Culture

These Are the Coordinates for John B’s Hedge Maze

An aerial view shows a landscape in disrepair.

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For the faithful listeners of the S-Town podcast, they become attached to its central character, John B. McLemore and his troubled life. A large part of that attachment, and a thematic centerpiece to S-Town’s story, is McLemore’s hedge maze — his great, unfinished passion project.

Naturally, listeners wanted to know just where the hedge maze is located. McLemore does give podcast host Brian Reed the coordinates of the hedge maze in Chapter 1 of the story. But the podcast producers didn’t finish those coordinates, leaving the audience in the dark about the location of the hedge maze.

Well, the coordinates have since been completed. Here they are:

33°12’08.9”N 87°07’52.0”W

Plug them into Google Maps and you’ll get an overhead view of the hedge maze that you’ve been hearing so much about.

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Upon getting that view, the first thing you might notice is the color: brown. Not the color that a hedge maze is supposed to be. And no, that’s not because of a change in the seasons.

The land on which the hedge maze sits, McLemore’s old property, is now owned by Kendall Burt — yes, that Kendall Burt — and K3 Lumber. Needless to say, K3 Lumber doesn’t exactly have an interest in preserving the maze.

It’s something that the internet has taken notice of, and already an online campaign has begun in an effort to rescue and restore the maze. It would be a big undertaking, even if the land could be acquired from Burt.

In the meantime, though, having these coordinates will at least sate many people’s curiosity regarding just what the hedge maze they’ve been hearing so much about actually looks like. Perhaps fittingly, in its current state, it’s nothing to write home about.

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