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Bell’s Landing History Discovery

So many times, in life we know so much about so many things, only to wonder what we really do not know about them. I hope that made sense. 

For me, I have known of The Bell’s Landing Presbyterian Church all my life. The earliest picture of me that I know of being made was taken supposedly at a wedding at that church. I was a very tiny kid. That would have been in 1957. As a preschooler I stayed with my great aunt who lived right up the lane from it. On a regular basis she would take me out for a walk, and we would walk up to that church. She would always go in and check things out and make sure that everything was ok. I would many times stay out and play on the steps while she was inside. Sometimes I think she would be cleaning up some. Other times I think she was quite possibly be praying. Not totally sure. I was very small. Needless to say, though my earliest memories as a small child contain that old church.

Although I have not been inside of it now in probably close to 60 or so years. As a kid, I went inside of it many times with my auntie when she was making her rounds checking things out.

I do not know the year, but I remember my father and some more men doing something on the top of it. I remember that my dad and Mr. Paul Miles were on top. I remember they had a rope that they were using to pull things up to work with. I remember us walking up to where they were working and putting things in a bucket that they pulled up. 

I always knew about it, but recently I started to wonder what the history of it was that I did not know. 

Recently I was doing research on some things. I came across a site that had a page titled The McCants Notes. Knowing that the McCants family was a prominent family of the time in that area it jumped out at me so to speak.

These notes start out speaking of two brothers who came to Southern Wilcox County. Their names were John and Thomas McCants. John had a son about 4 years old named Thomas as well. It states that in or “before” 1816 a house was made from hewn logs for a church. This building was used until about 1819.

Apparently in 1819 or there about a dispute started concerning the land on which the log church was located. The land was originally settled by Thomas McCants Sr. Apparently it was not properly recorded. A neighbor by the name of Peter McArthur showed government documents for the property and that brought on the dispute.

At this point in the notes is stated that “tradition states” that there was a “church session”. I interpret that to mean a church meeting. Supposedly this meeting was to determine the ownership of the land. The outcome of the meeting determined that Mr. McArthur proved his title to it and therefore secured his claim.

Then we see that this angered Thomas McCants so badly that he withdrew his alliance to the Presbyterian church and joined the Methodist Church.

The notes say that at that time the log building was torn down and moved across the road to the site of the present Preston Place. It then was used for a few years as a church and then converted into The McCants Inn.

I personally am not sure about that location. I know from being with my great aunt and my grandparents so much as a child that all of the last names were familiar to me. I understand that my great grandparents had moved to this area I am thinking in the 1920’s or 30’s. I am not certain where that would be though. Possibly towards the Vredenburgh area but I am not sure.

Also, this was the first I had ever heard or read of a McCants Inn being in that part of the world. 

There is an article in the Spring/Summer edition of Legacy Magazine of the Monroe County Heritage Museum that tells almost word for word the same story up to this point. It does not mention the McCants Inn.

The Legacy magazine states that The Presbyterian Church moved about three miles from its original site and about five miles from the present site. That source goes on to state that they then moved to Magnolia Academy, where they held worship services until they built a building on the present site in 1885.

Again, I do not remember ever hearing of a Magnolia Academy. I am not sure at the time of this writing where it was located but will definitely be looking for that name in anything I find document wise in the future.

Switching back to the McCants notes again I see stated that they moved to a site that is designated as the present site of the Pine Flat Baptist Church. It states that there was a Union church located there that had a slave gallery. It goes on to state that they worshiped there until the 1850’s and from there it went to Magnolia Academy.

Both accounts put the church locating at the present site in 1885. Both writings also state that that building was destroyed by a storm on May 10, 1927. 

According to the McCants notes the present building was not yet dedicated at the writing of that document Feb. 12, 1932.

My family lived in that area by the 1930’s. My grandparents lived approximately ¾ of a mile as the crow flies from the Presbyterian Church. My Great Grand Parents lived on the land beside the church. 

Another name I saw mentioned in those notes was a Samuel Grace. My grandparents said they got the land they lived on from Mr. Sam Grace.

For me to learn this much about this old church was an awesome experience. I had known all my life but then there was so much that I did not know. There is definitely a long rich history of that area and the community located there. As always, I am only more excited to learn more. Thank God for those that saw fit to write notes of all of this over the years so that we can find tidbits like these to go forward learning more.

Sources: (1) The McCants Letters, https://robertstapleton.tripod.com/mccantsletters.html

(2) Legacy Magazine Spring/Summer 2000, Bell’s Landing Presbyterian Church, page 7.

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The Hole In The Block

It’s an early December morning and I am wide awake. I looked at the clock and it is 4:00 AM. As I lay there thinking before, I get up to start my day my mind travels to yesterday. Working on my documentation of the churches of Alabama my wife and I traveled hard yesterday. I think I captured photos of 27 different churches and traveled close to 200 miles doing it. Then I got home and started sorting the photos into different folders on my laptop. Needless to say, it was a long day.

Then I started thinking about some of the places I had left to go in Monroe County to wrap up the photos of the churches. That is when I remembered I had some up around Peterman that I needed to get to. 

That thought then brought me to thinking about Peterman AL. My wife was raised at Peterman. I had lived there back in the 1970’s. In 1976 I worked at the Peterman Agricultural Company or as everybody knew it The PAC. I was 19 when I started working there. I worked in the equipment shop primarily on the agricultural equipment side. I worked a lot of the time as a road service mechanic. I worked primarily on cotton pickers, and combines, and I also drove a truck a lot hauling equipment. Looking back, I am amazed that at 19 years old I could take a big truck to Atlanta and come back. In fact, the first time I ever drove to Atlanta I drove a big truck. 

While I worked at the PAC I met a lot of people who had a strong influence on my life. Some as always for the worst and some that forever I will remember in the positive. Now for whatever reason I have grown to a point in my life that I have a disdain for talking about people in the negative. I know that if I hear it for any length of time I will be pulled in and doing the same thing. I do however like to talk about people whom I remember that did positive things and that is where my mind immediately went this morning.

I remember Mr. J.B. Philen. He was always very good to me. He assembled new equipment that came in like disc harrows and stuff of that nature. When I was working under the big shed across the road from the main building if Mr. JB was caught up he would come help me and it was almost like he was looking out for me. I had a tremendous respect for him. Mr. Mac Helton was my foreman. I can’t tell you how much I respected him also. He and Mr. JB were both WWII vets. Those were just two of the positive older role model men that I was able to be around in that time in my life. There were numerous others as well that helped me along with wisdom and passed along knowledge to me that even to this day all of these years later I still remember.

At the writing of this story, I am 66 years old. In my 66 years I have seen some incredibly talented craftsman. I worked 22 years in the papermill as a millwright and saw some folks that could do things that you would say, “that can’t be done”, but they did it. Of all that I ever ran into or worked beside however one stands head and shoulders above the rest who made an impression on me.

