Totem Pole Park

On Sunday we took one of our meandering family drives with no real plan in mind other than to get out and enjoy temperatures that were only in the 80s and make a stop at one of our favorite spots on earth, Totem Pole Park. I never get tired of visiting that place! A few years ago, I even got to help repaint a bit of the Fiddle House there. It was nice to see how the renovations had come along since then. I'm so happy that this treasure is being preserved. You can see more of the park through the years in my first post about it, which was one of my very first posts on this here blog.

We also spied a little Route 66 shop that we hadn't before, but it was closed, so I snapped a couple photos of the outside. The cinder block walls are covered in the autographs of Route 66 travelers from all over the world.

We took a whole bunch of photos that day. I am trying to get better about having my photo taken, but it's hard for me. I don't want these girls of mine to grow up and not have a single photo of their mama! Here's one that the Mister took. I call this my Downton Abbey Meets Reform School Girl outfit.

I updated the "About" page with some more photos of that day if you'd like to see more of the place or my goofy mug.

Ridiculously Exciting Kicks on Route 66

After being cooped up in the house with colds, Sugar Pea and I were ready for some fresh air yesterday, so we hit the open road bound for one of my favorite local attractions, Totem Pole Park. We hadn't been since she was a tiny baby, and I was eager to take her now that she could appreciate the excursion. It was a perfect late summer Oklahoma day, just right for driving with the windows down and the bluegrass turned up loud. When we arrived, I was a bit surprised to see that the largest structure was being repainted.

The initial restoration, done by the Kansas Grassroots Art Association over a seven year period, was begun in the early 90s. Therefore, some parts of the structure haven't been touched up in nearly twenty years. I struck up a conversation with a lovely lady perched on a ladder, paintbrush in hand. It seems that Ginny was chosen to spearhead the latest restoration of the park, but was coming up short in the volunteer department. Without a moment's hesitation, I asked if she could use my help. Secretly, I expected her to politely decline my offer. I thought her answer would be something along the lines of, "Thank you, but we only allow professionally trained artists and conservationists to touch brush to cement in this most holy of holy Folk Art Environments." To my great surprise, her face lit up and she asked me if I lived in the area. I said I most certainly did and that it would be my absolute pleasure and a great honor to play a small part in the conservation of this national treasure. And, just like that, my day took a turn I would never have predicted in a million and four years. I'm going to get to paint Totem Pole Park!


Ginny's been working from the ground up, so the giant bird and tortoise that form the base of the totem pole are sporting freshly pedicured toes.


Inside the Fiddle House was one of Mr. Galloway's beautiful fiddles that had not been on display the last time I visited. Many of his fiddles and other works of art were stolen or otherwise lost after his death, but some are slowly being returned to where they belong. I can hardly believe my good fortune that, at least for a few days, I get to belong there as well.

Is That the World's Largest Totem Pole or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

Remember our little road trip a while back? Well, after the stop at the Blue Whale, we headed further down the road to Foyil, Oklahoma, site of Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park, where in 1937, a wood working teacher and veteran of the Spanish American War began to construct a monument to the American Indian. Eleven years of hard work, 28 tons of cement, 6 tons of steel, and 100 tons of native sand and rock later, the 90 foot monstrosity was complete.

Working with one bucket of cement at a time, Mr. Galloway covered the stone and steel, then carved the 200 Native American designs that encircle the pole. The totem, which is 54 feet around the base, rises from the back of a massive turtle, and depicts four 9 feet tall Indian Chiefs at the top.

Besides the totem pole, there are several other examples of Mr. Galloway's masonry work displayed on the grounds, including a large arrowhead, a tree trunk birdhouse, ornate gate posts, picnic tables, and the recently rebuilt Galloway home with its original rock foundation and walls, dating from 1936.

The park had been left to decay after Ed's death in 1962, and had fallen into disrepair. The restoration had just begun when I first visited the park in 1992. (Yes, that's my little sis and I rockin' the slouch socks.)


Here is the round "Fiddle House" Ed built to house his woodwork, including elaborately carved furniture, inlaid pictures, and numerous handmade fiddles.

The building once held over 300 fiddles, but shortly after Mr. Galloway's death several were stolen. This picture is from a postcard showing Ed inside his Fiddle House around 1955.


Each of the 300 instruments was made from a different type of wood, many of them beautifully inlaid. The fiddles that remain are on now display, along with several other pieces of Galloway's work.


Ed Galloway was a true "backyard visionary". If all of us dedicated ourselves to pursuing our own passion with his level of devotion and hard work, we'd have a lot less time to sit around bitching about not doing anything with our lives and feeling sorry for ourselves. Of course, we might also be taken away by men in white coats, but we'd be living a rich life, wouldn't we, Dollfaces?

*As always, you may click on any picture to see it in more detail.