Last month, I made a trip to Galen, Tennessee, from my home in Dallas, Texas. It’s something I do as often as I can, because my mother grew up there. I visit her now in Haysville Cemetery where, in 2015, she joined her grandfather, Louis Murphy West; her parents, Harvey Horace and Mary Ann Payne West; and her brother, Cordell West, who before his death from tuberculosis at 17, named his newborn sister, Wilma Grey West.
I grew up hearing stories about Galen — about my grandparents’ neighbors, my grandpa’s sawmill and small grocery store, my mother’s playmates, her years at Galen School, and so much more. Now, when I make the trip to Galen, I not only visit my family’s graves, but I also visit the site of my grandparents’ home, sawmill, and little store.
The sawmill is gone now, but the West home and the tumble-down store right next door are still there, on the Galen Road. Maybe you know the spot.
When I returned home from my October visit to Galen, I pulled out a box of my Aunt Helen’s photographs, ones I inherited because of my interest in genealogy. I was most interested in finding images of the house/store at other times, and I found a few.