One of those men that I met while I was up in Peterman was a man named George Lee Chandler. Mr. George Lee as we all called him, lived up on the Hill on what I would way was the southwest side of Peterman. He had a small shop out a way from his house. I saw him do things that I will remember when I am 120 years old if I am blessed to live that long. They made that kind of impact on my life. He was a man that as the old saying goes could take chicken manure and make chicken soup. He could take nothing and make anything. If he could not fix it then it wasn’t really broken. Almost 50 years later I still marvel at some of the things I saw him fix and even am amazed at what others told me that they saw him do. Mr. J.B. Philen told me one day that he had seen him straighten the barrel on a shotgun that had gotten knocked over and bent. That one I never saw but I did see several he did do.

One of the first things I saw him do that amazed me was there was a tractor that came in with a hole in the side of the engine block that a connecting rod had come loose and went through. I am not sure how much an engine block would cost at that time nor possibly if one was readily available. All I know is the man the tractor belonged to told them to “go get George Lee to look at it”.

Mr. George came in and looked at it. He told them to pull it down and he would fix the block. So, they pulled it in the shop and stripped the engine to the bare block. He took it out to the steam cleaner and steam cleaned it for what seemed half a day. Then he washed it with degreaser. Then he ground the hole all around and beveled the edges. An engine block is cast iron, and you can’t burn it with a torch. There wasn’t a way to make a clean cut to get a piece to fit the hole. To get a piece to fit the hole he went out to the junk yard and found an engine out there that was messed up. He then took a hammer and busted some big pieces out of that one. He then took those pieces and brought them in and cleaned them up really good with degreaser. He then ground a couple of those pieces to the size and shape to fit the hole in the engine block. After that he tack welded those pieces into place. 

When I got to work next morning, he was heating it with a rose bud on an acetylene torch.  It appeared that he must have been working on it for a while because it appeared to already be getting hot. He was slowly heating the piece and a large area around the repair. I wasn’t able to stay with him and watch the entire procedure, but I was able to see most of the steps as he did them by observing what he was doing passing back and forth through the shop while doing my work.

He would heat the metal and check the material with a crayon that was designed to melt at a certain temperature. It seemed like he didn’t get in any hurry while doing this. It seemed like he heated for hours. When he got it where he wanted it temperature wise, he then welded the piece into the hole. He would weld a little while and then heat with the torch a while. Every few minutes he would check the temperature with the crayon. When he finally got it welded to his satisfaction he backed off and still maintained temperature on it. He then took two diesel fuel heaters that had blowers in them that were in the shop. He focused them directly on the spot on the block and left them blowing. The next morning when we came in to work there was one of the heaters still blowing on the block and it was backed a good distance away. 

He came in after an hour or so and took that one off and left the engine block laying on the floor the rest of the day. The next morning, he polished the side off with a wire brush on a grinder and painted it John Deer Green and you could not tell it had been repaired.

I would have given anything to have been able to work with him throughout the entire process. I can’t say with certainty how long the tractor ran after that repair. I know I saw it around for a lot of years after that and I never knew of it tearing up. I do know that I was incredibly impressed with that repair. It just amazed me that Mr. George could take what appeared to be nothing and do that kind of work.

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Snow Hill Institute Visit

As long as I can remember traveling up Al 21 going north, I have seen a sign that says Snow Hill Institute. I have learned over the years that this was indeed a very famous school.

Until I started doing my focus totally on the Black Belt, I did not know that much about it other than it was an old school for Black Children.

I was born in 1957 and remember the goings on of the Civil rights Movement of the early 1960’s although I was a small child. I know that in the early 1970’s the laws concerning segregation caused many schools that had been for black children to close and students both black and white were bused to other schools to satisfy that all were desegregated. Because of that fact many small country, and even some larger town or city, schools closed and bigger ones were built or added on to.

I saw Snow Hill Institute on a Historical list of Black Belt things and immediately it hit me. I know “about” where this is. I have never actually driven through and seen where it stands nor what it looks like.  Like always I had to do some research.

Naturally one of the first places I went to learn was the internet. As with more times than not the first thing I found on it was at encyclopediaofalabama .org. Here is what they have to say about it. (1) “The Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute was an African American school founded in the Snow Hill community of Wilcox County in 1893 by Tuskegee Institute graduate William J. Edwards. It operated as a private academy until in 1924 and the boasted 27 buildings, 35 employees, and some 400 students at its height. The building then served as an Alabama public school until 1973, when court-ordered desegregation forced its closure. Of the original campus, eight buildings survive. The site, which includes the burial plot of William Edwards, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.”

Like so many of the historical sites we have there is multitudes of information online with a simple search of their name. Snow Hill Institute is no exception.

Because of that fact I rarely add much more because of the ease of research through search engines it is easier to just make that reference instead of trying to compile it and then make sure everybody is cited as they should be for their hard work.

As I stated earlier, I had known about Snow Hill somewhat. I did not however know exactly where it stood other than the sign on Hwy 21 pointing in to it.

My wife and I were out rambling on this particular day, and I saw the sign. My wife had asked me about it earlier on another trip recently and I had told her what I knew, and we did not take time to go in to find it. Today we had time and here we went.

I turned from Hwy 21 and headed up towards the school. I was not sure what I was even Hunting. We came to the brick sign at what we learned was the entrance. Then we headed up the narrow-paved road into the school. That is when I saw it.

My first glance was shock. I was actually disturbed. I saw what had been these beautiful brick buildings that were now going away fast. It was obvious that there had been roof damage at some time in the past probably from a storm of some kind. There were remnants of blue tarps on the roof.

The roofs were falling in in places. It was a sad time for me. I do not know what I was actually hoping to see but in my expectations something as important to history of Alabama as this I felt would be, and rightfully should be preserved. Instead, they were falling in and fast going away. 

We drove up the road and I stopped several different times and took photos documenting best I could and then we would move a little further in and I would do the same. We moved on up to the top of the hill and then turned around and came back out. For me it was a solemn time. Any time I see things of great historical significance in trouble it does something to me. I want to see them all preserved. 

As always when I left my mind went to racing. I could imagine what it was like for all of those young people at that time in history. I could imagine what the classes were like. I could imagine that there were things like vegetable gardens there. I could imagine what great people came from this place and the accomplishments they were able to achieve because of the education they received here.

Hopefully in the not-too-distant future something can be done to this great historical place and it can be preserved. Like so many others of great significance it is slowly decaying and going away so that a future generation will not be able to see what it was like and know the great things that were accomplished here.

( 1 ) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/media/snow-hill-normal-and-industrial-institute/

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Pine Apple Hunter Appreciation 2023

I have been to Pine Apple Alabama many times in my life. When I was in high school, I had friends and family who went to school there. I visited there many times over those years. As time went on, I would go through there from time to time if I was out rambling and in the vicinity of that part of the country. It seemed like the time intervals got longer and longer between visits.

It had been a good number of years since I had been there up until I started rambling, taking photos, documenting, our beloved Southland a couple of years ago. After I went back one time and took a few photos in the area it seems like I am drawn back more and more frequently. 

When I started visiting again, I started hearing about this big day that they have every year in November called Hunter Appreciation Day. This year was the 27th year that they have had it.

