Tag: Rural Alabama

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Melton Statue

I have been through Pine Apple many times over my lifetime. I have heard numerous times that there was a statue there in the graveyard. I never gave it much thought. It was just one more rabbit trail that I had filed in the back of my mid that I needed to run but never got around to it.

I have so many of those rabbit trails that it would be impossible if I had three more life times left to run them all. I still like to run them though from time to time.

This week my wife and I were out checking out churches in Wilcox County that I had not gotten to for my upcoming book.

I started on a photo book of Wilcox County Churches back in October. I had a lot going on and to be able to work on that many churches requires a lot of travel. Instead of completing Wilcox County, I just settled in and went to work on Monroe County. I had numerous personal things going on, and there was no way I could leave home for two or three days at the time. I could however take numerous trips of a couple of hours at the time. I had to burn the midnight oil to get it done, but I was able to release my Monroe County Book the first week in January. 

Then my Jeep decided it was time to give me fits and I lost almost three weeks trying to get it fixed. I got it fixed and then we had weather issues. I don’t function well when the temperature is in the teens. 

Finally, it looked like it was going to break for a day or so. We left home on Monday morning and headed north. I had worked for hours upon hours scouring maps and other sources online hunting the churches in Wilcox County. 

We made it into Pine Apple and I was taking photos of the Friendship Baptist Church. I looked across the road and saw the large cemetery over there. I saw the marker on the fence identifying it as a Black Belt Heritage Area.

Beings that I am totally committed to the things of the Black Belt, and I thrive on learning history I immediately had to take a photograph of the placard with the phone number of the recording on it for a future reference and I had to see the statue listed on there. I walked across the cemetery to the statue and viewed it. Then I captured some photos of it and read the tombstones around it.

Since I had a lot of miles to run to get all of the church photos that I could for the day, I didn’t give the statue much thought for the rest of the day. 

The next day I started to ponder on that statue. Who was this man? Where did the statue come from? So many questions. So few answers.

At first, I sat down and googled “Statue at Pine Apple Alabama. Immediately there were a couple of things that came up. I stared to read about this statue.  I had seen the name on it was William Joseph Melton. He was born Sept. 29, 1846, and died in July 4,1900. That much I knew but what else was there to know?

It turned out that Mr. Melton was a very influential man in Wilcox County. He was also a very successful planter. All of the sources I saw said that when he died his daughter took a photo of him with her to Italy and commissioned an artist there to carve a statue of him out of marble. 

All of the sources said that the statue was transported by ship and then transported up the river to Claiborne where it was off loaded onto a wagon and hauled the rest of the way to Pine Apple.

Then when the statue was being erected in the cemetery is where things got complicated. Supposedly the members of the church had some issues with it being there because it violated the Ten Commandments because it was a “Graven Image”. Finally, a compromise appears to have been reached. The statue was allowed but it had to be laid down instead of standing up. Then at some later date permission was given for it to be erected. Now I don’t know if it was given or just somebody took it upon themselves to erect it. Regardless of that fact it stands 122 or so years later facing East and proudly overlooking the cemetery. 

The recording states that Mr. Melton was a Civil War Veteran that was captured as a prisoner of war. Supposedly he died suddenly in Montgomery. His body was transported back to Pine Apple where he was buried. 

So here we are all of these years later and I found it. Now that is one off of my bucket list.  I ran a long day looking for churches and found some. I can only imagine what interesting thing I will find the next time I go out. That was definitely an interesting find.

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The Dirigible Came to Vredenburgh

I was born in 1957. Growing up in Monroe County Alabama was indeed incredible. When I was born my parents lived with my grandparents. When I was three years old, my mother went to work at the Vanity Fair Mill in Monroeville. I stayed with my great aunt while my mother worked. I also was blessed to spend a lot of time with my grandparents. Because of that fact I was blessed to hear hundreds if not thousands of stories. What would I give now to be able to go back and rehear those stories again.

My great aunt was born in 1896. My grandfather was born in 1906. My grandmother was born in 1908. My grandfather and great aunt were born and raised up at Sedan which was a community located a short distance above Vredenburgh, in Southern Wilcox County.

My grandmother was born in Clarke County, in the area called Cane Creek, which was in the vicinity of Chance, Syrene, and Lower Peach Tree. I am not sure what went on with her family, but her mother and the children moved to Monroe County in approximately 1916. She always told me it was when she was 8 is where I draw that conclusion. 

Between the three of them there were literally thousands of stories. So many of them I remember bits and pieces of but do not know enough of facts in them to retell them accurately. That is something that I totally regret and wish so desperately that I could.

One story that I remember was of the dirigible.  My grandfather always told a story of the time that the Hindenburg flew over Vredenburgh. Now I honestly do not think it was the Hindenburg because I find no record of the Hindenburg flying in this part of the world. I do indeed believe that there was a airship of that type that did. The reason being that there were so many people that saw it. Therefore, I do not believe he was imagining things.

Looking online I found that the Hindenburg was slightly over 800 feet long. That was huge. I can imagine that the one that they saw was quite possibly something close to that in size. The Hindenburg crashed in May of 1937. By him thinking it was the Hindenburg I assume that this would have been very close in that time frame. In fact, I am thinking that this was just a very short time before it crashed that he saw it. He seemed to think that it had passed over and then crashed like within a day or two. 

This thing whatever it was came over at night. Supposedly there were lights all over it. Or it was well lit.  Apparently, it caused quite as stir in Vredenburgh. From what I can determine it was not running very fast. Also, from the information I can remember it was not flying very high. 

Think about it being 1937 in the town of Vredenburgh. It is night, and this huge thing comes flying over. I don’t know if they had ever even seen an airplane although I would have thought that they would have. Regardless of what they had seen or not seen; this thing definitely caused a stir. Apparently, many were terrified. My grandfather always said that one older woman came running in at the commissary screaming at the top of her lungs. She was screaming over and over, “Lord have mercy, that Frisco has done left the rails.” It had to have been pretty large for her to associate it with a train from the Frisco Railroad. Also for her to associate it with the Frisco Railroad it would have come from the West heading East, since the L&N RR. serviced Vredenburgh from the east side.

Now almost a century later, I have not found anybody else that tells that story. I have not heard it recapped in decades. I just know that from all appearances it really happened.  Like so many other stories that have been told it is one that definitely deserves to be written down and passed on to the future generations.

For those that lived it, this was an experience that they remembered till the day they died. 

The night that the dirigible came to Vredenburgh was definitely a historic event.

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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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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 Southland.

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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I have been to Smut Eye, Alabama

The U.S. has a lot of little, small towns with really, unusual names. Some of them even border on the bizarre I would guess you would say. I have been through a few in my time and have heard of many more that I honestly have not taken time to research to see if they really exist. I know in Northern Monroe County, AL. there is Hybart which is named after the family who was the first postmaster there. Then there is Scratch Ankle, it is out from Franklin, AL. There is also Burnt Corn which is on the Old Federal Road on the Eastern Side of Monroe County and is also the County Line. Burnt Corn actually is divided by the road. One side is in Monroe County and one side of the road is Conecuh County.

I have written blogs on Franklin, Burnt Corn, and on Hybart. At some time in the future, I will probably write one on Scratch Ankle.

I have heard of a town named Smut Eye for years but honestly, I never took time to see if it actually did exist, and I surely had never been there that I remember anyway. 

As I was planning out a trip a month or so ago, I ran across the name on the map. Immediately I was enthused. I marked that one on my list. I just had to go to Smut Eye. I was not sure what I would find. Pretty much any of these little towns that I visit is a surprise. “Kind of like a box of chocolates.” You never know till you get there and see. I just had to go to Smut Eye if for no other reason than to say, “Hey I have been to Smut Eye, Alabama before.

According to various sources online it is an unincorporated community in Bullock County, Alabama. Various sources say that it got its name from the soot on people’s faces that hung around the Blacksmith Shop. I am sure there are several renditions of that story concerning the Blacksmith Shop. There is an in-depth story or two on that subject and much more information online at http://www.smuteye.com/history-smuteye.htm.

As with most very small communities scattered across the country, time has not been good to the structures there. It was getting on over in the afternoon when I got there, and it was going to be the last stop for me for the afternoon. I had dawdled for too long in other places. I was staying the night all the way over at Bluff Creek on the Georgia line. I was not nearly as far East as I had intended to be by that time of the afternoon.

I did not have time to look for long, but I did see a couple of old buildings and I took a few pictures.

As I sat back for the night after I had been there, I could only think what Smut Eye might have been like a hundred years ago. Although I have not seen pictures of it, nor do I know where it was located, in my mind’s eye I started to visualize what the blacksmith shop might have looked like. I pondered on the mental picture that I painted of it. The horses and mules that would come in to be shod. Quite possibly there would be oxen that would be shod as well. There would have been wagons quite possibly that would have had to have wheels repaired on. There would have been plows to sharpen and possibly other things needing repaired on the plow stocks. I stopped and focused on the shop itself. There would have been a forge to heat metal with. There would have been an anvil to hammer out things on to shape them. There would have been a vise mounted on a post somewhere most likely in an open area of the shop. There would have been numerous other tools sitting around as well.

Because of writings I read about the place I stopped and started thinking about the people coming in and hanging out. It quite possibly would have been a gathering place that the men of the community would have used when they were not working in the fields or, doing other farm work. Possibly a place that they might gather if they brought their wives and daughters to the store. The men and boys might have meandered over to there to wait and socialize.

Too many years have come and gone. For those that are associated with the place locally there are I am sure, some memories that have been handed down by the generations. In the not-too-distant future, even the numbers of those that have heard the stories will dwindle down, until they are remembered no more.

Smut Eye Alabama, another small town in the U. S. that has been bypassed with progress, or from the perspective of some like myself destroyed by a false progress that so many deem as good. 

One thing is for sure. I can truthfully say. I have been to Smut Eye, Alabama.

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Clayton, Alabama

As I keep repeating over and over again, I feel an overwhelming desire to visit all 67 counties of our beloved state of Alabama. 

On one of my recent trips out I had the pleasure of visiting a little town in Barbour County named Clayton.

According to Encyclopedia of Alabama https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/clayton/

Clayton has been the county seat of Barbour County since 1834. Barbour County was created from parts of Pike County and Louisville was chosen as the county seat. One year later an 11-member commission was formed to determine a new site for the county seat. After selecting a site in the geographic center of the county in 1834, county leaders christened the town Clayton in honor of Judge Augustine Smith Clayton, a U.S. representative from Athens, Georgia. The town was incorporated by an act of the Alabama Legislature on December 21, 1841.

Like I do on almost every little town I have had opportunity to visit I drove into town and passed through looking to see where I wanted to start. I do this because there are normally so many options to look at and I am normally limited. I normally leave home and try to take a swath across the state from wherever on I-65 East to the Georgia State Line. I have on the past three trips across spent a night in a campground in the area. Then I covered more area the next day and then went home. On this particular afternoon, I arrived in Clayton around 1:30 PM. Knowing I had a lot to see and a short time to see it I parked my van and hit the streets with my camera.

I had seen pictures of things in Clayton and had people on my Social Media group that had shared about it.

I had also read that it had once been a flourishing town with many stores and various other businesses over the decades past.

One of the first and more impressive things I saw as I walked along was an impressive mural. It clearly depicted much of the beauty and history of Clayton. It was, in my opinion well thought out. The designers and artist involved did a great job making a positive influence on this historic little Southern Town.

Another interesting sight was the Octagon House. 

According to the historical marker beside the house, between 1859-1861. It was built by Benjamin Franklin Petty who was a carriage and furniture merchant. Mr. Petty was a native of New York and was a pioneer settler of Clayton. The Octagon House was patterned after the design made popular by Orson S. Fowler’s Book, A Home For All.

This is indeed a beautiful house that has stood the test of time. It is beautiful and definitely a show piece. Thankfully it appears to be well preserved and can be admired by future generations.

Another interesting find in Clayton was the Clayton Presbyterian Church. The sign out front stated that it was built in 1871. This is indeed a beautiful old building that has stood the test of time. It appears to be fairly well, maintained outside. I am sure that when it was built that it was a marvel of its time in this part of the world. As I stood in front of it, questions came to mind. I wondered how long it had been active? I wondered how many people had attended church services there when it was in its prime? I wondered how many years it had been since it was filled? I also wondered if it was active in some way even to this date?

One more treasure of the past of this like thousands of others in small towns in America struggling to just survive from being reclaimed by nature, wondering how many more generations will care to keep it maintained and standing.

As I always do I search for old churches, particularly those built either pre-1900 or early 1900’s. There is just something about then that intrigues me. I see them all over the Southland as I travel.

Another beautiful one is in Clayton. It is the Grace Episcopal Church. This old church according to the historical marker out front was completed on February 26, 1876. It is a Gothic Revival Style building

There are numerous other buildings left in Clayton that are kept up better or should I say have been freshly had a face lift of some sort. Such as the blue building here. I was told on social media that the right side of this one was the Ford Tractor Dealer.

Now as to every other small town I have been in on this journey across our beautiful state I want to bring this to attention. Actually, for me any ways it is the most important. It is one of the primary purposes of this endeavor. This part is not to bring shame or bring condemnation on Clayton nor any other small town I visit. It is to bring front and center the plight that Rural America is in.

Clayton, like all that I have been in has suffered. It has lost so much. Like every small town I know of there are empty buildings that are literally deteriorating around us. They all have a story. Many served for decades. Many were dreams that lived a lifetime and the proprietors’ retired or passed away. They all tell a story.

As with many of the small towns that I visit and share photos of on social media, Clayton has had and I hope continues to have many others that reminisce of times past. It warms my heart to see people share their stories of growing up there and of the thigns of the past the bring good memories to them. It does sadden me however many times when others that have not been to these towns see photos of them and it hurts them like it does me to see what has happened to the small towns of our childhoods.

As always, thank you for reading and following my ramblings and please feel free to leave comments.

Jackson

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I Just Wound Up At Burnt Corn, Alabama

Now Saturday is a rest day for me at this point in my life. I always joke and tell people since I am pretty much retired that, “I’m so lazy that if I got an award for being lazy, I would have to send somebody after it.”

My wife wasn’t feeling well because of a tooth situation so we had been hanging out at the house all day. She is like me in a sense. She can only sit in the house and do nothing for so long. Then, she has got to get up and get out and do something.

Finally, I asked her, did she want to go take a ride in the Jeep. She said well I don’t think my tooth will hurt any worse riding than it will sitting so I got my camera, a bottle of water, and a cup of coffee, and out the door we headed.

Just me my wife and our dog. We loaded in the Jeep and rode out and filled up with gas and headed out.

Now you have to understand something. Going for a ride in the Jeep in our part of the world is not a hard decision. Where, we end up going however, can be kind of a challenge. It is kind of like a couple that has been married for a lot of years trying to figure out where to eat supper. It is all good but where we want to go is just an elusive idea. 

I started making my way out of Monroeville and for whatever I headed out towards Drewery AL. There are many dirt roads out that way and many times when we go ride on a whim we go out that way and hit the dirt roads. 

For whatever reason I did not take one of the dirt roads but kept riding on the pavement. I was about halfway between Bermuda, and Burnt Corn when it hit me. I want to go to Burnt corn and take some photos. I haven’t taken any photos there in quite some time.

For whatever reason, Burnt Corn is one of those places that folks never get tired of taking pictures at. I honestly don’t remember the first time I took photos there, but I know that there are pictures hanging on people’s walls of the Methodist Church there that I took with a Canon AE-1 back in the 1980’s. I have taken photos there numerous times since. 

Burnt Corn Methodist Church, an Icon of South Alabama.

Sadly, I don’t have many of the photos left that I took so many years ago with 35mm film cameras. I took hundreds if not thousands of them. I honesty do not know how many times I took photos of the churches and such at Burnt Corn.

Today however, is a new day and I decided that today was the day I was going to go back in and shoot some photos of Burnt Corn again, like I have done numerous times before.

We drove up in front of the Bethany Baptist Church and I parked off the side of the road and got out. There is normally not a major traffic congestion issue in Burnt Corn so as long as you are not parked in the road you are good to go.

Historic Bethany Baptist Church Built in 1874.

I took several shots of Bethany Baptist from several directions. As I was standing there taking photos and admiring it and how nice the paint looked, my mind went back to some time ago. I remembered another time I was taking photos of it and it had gotten in bad condition and needed painting. I had shared the photos on social media, not even thinking about how it looked.

I guess I have taken so many photos of so many little towns with buildings in bad shape that it just didn’t make much of an impression on me. The reason I didn’t think is I take photos by the hundreds of things that are in bad condition, and personally I had no ties to it other than I went to a few services there in the late 1970’s.

It did however cause a lot of people who saw it to take notice real fast. Before long there were numerous people contacting me and wanting to look at more of my pictures of it. Then a group got together and started raising funds and within weeks it was being painted. 

It actually felt good to stand there and look at it and make photos of it with a nice paint job on it. The cemetery did need some attention but everything else was in great shape as far as I was concerned.

I then walked down the road with my camera and took a few shots of the Methodist Church. I have never been inside of the Methodist Church. I know that it has been an icon of our part of the world as with most things in Burnt Corn for decades. I know that like I mentioned early on I took photos of it in the 1980’s and enlarged some of them to 11X14’s and sold several of them. 

I have heard many stories of that church, and how it came to be there, and how it came close to being torn down years ago, and so forth. What the stories are, and how they go, I am not sure, so I am not going to try to share them today, but it is a beautiful old church, and is a land mark that is recognized by many people all over the country.

Then I walked back and got in the Jeep with my wife and our little dog who were patiently waiting on me to do what I was doing.

I pulled up and parked the Jeep at the edge of the road near the Big Store. It was there that I remembered the house that sits out in the woods beside the Big Store.  I shot a few photos of it. As I stood there wondering the history of that house. I honestly do not remember anything about it. In fact, I honestly for whatever reason, did not even realize it was there until a year or so ago. I had passed it hundreds, if not thousands of times, and for whatever reason had not paid it attention. I guess my attention had always been focused on the store or other buildings.

I then backed up and shot a few shots of the Big Store from different angles. Yet again I started to reminisce. I remember when I was probably seven or eight years old my father and I went in the store. That would have been there first time I remembered going in. I remembered it like it was yesterday. I remembered that my father had a horse that Mr. Lowery had used. Now I do not know the story as to details but, I know he used him more than one time. I think that they had horses and might have had folks from out of town come in and needed an extra horse to ride. Anyway, he had a horse that was an excellent saddle horse, and Mr. Lowery had used him more than once. I know one time they came over to Hybart and got him and one time we carried him over.

Then I backed out and started taking photos of the other buildings one by one. They are like stepping back in time. The histories of the rest I do not know. I know one is known as the old Barber Shop Building. There are others that are identified by many for the purposes they served over the years. Since I do not remember on some and on others, I never knew to start with. I won’t even try to define them nor their purposes throughout the decades.

Then there is the Coca-Cola advertisement building. Over the years since it was painted, I honestly think that Burnt Corn is known more for that building than even the Methodist Church. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen photos of that building. I am not sure when the advertisement was painted nor who painted it but I know it is a well-known sight in the South.

I walked the street and took photos one at the time and then proceeded to walk back to the Jeep once again. As I was walking back to the Jeep I thought about the fact that one more unique thing about Burnt Corn is that it is on the Monroe, Conecuh, County line. The Big Store, and the Bethany Baptist Church, The Barber Shop, and the building with the Coke sign are in Monroe County. The Methodist Church and the other buildings on that side of the road are in Conecuh County. The road dividing the counties here is actually the Old Federal Road.

With that thought sliding around in my mind I got in the Jeep, and we drove on. 

Burnt Corn is a town full of history. It is much the same it has been for the last century, and hopefully it will continue to be maintained and remain the same for another century. There will always be those like me to walk through on a lazy Saturday afternoon and take photos of and reminisce and wonder about it. If it is not maintained, at least myself and many like me will have photo records of it for the decades to come.

If you have not been there you need to go. It is a magical special place.