Cast Iron Coffin Brings Giles County National Attention

In 2002, when I began covering relocation of the Mason Cemetery, I never imagined that a year later I’d be in the Smithsonian Institution as the remains believed to be those of planter and Confederate soldier Isaac Newton Mason were examined by a team of experts in...

Clothing, Boots Help Tell Soldier’s Story

Clothing, Boots Help Tell Isaac Mason’s Story On May 28, a room filled with scientists and historians awaited removal of a heavy lid from a heavy cast iron coffin containing what was believed to be remains of Giles Countian Isaac Newton Mason, a private in the 11th...

Photographer Chip Clark Documented Mason Story

Photographer Chip Clark Documented the Science Behind the Mason Story When the cast iron coffin believed to contain the remains of Isaac Newton Mason was opened at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in May 2003, a room filled with...

Examination Helped Confirm Mason’s Identity

Examination Helped Confirm Mason’s Identity When the heavy cast iron lid was hoisted from the coffin of what was believed to be Isaac Newton Mason’s remains in the Anthropology Conservation Laboratory on the third floor of the Smithsonian Institution on May 28, the...