 From the best of my understanding, it started as a way to show appreciation for all of the hunters that came in and enjoyed their recreation time in the Pineapple area. That area of the Black Belt is a very rich area in wildlife. Many hunters bring their families and friends into the area and enjoy their recreation there. Over the years many have purchased property, or leased property in the area specifically for that purpose. Because of the benefit that they were for the community as a whole, the Appreciation Day was born. Since the last Saturday of the month of November is normally the opening day of gun season it appears that it was the ideal day to hold it.

I had heard of this special day for years but for whatever reason never went. Normally I would hear of it in past tense. In other words, my memory would be jogged when I heard somebody mention that they went to the event. 

I had full intentions on going two years ago and let it slip up on me. Then last year I had plans to go for sure. Yep, I missed it again. This year I made up my mind that I was going to make it. I would think about it every day or so. Beings that I have been involved in researching things in the Black Belt a lot recently I would be in the area more often. I got reminders every few days in some form. 

My wife and I had been staying in the motorhome at Isaac Creek Campground in Monroe County for a few days. We made a stew for Thanksgiving Lunch and cooked some hoecakes of cornbread on the griddle. Then the day after we rambled the West side of Wilcox and a small portion of Clarke County. 

We watched movie for a while in the motorhome that night. It was just a well-earned time of relaxing to get away from the grind. 

This morning we got up early. Had a normal breakfast and showered and headed to Pine Apple. It was a little over an hour drive.

As we got there, cars were parked everywhere. We rode a good way out and parked beside the highway and walked in. It was definitely a sight to behold. The main street was lined with vendors down both sides. The street was blocked off and people were able to walk freely down the street and enjoy the day.

It was an awesome time. We saw friends that we had not seen in years. We walked the line of booths and enjoyed the arts and crafts of too many different types to even think about keeping up with. We visited a while, reminisced a while with those we saw we knew. As normal I visited a while with a lot I did not know. My dad always said I could start a conversation at a gas pump a thousand miles from home with a stranger, and talk thirty minutes.

There were politicians there who were campaigning for office. I got to see Caroleene Dobson who is running for congress. There were others running for local office. Since I don’t live in Wilcox County they were not on my radar nor me on theirs.

There were antique cars. There was a show and then a parade which was very neat. 

My pick, of all of the vehicles there was a dually 1930 Model A Truck. I thought that was the neatest thing.

I saw another craftsman who had some very interesting game calls that was awesome to me as well. 

Of course, we had to stop by a food booth. There were several of those there as well. There was about any kid of that kind of food you would want there. Rib sandwiches, grilled turkey legs, alligator on a stick, burgers, fries, sausage dogs, various kinds of barbecue, and of course funnel cakes.

Hunter Appreciation Day at Pine Apple Alabama is definitely something that is a family event and I definitely intend to put it on my schedule for next year. I am not affiliated with it in any way, but I highly suggest to anybody that can come and support this wonderful event next year. It is definitely a great day with all there appearing to enjoy themselves.

This is just one of the many great events held in our beautiful historic Black Belt Region of Alabama. Hope to see many more of those as well this coming up year.

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Black Lutheran Schools

I am forever enthused at what lies around the next corner. Always no matter where you turn in our beloved Southern Black Belt Region there is something to find that you did not know. Another story, another interesting person, place, or thing. 

I have been tied up for the last week working on projects concerning other business and had to refrain from rambling. Here it is another week coming up and last night my wife said, “it is supposed to rain mid-week.” If we are going to ramble, we need to do it tomorrow. Ha ha, she didn’t have to twist my arm. She is normally the one that is the responsible party in this relationship and tends to what needs to be done. I am normally the one that wants to be out rambling.

Last night I started scouring the maps. I had intentions of covering the area West of AL Hwy 21 and South of AL 10 as much as possible in the time we had. If you know the area, you know it is a sparsely populated area. Many miles of dirt roads with long distances where there are no houses of any kind.

Looking at Google Maps I found several potential things that I wanted to investigate in that area. As I continued looking, I found a church that jumped out at me. It was called Rosebud Lutheran Church and Rosa Young grave on the map. I later learned the proper name was Christ Ev. Lutheran Church and School.

Of course, I had no clue who Rosa Young was, but I had a strong awareness of the Lutheran Churches and Schools that had existed many years ago. I could remember the one at Tinela in Northern Monroe County. I actually remember as a very small child that they had school and church there in what would have been the very early 1960’s.

I also remembered that there was one North of Vredenburgh in Southern Wilcox County on the dirt roads that I always thought was one. I did not remember it being open, but I do remember going up through there and a guy I knew lived there on the property. There was also one out from Buena Vista. Although, I did not know where they were I had always heard that there were others. The ones I knew of closed to the best of my understanding and remembrance when they built a new one on the South side of Vredenburgh.  That one was larger and from my guess consolidated several of them into one. This would have been in the early 1960’s. I remember they had a school bus that I think was blue that served the school. I was very young when this happened, but I definitely remember much concerning it.

Because of my curiosity over the years, when I saw that one on the map it immediately jumped out at me. I knew that if there was a way, I would find it on this trip. We wound our way up through the hills from Beatrice checking out some other places that I had found on the map that were interesting. Because I am trying to be as thorough as possible locating things in an area, I was doing my best to get to as much as possible that looked like a possibility.

We ran miles of dirt roads some of them were pretty rough. With a rain coming in some of them would be definitely four wheel drive all the way in a Jeep. This time they were just slick and boggy. Next time will be a different story if it rains. We went through from old Nadawah across the hills and came out on AL 265 and then we turned back across the hills again from Fatama towards Neenah. Then finally in towards Rosebud. Watching my map closely we were able to find it with no trouble. Rounding the curve in the road there it stood. 

There was a green building trimmed in white. A lump came into my throat. I remembered those colors or in my mind they were the same anyway. The building looked to me almost exactly like the one I remembered from my early childhood at Tinela. As with every historical thing like that I see that for whatever reason my mind went elsewhere. It went to the old building on AL 41 out from Tinela. I remembered it when it was being used. Then I remembered it going down. Decade by decade slipping into oblivion being reclaimed by nature. In my mind they were exactly the same.

Mt Olive Church School (click link to read)

Then I started to focus on the rest of the grounds. Directly in front of the church was a grave surrounded by a metal fence. I then realized that this was the grave of a woman named Rosa Young. There was a small paragraph long introduction to her on her grave. 

Now if you know me, you know I had to find out more about this woman Rosa Young. They always say that Google is your friend. So, I went home and entered her name.

The first page that came up was the Encyclopedia of Alabama with her information.

https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/rosa-young/ From that information printed there I learned that she was known as the “Mother of Black Lutheranism in central Alabama. She was a strong advocate of education of rural children.” Rosa Young was born in 1890 and died in 1971. According to the above link, “she was instrumental in founding and promoting the development of Lutheran schools and congregations in the Alabama Black Belt.”

