Mooney

"Unbelievable," "Amazing," and "Impossible" . . . those words are uttered countless times a day in several different languages in small-town Dover, Ohio, because people can hardly believe what they see. They are the tens of thousands who visit the backyard museum of Ernest "Mooney" Warther, billed as the world's master carver, to look at what the Smithsonian Institution said are "priceless works of art." During a span of nearly 50 years, Mooney recreated the history of the steam...
More Description

"Unbelievable," "Amazing," and "Impossible" . . . those words are uttered countless times a day in several different languages in small-town Dover, Ohio, because people can hardly believe what they see. They are the tens of thousands who visit the backyard museum of Ernest "Mooney" Warther, billed as the world's master carver, to look at what the Smithsonian Institution said are "priceless works of art." During a span of nearly 50 years, Mooney recreated the history of the steam engine, and major events in American history, by carving 64 scale models (one-half inch to the foot), each with intricate details and moving parts. One model required more than 7,200 parts and consumed nearly 1,400 hours of work spread across 16 months. The most famous model is the Funeral Train of Abraham Lincoln carved from ebony and ivory and exquisitely detailed - you can see Lincoln's sobering coffin through the car windows. Another favorite is the Empire State Express, at 8-feet long, it's the largest working ivory carving in the world. Author John Hayes grew up in Mooney Warther's backyard and often visited him during the 1950s and 1960s. He wrote this biography of Mooney in 1977, three years after the carver's death, and added a new Introduction for the ebook edition, drawing on his personal memories. Through the years Mooney met presidents, business tycoons and dignitaries far and wide, but one of his favorite friends was comedian and TV personality, Henry Morgan, who wrote the book's Foreword. "Mooney Warther was a genius," said Morgan, star of television's "I've Got A Secret". "He had a personal 'tutelary divinity' who guided his fingers. To people like me, who can't whittle a stick, Mooney was every bit as good as Michelangelo or Cellini. And, to judge by what we know of those gentlemen, Mooney was a nicer guy." "Think that you can, and do," Mooney encouraged the people who met him through the years. Today, his museum is a tribute to his achievements. People who see his carvings are awestruck. How could any one man think, let alone do, all that?