Big John: Giant Native American (Gone)
Kingsport, Tennessee
The tall, skinny Native American in this Appalachian Tennessee town was not a Muffler Man -- he was older and bigger!
Unveiled in 1954, "Big John" was 32 feet tall, and was built by John Barker, who stood him in front of his Honest John's gift shop and gas station. Five years later he moved the statue and his business a few blocks away, and in 1971 he sold both to Pratt's BBQ Barn restaurant.
Big John had a rigid pose with tense hands, and was held upright by an external frame across his back. His lack of clothes would've chilled any real inhabitant in this mountainous part of Tennessee, and his big, shiny, black shoes would've been impractical on the forest trails.
In early April 2018 the statue's neck snapped, leaving it with a sagging head. We put Pratt's in touch with Mark Cline, fiberglass artist and creator of Route 66's Buck Atom statue. He at first thought that he could just nudge the head back into position and fiberglass it into place, but the 120-pound head -- filled with concrete -- had crushed the Native's neck.
Mark brought Big John's head back to his studio, cast a lightweight replica, and reattached it to a newly-fashioned neck on July 4, 2018. He repaired the original head as well, and returned it to Pratt's, which put it on display inside the restaurant.
Pratt's went out of business in June 2024, and Big John was then sold at auction to a mini-golf. A crew with crane came to move him in March 2025, but Big John -- 71 years old -- collapsed.
