DEL.ICIO.USMark Lemon's model is 13 by 9 1/2 feet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/28/08
Mark Lemon wants everyone to remember the Alamo —not the Hollywood version though or what tourists see in San Antonio today.
Lemon decided to build a scale model of the original mission to show how much has been lost and what the Alamo looked like 172 years ago. He lost his garage in the process.
 Andy Sharp/AJC | ||
| Mark Lemon with the huge model of the Alamo and surrounding area as it appeared during the famous Texas battle in 1836. | ||
 Andy Sharp/AJC | ||
| A portion of the huge model which measures 13 feet by 9 1/2 feet. | ||
 Andy Sharp/AJC | ||
| Lemon's book 'The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey' was published two months ago. | ||
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The model, a 13 by 9.5-foot mini-replica of the Alamo, takes up most of the space. Although Lemon's wife Alla would like her garage back, it looks like the cars will stay on the driveway a while longer.
The model served as a guide for his book, "The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey." The book is getting attention and Lemon, 53, plans two more books on the subject.
State House Press published the book two months ago.
The History channel made a digital scan of the model last month for a cable channel show next year. It's a new show on the History channel called "What Went Down."
"It's ironic that Hollywood brought so many people to the Alamo story and then mislead them completely about what the place really looked like," Lemon said.
A recent movie about the siege between Texas rebels and Republic of Mexico forces spurred Lemon into creating a historically correct version of the Alamo. It wasn't the storytelling in the 1960 or 2004 movies that bothered him. It was the geography.
"I couldn't get my mind around who was saying what because the physical space wasn't correct," he said. "They cut out a courtyard —one of the most important parts of the battle."
Although Lemon's ancestors were early settlers in Acworth and his mother lives in the house his great-great grandfather built in 1856, Lemon's fascination with history led west. He's never forgotten his first trip to the Alamo as a a teen.
Lemon, a private investigator and Civil War-era artist, has a bachelor's degree in graphic design.
His mother, Martha Lemon, noticed her son's artistic bent and attention to detail as a child. She said he spent hours making tiny figures of American Revolutionary War soldiers. She said that carried over to his later Civil War paintings that are accurate to the buttons on the uniforms.
Bill Chemerka, founder of the Alamo Society and editor of the Alamo Journal, said Lemon wrote him four years ago, saying he wished to cross the line and join the Alamo Society.
Two years ago, Lemon was a featured speaker at the annual Alamo Society Symposium in San Antonio. At this year's event in March, he received the Society's 2008 art and architecture award.
"He has illuminated the Shrine of Texas liberty with remarkable skill," Chemerka said. "His book brings to life America's most famous mission-fortress."
The book's introduction by Bruce Winders, historian and curator of the Alamo, also gave a thumbs up. Winders said, "Alamo aficionados long for resurrection and Mark Lemon has produced something for all of them —the curious and the serious."
Lemon said his goal was to give visual context to the Alamo story.
He made three trips to Texas where he dug through land surveys, plats, deeds and other records. He discovered the location of the kitchen, the barracks and what materials were used to build them. He found construction methods that were used in the ramps to the gun platforms.
He used high density foam board to construct his three-dimensional model. Materials included scenic modeling clay for mounded earth, balsa wood for planking on gun ramps and twigs and sticks for logs on the palisades.
After drawing sketches, he decided to add photos for realism. He shot the model from every angle and asked a photographer in Texas to Photo Shop local scenery to add the look of 1836. The book has more than 176 pages and more than 100 drawings and photos.
"The siege at the Alamo is not just a regional story. It shaped the country we know today," Lemon said. "It is a story of sacrifice against self interest. We have to tell it right."
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