The story on the Encyclopedia of Alabama website is a great story and I will not try to elaborate more because the link to the information is there. One thing in the article in that publication however I strongly disagree with is that it states, “Young and a man named Nils J Baake visited these sites and founded schools that became centers of Lutheran congregations in Buena Vista, Tilden, Tinela, and Midway (all in Wilcox County) in 1916 and Ingomar (in Dallas County) in 1919.” I personally know for a fact that the one at Tinela, and Buena Vista were actually in Northern Monroe County. Tilden appears to have been in Dallas County, Midway also appears to have been in Monroe but at the writing of this post I have not located its where-a-bouts although I intend to if possible.

The Mission at Vredenburgh was a short distance North of the Monroe/Wilcox County line almost directly above the Apple Grove Church. Nothing stands visible there today however according to land ownership maps the Lutheran organization still owns the 5 acres there.

As I stop and think about this information that I have accumulated I can only imagine that it was a monumental feat for this woman raised in rural Alabama in those times to accomplish the feats that she did to bring education to this part of the Rural South. There are volumes more written about her online and in books so I won’t try to quote any more. 

Rosa Young is one more great American that should be remembered for centuries to come as a person in our great land that made a difference. In my opinion she is indeed a hero of our beloved Black Belt.

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Why The Black Belt?

Several people have asked me the question, “Why the Black Belt”?

Here is the best explanation I can give. Ever since I got back into photography a few years ago I have been sort of searching for a niche. I love drones, history, the outdoors, and writing stories. 

I have retired from both my lawn service business and as the pastor of a small church. My wife and I love to get out and ramble. Our health is good. Normally when I am out and about she is with me. 

I have been for quite a while shooting drone photos and videos of forest fire lookout towers. I bought my first digital SLR camera a couple of years ago. I had of course always since I was a kid loved photography. In the 1980’s and 90’s before digital I shot a lot of 35mm photos. I had owned numerous cheap digital cameras and taken a lot of photos with them also.

I felt the need/desire or whatever you would term it to travel and document the various things of our beloved southland. Even back with 35mm I did that often as well as some wildlife photography. First off, I started doing drone videos and putting them on YouTube. As that progressed, I started shooting photos of other things. I especially liked documenting pre-1900 churches.

I had already traveled over several counties in Alabama and some in Mississippi taking photos of the small towns. Midsummer of 2023, I started to try to visit all 67 counties in Alabama. I actually wrote a blog post on doing that in August. Rambling The Black Belt.

I decided to work the area East of I-65 from the bottom of the state to the top. Then, I would work the area from the bottom to the top on the West side of I-65. I went out four times. I would leave home, hit as many small map-dot towns as I could in a day. Then I would spend the night in my van and go again the next day.

I did this four different times. Three of those times I ran almost 600 miles each and put in a lot of hours. The fourth I ran over 700 miles. I would take so many photos doing this, that it would take me two weeks several hours a day, after I got home, to just go through, sort and locate where all the photos were taken. After that even more time to process and share to social media and on the website.

I was thoroughly enjoying doing what I was doing and planned to continue till I got all 67 counties. When I got up as far north as Hwy. US-80 which had me working the Eastern Black Belt I started to realize that I was trying to cover too much territory at the time. I was taking hundreds of photos, but I was trying to cover too much too thinly. Doing it this way just did not give me enough time to find out anything about what I was photographing. I was just getting photos but not getting the story behind the photos.

That is when I realized that I needed to focus deeper on one area and stick with it. Because there is so much of what I love in the Black Belt, that was where I needed to be. So here I am.

My goal now is to focus for as long as it takes on primarily the Western, Alabama, Black Belt. Western, meaning the areas primarily West of I-65. I do plan at some point to go back into the Eastern part again and do it the same way. My plan is to capture photos of as many of the pre-1900 churches as I can locate as well as any other things of historical interest. Along the way I will document whatever else that I run across that is interesting, unusual, or basically that catches my attention. I will focus at times on wildlife and primarily birds. The Black Belt is very rich in birds, and I feel that is something else I would like to keep documenting.

As I document the churches, I post them on my website under the tab Black Belt Churches. That page has an index of the counties. Under the tabs of the counties are the links to the individual pages of the churches themselves listed in alphabetical order for that county. That will be an ongoing work where I populate the various county pages as I visit them. Over time it will be into the hundreds of historical churches.

I have been and will continue to write blog posts on whatever and whenever as I travel. They can be viewed as I post them on my web site jacksonsramblings.com. I would like to go back to making some videos but I will not say when that will happen because doing what I am trying to accomplish now is a full time job, believe it or not.

From the information gathered and shared on my website it would be nice to have some books as well as calendars and other material printed.

I have always loved wildlife and at some point, I would like to have my wildlife photos somewhere as well, possibly another page on the website or on another website.

This is a project that to do it justice will take several years quite possibly. A lot of it will take multiple trips into the same area over the coming months and even years.

It would be incredible if I could pick up some sponsors who would love to see this accomplished. I could really use some updates on some of my camera equipment. There is also a considerable cost involved in traveling, maintaining and at some point, replacing my Jeep.  There are also expenses to maintain my small motorhome, as well as fuel and campground fees, meals when traveling, and so forth. There are always computer related expenses as well. My current MacBook is three years old so hopefully I won’t have to replace it for a good while yet.

Between my Facebook groups and pages, I now have in the thousands that follow and I appreciate the friendships that I have already made and look forward to a whole lot more as time goes on. I can only imagine what the coming months and years can and will bring. There are so many that I want to meet face to face and learn their stories and the stories of their family’s contributions to our great Black Belt Reigon.

If you have read this far, I welcome you and hope you will see fit to follow along on this project as I travel our beloved Historical Alabama Black Belt.

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Pine Flat Methodist Church

We woke up this morning as normal. It was a cool early Fall Day with the wind blowing. After we had breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee my wife asked me if I had anything I wanted to do today?

Now if you follow me then you know that it does not take much to get me to head out rambling. We finished our coffee and got showers and packed some stuff for a picnic style lunch and got in the Jeep and headed out.

The quest today was for the very Southeast side of Wilcox County. I had determined that I need to try to make another trip into that area and try to find a few more possibilities for photos and stories. I am trying to do as exhaustive coverage as possible of the Black Belt Region and it requires at times numerous trips into an area.

We covered several things and wound up on Hwy 10 headed East towards Greenville. When we crossed the Butler County Line, I said I will turn around at the next good place I find to get out of the road.

As we rode along, we came to a cemetery on the left (north side of Hwy 10). I slowed and turned in. I decided to look at the headstones for a minute and possibly take a few shots of the cemetery. 

That is when I saw it. Sitting in the back, kind of in a corner was this beautiful old white church building. You guessed it. My phobia kicked in. The one that must take a photo of an old church. I just had to check that out.

I walked through the cemetery and captured a few shots of the various graves. One particularly interesting one was one I saw that was covered in seashells. I saw at least one that was above the ground. There were others with beautiful headstones.

I finally got to the back of the cemetery and maneuvered around and captured a few frames of that beautiful old church. 

I would be afraid to guess how many times I have traveled across AL 10 in my lifetime. It is not that often, but it has been a considerable number. I am sure I have seen it before but for some reason I did not remember paying any attention to this church.

I saw the sign outside that said the name was Pine Flat Methodist and it was established in 1858. 

