NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When you walk up the steps to the Tennessee State Capitol, one of the first things you may notice are the statues. As of Thursday, Tennessee has a new one.
Tennessee leaders gathered to unveil a statue of David Crockett, the legendary frontiersman and politician, on the Capitol grounds. "To honor a frontiersman, a pioneer," said House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville. "When anybody visits the capitol, that they understand what we're about."
Gov. Bill Lee echoed that sentiment. "That we could make this spot one that all Tennesseans are proud of," Lee said.
Jamie Lester of West Virginia was the sculptor selected to bring Crockett to life on the pedestal. He says it took two years to take this dream and make it a reality. "This is a grand project, it needed to be told in a grand way," Lester said in an interview with NewsChannel 5.
Lester said every detail of the statue was deliberate, including Crockett's expression. "They'll see in Crockett's eyes — intelligence, wisdom, sensitivity," Lester said.
Even the positioning of Crockett's two hound dogs was intentional. The male dog faces forward. "He represents the future," Lester said.
The female dog looks back. "She looks back behind in a protective way, but she's also looking at the past," Lester said.
Lester also pointed to a defining moment in Crockett's political career as central to the statue's meaning. "His lone vote in the Tennessee delegation against the Indian Removal Act," Lester said. "This is a man who was brave enough to do what was right even if it meant great risk to his own career."
The space where Crockett's statue now stands was not empty before. It previously held a statue of Edward Carmack — a vocal supporter of alcohol prohibition who, according to historians, also wrote sometimes inflammatory editorials on race and politics.
The state was already considering removing the Carmack statue when it was toppled during unrest in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
Photojournalist Ray Di Pietro was on the scene that day. “It was post-George Floyd, it was Black Lives Matter,” Di Pietro said. “I watched them rock it back and forth, and then they toppled it, and people cheered. And that’s when I started videotaping.”
Di Pietro said he was likely the only photojournalist present when the statue fell, and he was on hand Thursday to witness the new one take its place. "To watch that go down, it was quite shocking. To watch a new one unveiled — it closes the circle," Di Pietro said.
Lester said the cycle of statues rising and falling is part of history, but he believes Crockett's legacy is different.
"Statues will come down and statues will go up," Lester said. "This story of David Crockett I think is not like that. It's a story that will remain valid from here until eternity."
If you want to see the statue in person, it's on top of the Motlow tunnel along Martin Luther King Boulevard in Nashville.
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