Stone Head, Indiana - Direction and Distance Arrows on Waymarking.com

"In the early days of Brown County local residents had to comply with a decree that all able-bodied males work six days a year on public roads or waterways. Henry Cross, a farmer and part-time tombstone carver, was asked to carve three stone direction markers in 1851 in lieu of working the roads. Henry chiseled the figure out of a block of sandstone quarried from the streambed behind his house on Poplar Grove Rd, one mile east of here. The front of the marker points 17 miles east to Columbus and 27 miles west to Fairfax, a town that existed before Salt Creek was damned in the 1960’s to create Monroe Reservoir. The figure’s left side points 43 miles north to Indianapolis and 28 miles to Sparkesferie. It is believed this referred to a ferry service that ran on the Muscatatuck River between points not far from present day Sparksville.

The stone landmark you see here today is the last fully intact one of the three remaining. In the 1950’s a fragment of another carved head was found on the former property of artist, Kenneth Reeves, three miles from here on Christianburg Road. This fragment, depicting a hand and parts of the words “Indianapolis” and “Sparksferry (a different spelling than the one here), is now on display in the Brown County Historical Museum.

So who was the man with the seemingly unflattering “Shemp-like” haircut depicted in the famous carving? Initially I suspected it to perhaps be a likeness of the U.S. President from 1837-1841, Martin Van Buren, who bears the name of this township. A photo of Martin Van Buren shows him wearing the same style “mutton chop” sideburns that must have been fashionable in his day. However, after further investigation I discovered the monument's likeness to be that of former township road supervisor at the time, George Summa.

Stone Head’s place in Brown County resident’s hearts earned him a spot on the map. Though technically never a town, the area named after this historic marker claimed a grocery store and the only flourmill in Brown County (whose foundation and hand-chiseled quarried stones can be viewed today alongside Pleasant Creek at the back of this property)."

Date placed: 01/01/1851 Historic significance: Henry Cross carved this mile marker in compliance with a county wide decree. Location nearest to where you live now: Indianapolis (on the side of the head)

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Date Logged Log User Rating   02/21/2021 brcross95 visited it 08/02/2013 Gypsysoul4 visited it 07/02/2013 Hobbes43 visited it 07/02/2013 LandoMagic43 visited it 06/27/2013 Chutch1035 visited it 09/02/2012 DnRseekers visited it 03/03/2012 TheLawsonFamily visited it 09/10/2006 solarwib visited it

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