Our trip to Oxford was such a big success that we decided to take another field trip, this time to Henning. Henning was recently written up in the Commercial Appeal because a new interpretive center on the life of its most famous son Alex Hailey, author of the hugely successful book and TV series ROOTS, had just opened.
The interpretive center is a cinder block building with little personality. The mementos and artifacts in the museum consist of “reconstructions” of things that Hailey might have had. None of his awards or really cool stuff is on display. It is my contention, that his kids fought over this junk and A) pawned it or B) the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville is hording it.
There is a massive wood “bridge” connecting the interpretative center to Hailey’s grandparents’ home. An uninterested tour-guide gave us a tour of Hailey’s grandparents’ home. The guide rushed through the presentation like a Stepford Wife exhibiting very little interest for her job or the place that she was represen’. As with the interpretive center, all furnishings in the house were “reproductions” of what Hailey’s grandparents might have had in the house. The only problem was that it looked like someone had gone to an inexpensive refinished furniture warehouse and picked up whatever they could.
Alex Hailey used to visit his grandma in the summers and loved the stories that she would tell about Africa and the family history as slaves. Alex was so moved that he wrote ROOTS and is buried in the front lawn of the house. I must say that the most impressive thing about the “Hailey Estate” is the mega monument tombstone located in the front lawn.
In addition, we also visited Fort Pillow State Park. Fort Pillow, a Civil War fort and battle site location, is now equipped with a museum (with unknown hours) and poor signage (we were promised a Fort but could not find it!)
Ripley, just north of Henning, is well known for its tomatoes. The week that we went was a few weeks after the Ripley Tomato festival. We searched high and low for a roadside stand but could not find a thing. We also visited Ripley’s recently renovated Town Square which lacks the charm of Oxford.
Recommendation: Keep on driving, fast.
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