I went on back to the Jeep and we went on our way. I pondered on this one for a while and then my mind went to other things and places as we headed on home.

When we finally got home, and I had opportunity I started to research Pine Flat Church. I found that it is indeed a Historical Black Belt Church.

The first source I found on it was the Greenville Advocate online newspaper (1). The article in the September 27, 2023, titled Pine Flat Church Celebrates 165 years jumped out at me. From that article I found that on October 1, 2023 Pine Flat held the yearly home coming event and this year was the 165thyear. This memorial event is held the first Sunday in October and has been since 1968.

The second source I found on this old church was from a site called (2) Wikimapia. It said, “In the spring of 1858, the present Pine Flat Methodist Church building was erected by the men of the community with the help of their slaves. Virgin pine trees were felled, and the timber sawed with a jigsaw at Bowen’s Mill. The boards were then hand planed.”

“The church lot was deeded by James and Martha Reynolds who lived near the site where the first house was built in Butler County; this home was erected by James K. Benson, government surveyor in 1815”. 

This article goes on to say,  “The church had a slave gallery extending across the front end. This gallery could be entered by stairs leading from the front porch. At morning services, the slaves sat in the gallery and in the afternoon special services were held for the slaves who sat downstairs while the white people attending sat in the gallery. When the church was repaired in 1870 the slave gallery was removed. The pews, communion rail, table, half octagon-shaped pulpit, and doors all are constructed of heart pine and are put together with square nails or wooden pegs. At first the center pews were divided with a solid partition to separate the men from the women. The one odd small bench, in the style of a colonial deacons’ bench, was one of three that were placed near the altar, and were used by those who came requesting the prayers of the congregation.”

This is truly in my opinion a historical Black Belt Church that appears to be in great condition and will hopefully be standing just as well kept for centuries to come. I salute those that are taking care of it and hope the generations that follow will do the same.

Sources:

(1) https://www.greenvilleadvocate.com/2023/09/27/pine-flat-church-celebrates-165-years/

(2) http://wikimapia.org/37239368/Pine-Flat-Methodist-Church

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Ramah Church (Lowndes County)

Recently on my social media page I was asking for input on locating interesting places. Many times, I have done this in the past and had success in finding interesting places and other times it has been a dead end. 

On this particular time, I got several things mentioned and I made notes to figure it all out for some times of rambling in the future.

 One particular comment with a link immediately caught my attention. It was a blog post Michaelclemmer.blogspot. It was titled Ramah-The Church that Hope Built. Here is a link to this site. https://michaelclemmer.blogspot.com/2014/05/ramah-church-that-hope-built.html?fbclid=IwAR3SiRr2H0CY9J8wTsRK5J1quN-eH35Q9fuEWNhfNumQ3k9RY7d8NKyKlHc

Now like most times I read this and was immediately enthused on this great old church. Beings I was focusing on the areas of Lowndes and Dallas Counties I knew I had to find it while I was in the area.

I won’t in this post try to retell this writer’s story, but it is a noteworthy read.

Note that this Old Church was built in 1868 and was not affiliated with any denomination and was remodeled in 1904. From my observation it appears to be pretty much the same since this renovation.

Sitting at the bottom of the hill looking up at this beautiful old church gives one a sense of awe. As I recounted the story told from the linked blog post I could only imagine what it was like back when it was first built.

Reading that it was built by former slaves who were very poor it made it even more significant. Just to look up the hill at it and focus on the prominence of it. The commanding position on the top of the hill gave it distinction. 

As I do on almost everyone, I see I stop and think. I try to picture as typical Sunday morning. As I was thinking about it I could picture probably numerous people dressed as best they had to dress. Men, women, boys, and girls. Probably in a community as described there would be no flashy carriages. Probably only mules and wagons and people walking to get there in time for service. I could still visualize gatherings outside with food and laughter. This was a place I felt of peace. It was a place to gather, grow, and be uplifted and strengthened by the community around you.

This is one more place that has stood over 150 years and is still well preserved. Hopefully it will stand that much longer still as a symbol of Hope on this High Hill.

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CME Church At Lowndesboro, Alabama

I say it most of the time when I write about something that I have found. “I love rambling in Alabama.” You never know what is around the next turn. There is always something new to learn. There is always something different to see. Just when you are kind of starting to wonder, “well I wonder what’s next.” Bang here comes something else. It never disappoints. There is always something out there if you keep on looking.

This week I was looking in the area of Lowndes and Dallas Counties. We were staying at the Prairie Creek Campground. We left home around mid-day and drove the camper up and set up for the night. Then we set out for whatever.

I call it whatever because I am looking for whatever. I don’t know what it is but when I see it, I will know. Historical, different, original, yep I want to see it and take photos of it and learn what there is to know about it.

Riding into Lowndesboro, Alabama Tuesday afternoon did not disappoint. The first thing I noticed was the big old pre-1900 churches. I don’t know what it might be called to be the way I am about them, but I don’t seem to be able to pass one of those old churches without stopping and taking photos of it. Lowndesboro is a treasure in that sense.

One such church that I found was the CME Church. Now all of them are neat and I will probably talk about them later but this one is different for sure. At first I saw the church and did not realize exactly what I was looking at. At any rate a friend of mine had told me about this church. I got some photographs of it and the others in town and then went over to the Library at Hayneville. In the Alabama Room at the public library is a treasure trove of Alabama History stuff. 

On one of the shelves, I found a book titled Lowndesboro’s Picturesque Legacies. In that book was the story of this church and how it came to be.

From the story I read in this book a wealthy planter by the name of Major William Robinson was instrumental in the building what was first named the Methodist-Protestant Church. This was a church that was typical of the time. It had a gable roof on it with a portico that ran across the entire front of the church. This portico was supported by four tall wooden columns.

This book and other sources I read online dated the construction of this beautiful church at 1833. Although I did not get to go inside to see for myself. The writing says that there are winding narrow steps inside on each side that lead to the balcony that is across the rear of the church. 

The thing that makes this one more unique than any other in the entire world is the small octagon shaped steeple with the copperplated dome on top. This dome was once on top of the State Capital at Cahaba. I could not believe it. That to me was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. I have seen a lot of 1800’s churches but never even knew before this week that this one existed.

This is one of the oldest churches in the Black Belt Region of Alabama. The book said that The Methodist-Protestant Church acquired the dome from the capital after the flood of 1933 caused it to collapse. 

Major Robinson wanted to retain this part of the Cahaba Capital. He acquired the dome and according to the book Major Robinson had to use six yokes of oxen to move it and because of the road conditions it took him a month to move the dome from Cahaba to Lowndesboro.

The book goes on to say that when he got there with it there was a dispute among the members and all except two families left the church. They established a new church at the present site of the United Methodist Church.

At the death of Major Robinson in the 1880’s the building and property were deeded to a group of former slaves and their children. It was at that time renamed CME Church.

Services continued in the church until 1966. The building was abandoned in 1983. In 1990 it was leased by a local task force for fifty years so that it could be preserved.

Today it stands a beautiful building that I was so fortunate to get the opportunity to photograph and find out the history on. It is truly a beauty to behold.

