Malakoff Man

Malakoff Man has fallen from fame. The geologist E. H. Sellards inspected the first head and thought it genuine, and in November 1939 a University of Texas and WPA team found a third head in place. The Handbook of Texas says no other heads or related material have turned up since, despite intensive surveys. A later examination of heads one and three judged number three a geological peculiarity, and evidence indicates modern metal tools carved number one. Head two was not examined. The Handbook calls Malakoff Man largely discredited.

What the plaque says

Malakoff Man A sandstone image of a human head-- carved by prehistoric men-- was found near here in 1929 by workmen of Texas Clay Products Company. It was dug from gravel pit now under Cedar Creek Lake. The carving weighed 98 pounds, was 16 by 14 inches, with eyes 2.5 inches wide. First stone was found at depth of 16.5 feet. Two similar images were unearthed in same area in 1935 and 1939. Archaeologists date Malakoff "Men" as many thousands of years old. Found near the images were fossil remains of extinct horse, elephant, camel species. Images now in Texas Memorial Museum. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Purtis Creek State Park — 15 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 20 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.
• Petroleum Industry Park — 22 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 32 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.

More markers nearby

• The Trinity River — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Malakoff — 4.9 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Malakoff — 5.2 mi
• Rural Shade — 7.2 mi