Weeping Angel - Grief LbNA #50158

Note: After three straight "attempts", we carved a new stamp, made a new box and took the drive up to northeast Texas to replace the missing one. It is, after all, of all the boxes I have placed, my favorite, because of the story, the place, and the Teich sculpture. My original clues referenced "the tallest pine tree on the fence line". We found that the pine tree had been cut down and only a stump remained, but we found the original box next to a nearby cedar tree (not the tallest one). We think that whoever cut the tree down found the box and moved it the few feet to the cedar tree. I couldn't be more pleased. We left the original stamp and logbook and placed them and the new logbook in a new box. The clues have been changed this date: November 10, 2015.

You may think that "Grief" is an innapropriate name for a letterbox, but it's the name of this beautiful sculpture. Frank Teich was born in Lobenstein, Germany, in 1856. When he immigrated to the United States in 1878, he was already an accomplished sculptor and painter. After traveling around the United States, by 1883 he was settled in San Antonio. Shortly afterwards, for health reasons, Teich left San Antonio for the hills around Fredericksburg. In Llano County Teich discovered a granite deposit and opened a quarry, but he soon left to spend time in Europe gathering ideas. He returned around 1901 and opened Teich Monumental Works two miles from Llano. Teich was responsible for, or worked on, many monuments throughout Texas and other states, many of them Confederate monuments in the southern states. In 1904 he sculpted a monument for the grave of William Scott Youree, a young man from Scottsville, Texas, who had died in Mexico. The Youree monument is named Grief and it is signed by the sculptor. Some consider this statue to be Teich's most artistic creation. The ten-foot statue is carved from Carrera marble and reportedly cost $40,000 in 1904. It is the centerpiece of the cemetery and sits just behind the stone chapel - also constructed in memory of Will Youree, the only son of banker Peter Youree and his wife Elizabeth Scott Youree. (Elizabeth's family are founders of Scottsville.) The cemetery is said to be the largest collection of Teich's work in one place in Texas. Several other angels stand very near "Grief" and for its size, the Scottsville Cemetery is probably the most picturesque in the state, despite being heavily vandalized in the late 1980s.

Directions: From Marshall, take U. S. 80 east several miles to FM 1998 and turn left. You will see the Oak Lawn Country Club golf course on your left. Follow FM 1998 to Scottsville at the intersection with Hwy. 2199. Continue straight ahead 1/4 mile to the Scottsville Cemetery on the left. You will know it by the impressive Confederate monument that rivals any on a courthouse square. Drive in and park at the gate near the chapel. Go in and look around the small cemetery at all the beautiful sculptures, many of them attributed to Frank Teich.

To the Box: You have no doubt already spotted the "Weeping Angel", titled "Grief" by Frank Teich. You should spend some time admiring the amazing carving skills of the artist. Facing the Angel, look to your right at due north. You will note a wire fence with a row of large cedar trees. You can only see the tops of the trees because of the bushes and undergrowth. Walk behind the chapel, down the sidewalk to a bench that faces the Powell marker. You can step into the bushes at point and have a clear view of the cedar trees. Walk to the left to the last cedar tree which is next to the large pine stump. The box is under an old red brick, twigs and leaves.