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Adams Grove Presbyterian Church

We all have things on our bucket list. For some folks the list is actually a real list and for others it is just something that they keep in the back of their minds. I am kind of that way. I don’t actually have a list made out that I follow but, I do have a lot of things that I want to see and do.

One of those things was to take a photograph of the Adams Grove Presbyterian Church at Sardis, Alabama.

I honestly don’t know the first time I saw a photo of it, but it was years ago. For some reason I have wanted to capture a photo of it ever since. Now you might ask why? I honestly do not know why it has stayed on my mind so long.

I have passed through Sardis several times over the years but for some reason I was in too big of hurry. Other times I would totally for some reason forget about it till it was too late to try to figure out where it was located.

On a recent trip to the Dallas/Lowndes County area taking photos and doing research I was in Selma. I had come across Hwy 80 from Prairie Creek Campground where my wife and I had our camper parked. I thought about it and this time it would not leave my mind, so I told my wife that this time I was going to find it before I went back to Prairie Creek for the night.

We drove down to Sardis, and I typed it in the map, and it popped up. I proceeded to follow the directions to get to it. I drove up and pulled to the side of the rode and as silly as it might sound to some I just stood there in the edge of the road in awe. Now if you are not addicted to taking photos of historical buildings that might sound crazy to you. However, for me it makes my mind go to racing.

Like I have done so many times before when seeing something like Adams Grove my mind went into overdrive. As I stood there, I started to picture in my mind what it looked like when it was new. I looked at what I could see from the road. As I stood there, I started to focus on what I could see of the interior. Obviously from the road I could only see a small amount, but it was enough.

I could picture it as it appeared in the 1860’s. I had read that it was constructed mainly in 1853 and somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that I had read it was finished in early 1854. (Researching later I did not find a date of 1854 so I guess that was just a dream.) 

I captured a few frames of it and proceeded back to the Jeep where my wife and Taffy our little dog were waiting patiently for me.

Riding on I was focusing on driving and the church. Pondering on what I had read up on it and what I saw. I had read that there were four different entrances. One for the women, which I assumed from past stories on others of the same time frame was the left front. One for the men which I assumed from the same sources was the right one. Then there were two side entrances for slaves to enter and they sat in the balcony. I have never heard any sources say whether the man and women slaves entered different doors.

All of the sources I have seen said that it was of an Antebellum Greek Revival Styled Architecture.  

As I said earlier, something about it just captivates my mind when I think about it. The time and expense involved in building it. I can see the men, women, and children in my imagination going and coming. I can see the horses and carriages bringing people. Probably some lived close enough as in most cases with many churches of that era to walk to church without a horse or carriage.

Then as I always seem to move forward in time in my mind I can for whatever reason imagine that there were cars. First Model T’s and then newer and more modern cars. 

From the best understanding I can find the last services were held there in 1974 and it was added to the Historic Registry in 1986. It is now privately owned.

This is just one more treasure that is slowly slipping into time and decay. In my opinion it would take an immense amount to restore it but it would be incredible to see it restored to its former glory once again.

This is truly one of many Black Belt treasures that I have been fortunate enough to get to see and hopefully one of many more left for me to find and photograph.

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Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church

Here is a beautiful old church that caught my eye as we were out rambling. It is an example of one that has been preserved on the outside anyway. I do not know what the inside looks like nor if it is used for any kind of functions. 

It is located in Dallas County, a short distance from the Dallas Lowndes County Line. The local community is called Pleasant Hill. 32° 9′ 55.99 N 86° 54′ 31.212 W

According to the historical marker out front of this church it was a very old church that stopped meeting long ago. It served two different congregations for what would be considered by some standards generations.

It was originally a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Originally it was named Mount Pleasant. It was organized on this location approximately 1821 by Rev. William James Moor. Rev Moor was a missionary from the Elk Presbytery of Tennessee. 

It was renamed Mount Carmel in 1827. The maker goes on to say that it provided early leadership for the Alabama Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

The present structure was built in 1852. 

Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church, PCUS, was formed in 1873 and shared this building with Mount Carmel.

Mount Carmel was defunct by, and Pleasant Hill became defunct by 1935. Pleasant Hill was dissolved in 1963. Pleasant Hill Cemetery Association was formed in 1973 to oversee the care of the property.

If you read my blogs and have further information on it feel free to share any information you might have on it. I always love to learn more and more information on these things.

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Ft. Deposit Methodist Church

Yesterday my wife and I were out rambling. We had our motorhome parked up in Southern Lowndes County. As always, we were looking for interesting things to photograph and learn about.

A few weeks ago, I had been through Ft. Deposit AL. taking pictures of the town as I have done so many in the past. When I came through before I had captured some images of a beautiful old church that I later learned was the Ft. Deposit Methodist Church. On the day I had come through before there was a food give away going on and there were cars lined up all over town waiting for the food that was being distributed. Because of that fact I could not get a shot of the church without cars in it, and I do not like to do that if possible. I had told my wife that if I could I would like to ride through and possibly capture some more shots of that one. 

We headed up to Ft. Deposit and made the turn down the street that this church was on and sure enough this time there was not a car in sight. That was awesome. I was excited beyond measure. On top of that they have been working on it when I was up before and now, they had painted the front and it looked incredible. I could not wait.

I parked my Jeep across the road and got my camera out and started to get into position to get a few shots. I heard a voice come from across the road where some men were working on finishing up the work on the paint. I walked across and the young man who introduced himself to me as Alan Little whose crew was working on the building started telling me about the building.

He asked me if I would like to get a few photos of the inside? Asking me that question would be like asking a pig if he liked mud. Of course, I wanted to. For me that is a rarity. Normally I do not go up close enough to these old churches to get inside. I do not want anything to happen to one and me be seen as the last one there. Normally I stay away although I love to take photos of them. Therefore, getting invited to take a few photos of this incredible old building was absolutely a treat.

He opened the door, and I went in. I was awestruck. Inside it is beautiful. I walked around and took random photos of the inside. The stained-glass windows were incredible. From my understanding they dated back to around 1800 but it was not clear to me where they had come from. I took several photos of the inside of the building, and they are shared here but honestly, I felt that they did not do this work of art justice. It is a show piece in my opinion.

As I walked through this incredible building, I was so thankful for the opportunity to get to witness it firsthand. I could imagine the finely dressed families coming in and sitting on the beautiful pews. I could in my mind hear the singing and then preaching that would have been there. 

As I walked out the door still daydreaming of what it might have been like I could visualize the carriages and wagons that people who drove would have been riding in. Being in town I would have figured that many would have quite possibly just walked to church thus not having a carriage or wagon to have to deal with. What an incredible show it would be to be able to see all of this as it was back then.

Once back outside, I saw on the side of the building a plaque that said Erected in 1861 Perfected 1899. From the best understanding I could determine the building was originally built in 1861. Then that building was destroyed or severely damaged and this building was completed in 1899. In the conversations concerning it I understood that the first service in this building was in Jan. 1900 although I did not catch the date.

After this preservation this grand old building should be standing several more decades and hopefully will continue to be preserved for centuries to come.

