Ed Galloway's World's Largest Totem Pole!

While Casey was helping the neighbor with a project Colton and I decided to go on an adventure. We headed to the WORLDS LARGEST TOTEM POLE!

Who knew we lived so close to this! Only a 35 min drive northwest of our house.

We were the only people there, good thing for the self timer on my camera!

This totem pole is just a few miles off of Route 66, northeast of Tulsa OK.

Ed Galloway finished the World's Largest Totem Pole in 1948. It was built as a monument to local Native American tribes, and also something for him to do after he retired.

He thought it would be a good place for youngsters to visit.

Sixty feet tall, six stories, 30 feet in circumference, the pole rests on the back of a turtle. Sculpted and brightly painted renditions of spirit lizards, owls, and headressed Indian chiefs climb to the pinnacle.

The totem pole is constructed of concrete over a scrap metal and sandstone rock skeleton

Ed built other sculptures on his property, though none as big as the Totem Pole. An Indian arrowhead sticks up out of the ground; stylized birds and smaller totem poles are spread across Totem Pole Park.

Ed Galloway was a wood worker. In the fiddle house that the built you can still see the 100's of fiddles that he hand made.

In the decades following Galloway's death,all the sculptures began to

 deterioratefrom weather and neglect. The bulk of the pieces in the

Fiddle House were stolen in 1970 and never recovered.

In the 1990s, a large restoration effort was undertaken by the Rogers County Historical Society, in concert with the Kansas Grass Roots Art Association and the Foyil Heritage Association. The outdoor sculptures were restored and repainted, and the Fiddle House was brought back from the brink of collapse.

Colton and I had a great time exploring the grounds, looking at the animals on the totem poles, and seeing a bit of Oklahoma history.