This is one of the strangest but most heartwarming monuments you will see in Georgia.
On this spot in 1933 during the Great Depression neighbors of a farmer named Bartow Barron joined together to rescue his pig from a dry well. This monument is erected to the spirit of friendship and community so characteristic of those times.
Donors listed on the monument: Reynolds Allen, Beegee Baugh, John Burkey, Suzanne Caskey, Chris Chandler, Beaufort Cranford, Ruth Cranford, Nancy Culberson, Lee Dickens, May Donnelly, Charles W. Ennis, Noel Fowler, Floride Gardner, Emily Garner, Don Hartsfield, Myralyn Hartsfield, Goat Helton, Francis Ross Hicks, Cecil Hodges, Mary Holt, Martha Johnson, Maxa Osterman, Brenda Phillips, Rubye C. Pittman, Wesley Pittman, Randolph Puckett, Gus Pursley, Leon Thigpen, Catherine Everett Thurston, Elizabeth Tinley, and Harriett Wright.
I’m not sure when the monument was erected, but I would guess the mid-1990s. I believe a poem about this incident was published by Harold A. Martin in his book Southland and Other Poems of the South [Cherokee Publishing, 1992], which is referenced at the bottom of the marker.
Great story!
How do I get there from Macon, GA?
Love the pig monument! Is the poem too long to post?
I thought the date of the monument was on it. Have you visited it?
Yes, I visited it. I photographed it! But I can’t locate a date, unless it was on the back. I wondered about that, too.
Don’t remember looking at the back myself. Maybe next time. Some of the names in my photo are readable and many are now deceased.
Wonderful! I’d love it if you could include the coordinates for places like this so I could find them one day. Of course, only if they’re publicly accessible.
Thanks for the great work you do and happy holidays!
there is a cache there,,, you can find it at geocaching.com
Well put. But, only in the deep South would you find such sentiment. My hat is off to the ones who are responsible and applaud them on such a great idea.
I totally agree, Peggy. If only people were so selfless today!