicely with Owsley County’s golf course, county officials say, as well as the all-terrain vehicle and horse trails that Owsley and neighboring counties are creating. Maybe so, but Lincoln never visited Owsley County, thus there is no way to tie the sculpture to the 16th president’s life. Owsley County is a little too far off the beaten path to attract many history buffs who visit Lincoln’s birthplace and boyhood home near Hodgenville.
“I know there are some people who think we’re crazy to do this, including some people in this county, but this is the community’s one chance to purchase this sculpture and make something of it,” said Owsley Judge-Executive Cale Turner. “I think it will make a good investment. Time will tell.”
For the sake of Owsley County, we hope Turner is right and we are wrong.