It was definitely an uplifting visit for me and I am so thankful that I got to witness it and be able to share it with those who follow my writings.

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Airing The Quilts

Being raised in South Alabama in the 1960’s quilting and quilt makers were part of my family’s life. Both of my grandmothers were very good at it. My maternal grandmother made a more traditional type of quilts that were beautiful and sought after by many who knew her. My paternal grandmother made a more artistic type of quilts that were beautiful. She was a perfectionist and she made everything on one by hand and the stitches were incredible to look at.

I said all of that to say that I understand what goes into making beautiful quilts. It is a very long and time-consuming process.

For years I have heard of the quilters at Gee’s Bend Alabama. I knew that they were known far and wide as folk artist of the highest degree. Beings I am focusing on the Historic Black Belt of Alabama I am interested in anything going on in the Black Belt. Recently I saw a brochure advertising an event called the Airing of the Quits at Gee’s Bend. I told my wife that we needed to go.

We marked the date and prepared to go. As normal I was up very early, and I sat pondering on the day to come. 

First off, I started reminiscing of quilts of the past my grandmothers had made. Then I started thinking on this thing of airing the quilts. I remembered in years past my grandmother Knight and my great aunt would air their bedding. Another term they used for this was “sunning their mattresses” or sunning their bedding. 

This served several purposes, but the fresh fall air and low humidity of this time combined with the bright sun would air anything out that was musty. It would make them feel and smell fresh. I honestly do not know if it is true or not, but they thought that the rays from the sun would kill anything that was germs ect. in the bedding as well.

I was wondering if that was why this event was called the Airing of the Quilts or if it had a different reason for the name of the event. To be honest did not talk to anybody nor find anywhere online that mentioned the reason for that name for this event.

We drove up to Gee’s Bend from Monroeville. We were going to try to catch the ferry across but realized when we got to the sign giving the time schedules of the ferry that we were not going to make the current ferry out and it would be over an hour wait till the next one. So we drove around through Alberta and went in from the other side.

As we started nearing the area, we started seeing flags standing beside the road giving the distance from the event. The closer we got to the main event the more we also started seeing quilt displays in yards of different houses.

We realized that this was a community wide event. Numerous houses had quilts in the yards hanging on racks and there were different places set up beside the road that were selling what appeared to be different food items. The closer in we got into what was the main area the more congested it was starting to get.  The traffic was not that terribly bad going in. 

Upon our arrival we were greeted by a friendly young lady who asked if we wanted to park, and she directed in to be parked. Parking was very efficient. Everything was set up like it was a well-planned event. In the parking lot were porta-lets but they were very clean and placed conveniently. 

The first thing we noticed were that there were cars there from many different states. We saw cars with tags from Minnesota, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, and others as well. There were tags from many different counties of Alabama also.

We went on in and were amazed at the beautiful handwork we saw. It was incredible. I understand why these quilts are famous worldwide. 

As I walked around and looked at the handwork I overhead different people talking. I saw different types of work. I met so many friendly faces. It is still amazing that these ladies for what is now generations have been making these quilts for decades. They have quilts hanging in some of the finest galleries throughout the Unites States. This is true folk art in my opinion. It depicts the true spirit of creating things out of necessity that shows the greatness of humanity.

These ladies of the past made quilts out of whatever they could get their hands on. Many times, it would have been scraps from clothes already worn. It might have been scraps of material that they got to for clothes they were making for themselves and their kids. These were made from necessity to keep their families warm, in shanty houses that were not sufficient to survive without such. 

As we walked around and looked, we saw so much community. There were games of various kinds. There was a Disc Jockey playing music. It was truly a grand ole time. Everything was set up perfectly. There were food booths of various types. It was obvious that this was not the first time that these people in charge had organized this event. It was like a well-oiled machine. Kudos to everyone involved who made this day happen. Well done.

We made the rounds and saw the displays actually twice. The stitch work was so nice. The colors were so vivid. Above all the people who were displaying were so nice friendly and happy. As we were leaving, we saw a steady stream of cars coming in. There was at least one charter bus we met coming in as we were leaving.

I highly recommend that anybody who is interested in this sort of thing, or likes pure beautiful folk art, take time to find the dates for this event next year. This is truly a spectacular event.

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My Sturdivant Hall Visit

As I ramble this great land we call Alabama, I am forever amazed at what we have here to see. 

Recently I was in conversation with a new friend of mine that been following me on social media. He lives in Selma, AL. We conversed several times through messages and then talked on the phone a few times. Because I am in the process of traveling and documenting The Historical Black Belt Region of Alabama and he loves history as well he invited me to come to Selma.

I had not been to Selma in many years other than just passing by the outskirts when going somewhere else. When I was a small child, we would go to Selma very regularly. It was about a 60-mile run to get there.  Back then it was the go-to place for us because there was a variety of places to shop and eat. There were numerous doctors there that our family used also. It was a place that I had lots of memories of back in the 1960’s. After the early 1970’s we moved, and I had no reason to go back.

I have always known that Selma is a place that has a tremendous amount of history associated with it. Although I have not studied Selma, nor have I taken time to document it. As I have started working through the Black Belt Region, I started to realize that Selma alone would be a place that I would need to spend a good amount of time.

This was the day my friend and I had agreed would be the day that I would ride up and have a visit. We met and talked and shared our stories. I was also privileged to get to visit others there like minded.

Then my friend asked me had I ever been to Sturdivant Hall? I had not. I did not even know about it. 

We rode over to Sturdivant Hall and parked and got out. When we drove up in front, I was amazed. 

As those who know me know I am fascinated by anything associated with history. This is a grand place. We walked to the front of the building, and he started explaining the architecture of the building. 

It was built by Colonel Edward T. Watts. It was designed by Thomas Helm Lee.

According to an online search, it is known as the Watts-Parkman-Gillman Home.

I learned that construction on this house started in 1853 and it was completed in 1856.

We went around to the back of the house where the gift shop is and went in and I got a tour of the house. It was fascinating. I started taking notes but realized in just a few minutes that there was more to this story than I could take notes on and write today. However, I did want to share about my visit, so I decided to just take what I was able to get to in a short time and share and then enjoy the tour.

I was only allowed to take photos outside and not inside for several reasons. I totally understand why but was a little disappointed. Regardless of that fact it was a privilege to visit and see.

My tour guide was a lady I would guess a few years older than me. She could literally write a book on just that house and the contents alone. She was literally a walking encyclopedia on that place. It was incredible. She told me about everything in the house in every room. It was incredible.

I highly recommend anybody in the area to take time to go and tour this house. I definitely, intend to go back. In fact, I will probably go more than once while I am on my project of traveling the Black Belt.

Steps leading upstairs from the outside used by slaves. Worn from use so many years.

I learned that Mr. Watts was a plantation owner that had a house and property at another location called Pleasant Hill. This property was just his City House. Apparently, he used it as a place to have an office that was easily accessible when he was in town. Also, it was built with entertaining guests in mind. Apparently, he and his family only stayed there on visits to town which would only have been a week or two at the time possibly. 

Mr. Watts was a businessman that owned Ferries on the river and warehouses on Water Avenue as well.

It appeared that he spared no expense. One thing that amazed me was the fact that the crown molding in the rooms downstairs was plaster poured in molds. After the house was completed, the molds were destroyed so that nobody else could copy the molding. Apparently, he was a perfectionist type guy.

Another interesting thing about this house is that the front windows are made so that they raise high. Then there is a door underneath the window so that it could be walked through. In the hot summer weather, the windows would be raised and the windows on the cupola on top of the house would be opened. The staircases which were in the middle of the house would serve as a place for updraft, working as a chimney effect to draw air through the house. At night or if privacy was needed in the daytime there were shutters with louvers on them that could be shut and still allow air flow.

Out back of the house was a two-story structure that served as a kitchen and also a quarters for the slaves that tended the house. Apparently, the slaves lived there permanently even though Mr. Watts and his family did not.

Another interesting thing I was told was that the house was made of red bricks, but Mr. Watts thought that it would make it look more expensive if he had it covered in a thick coat of a cement substance and painted white, so it was done that way.

Mr. Watts apparently sold everything there in 1864 and received Confederate Money for it. He then moved his family and his slaves to Texas thinking apparently that he would be able to retain his slaves and continue with business as usual. 

Unfortunately, a year later the war ended, and the Confederate Money was useless. Then his slaves were freed, and he had nothing and no way of recouping with his fortunes gone.

The house was sold to a Mr. Parkman who was a banker. Supposedly his bank was funded with Federal Money and not Confederate Money. From “MY UNDERSTANDING” and if I misunderstood comment in the comments section of my blog and I will correct it. Mr. Parkman was using bank funds to speculate on cotton futures or the equivalent. Meaning a different name or terminology for what he was buying. Anyway, the cotton crop was bad one year and he came up very short. Although he had not taken any of the profits of the years before for himself but had put them all in the bank, he was charged for taking the money. 

Supposedly he was sent to jail down around Cahaba. He proclaimed all the way that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. According to my guide, some of his friends dressed up in attire as Mardi Gras costumes and went down and acted as if they were drunk and distracted the guards who oversaw securing him. This enabled him to escape. She said that there were two stories on what happened. 1. That he hit his head escaping and drowned in the river. 2. The other was that he was shot by guards, and this caused him to drown. Regardless of that fact he died. Then supposedly he came back as a ghost and waved from the front room of the house to his kids and others saw him as well.

Rear view from garden

My guide said that many years ago that the fence in front of the house was white picket. There were ladies in their 80’s and 90’s that would tell stories of them as kids passing the house as kids at night and daring one another to slip up to the front of the house and knock on the door and run without getting caught.

Supposedly to my understanding it cost sixty-nine thousand dollars to build the house in the beginning. The first time it sold it sold for sixty-five thousand dollars. After the war I understood that it sold for twelve thousand dollars.

The third owner was a Mr. Gillman. The Gillman family lived there till 1947 and they left Selma in 1947.

Visiting this house in my opinion was a highlight. As I said earlier, I would definitely recommend anybody in the area to visit for a tour. Again, I definitely intend to go back again and look at it. 

As I walked through and looked and listened to my tour guide explain it all, my mind would at times drift. I could see in my mind’s eye the grand ladies and gentlemen coming and going. I could visualize the businessmen coming and going or doing business in the front office. I could only imagine how grand the gatherings would have been. I am sure that there would be no expense spared on foods or decorations for these events. 

This was a grand time in America. These were wealthy people of that grand time we call the Antebellum. Grand mansions, grand balls, incredible wealth. Regardless of what one’s beliefs on history it is a time that needs to be preserved and learned. It was a pleasure to be able to for a short time visit this grand mansion and peek into that time.

As with most of the places I am privileged to visit in our beautiful Black Belt I can only imagine where the next beautiful surprise will be. I can’t wait and I hope it is soon.

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Bees of Cornwallis

One of the joys of blogging and photography is the opportunities that are presented. As I have stated earlier, I have been invited to be a part of Cornwallis 1828 recently. Part of that opportunity gets me involved with the sometimes day to day operations. Last week I was talking to Demp Bell the manager of Cornwallis. I was setting up my next visit to photograph some of the flowers that are starting to bloom. He asked me to come and document the Beekeepers managing the hives at Cornwallis.

That leads to today. This morning I arrived early and met Demp and we waited on the Beekeepers. A short time later a couple arrived, and I was introduced to Ralph and Kate Pugh, the owners of Sweet Gum Ridge Apiaries.

After a short introduction they left heading to the beehives, and I followed behind.

When I got there, they were already getting started. They were suited up in bee suits and had one for me as well. After a short discussion I decided that I would not be able to photograph with a bee suit on so I put my zoom lens on my camera and backed out so that I could photograph and not be in where the bees were swarming.

I had never seen anybody work a beehive before. It was a very interesting thing to watch. It was obvious that these two had done this a time or two or a thousand maybe. I watched as they worked. They described it all to me as they worked. 

They separated the different parts of the hive slowly and smoothly. One piece at a time like they could have done it blindfolded. Ralph would explain what he was doing and then Kate would explain what she was doing. It was truly a fascinating experience to watch. 

Kate was separating and scraping a yellow substance. Ralph explained that it was called Propolis. He explained that the bees produced it and that they literally sealed the hive with it. He also explained that it was a purifier and it had numerous health benefits for humans as well. 

Here Ralph shows some Propolis.

Next, he held up a frame and showed me what he called the Brood on it. It was a large number of young bees that were growing to become replacements for the rest of those that die off in the hive.

As they were working, they slowly used the smoker and Ralph explained that the smoke pushed the bees back up into the hive and kept them docile.

Another thing I learned was that there was only one queen in the hive. She laid all the eggs. That is her sole purpose is to lay eggs. There is one queen and can be as many as 60 to 80 thousand bees in one hive. That was hard for me to even comprehend. 

Here Kate points out the queen she has located.

Another interesting thing that they both explained to me was that to procreate a hive that a new queen would be hatched and there would be a swarm and half of the hive would leave with the old queen and half would stay with the new queen.

Another interesting fact is that the honey kind of ebbs and flows with the nectar as different plants bloom.

Most of the honey we have in our part of the world that is made locally is wildflower honey. Two popular flowers are Clover and Goldenrod. Kate explained that Clover Honey is normally light in color, while Golden Rod Honey is normally darker in color. Ralph went on to say that the hives will have a different smell as well with different kinds of nectar. He laughed and said that Golden Rod Honey would have the hives smelling almost like dirty socks.

After they finished we visited a few more minutes and then we all went on our way. 

This was as I said more than once a fascinating experience. 

Their website is https://www.buysweetgumridgehoney.com. You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sweetgumridgehoneybees. Check them out. 

They know their bees and honey. A quick glance at their Facebook page shows that they have some award-winning honey.

As with so many interesting people and places I get to go, and interesting things I get to do as I travel Alabama this was a wonderful day and, it was a pleasure to meet this couple.

I can only imagine what my next adventure holds but I don’t think it will be long before I find out. Until then have a great day.

 Jackson