Still the Beav

The mystery is solved as to the identity of the lumberjack by the side of the road, as discussed in a post yesterday. He is none other than Tony Beaver, the Appalachian version of Paul Bunyan (not to be confused with Tony Manero, the John Travolta character in Saturday Night Fever, although Beaver’s pose does bear some resemblance to one of Travolta’s dance moves ... I guess that would make him Saturday night Beaver ... never mind).

A number of local folk tales tell of Maw and Paw Beaver’s boy growing up big and tall and building a sawmill on the Eel River. Tony’s long strides took him from mountaintop to mountaintop and he could chop down two trees with one swing of his axe – one on the backswing and one on the downswing. A few tales have Tony teaming up with Paul Bunyan, his cousin to the north.

Thanks to Jeff at Anti-Itch Meditation for cluing me in. Additional details were found via Google. It helps to have Google set on safe search before looking for images of Tony Beaver. You also get quite a few pictures of Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers.