Wilcox County Alabama

Out this week rambling we went into Wilcox County, Alabama. We spent three nights at Miller’s Ferry Campground. Miller’s Ferry Campground is located on the Alabama River. It is on the East Bank off Highway 28. It is about 15 miles from downtown Camden. 

This was my first time to stay at that campground in probably a decade of more. Miller’s Ferry Campground is a beautiful campground that boasts approximately 66 camp spots. It has numerous sites that are handicap accessible. There is a large bathhouse located in the campground. It also has a boat ramp located inside the campground.

Again, this is a beautiful campground. The hosts are friendly and things were quiet for the three nights we were there.

It is a Corp of Engineers campground and as with most of their campgrounds we run into the Corp of Engineers needs to have somebody come in and do some serious work on things like trimming limbs over the roads to keep from damaging the tops of campers and motorhomes. and so forth but overall, it is a gem.

One of my passions is beautiful sunsets and this trip was definitely not a disappointer. The Sunsets all three evenings were stunning. As with so many beautiful things no two sunsets are identical. There is always something different about the shape of the clouds, or timing of the movement of the clouds, or a host of other different things that constitute a beautiful sunset. 

We rode into Camden and toured the town. It was definitely a positive eye-opening experience for me. I have not been into Camden in years to actually look around and I was amazed at what I found. So many small towns throughout our beautiful land are nothing more than empty decaying places. Too often, I have found small towns like Camden that have rows of empty falling down buildings. Normally they are not usable and apparently are just forgotten relics of a by gone era. They in so many cases appear to never be usable again, and in all probability the cost of cleaning them up is too great for the owners. So those buildings just sit and rot.

This definitely is not, the case with Camden. For me anyway it has a WOW factor to it. Yes there are some that could still use some touch up but even some of those look like they are in the process of having some renovation done to them. I give Camden a rating of 10 for the effort and town pride that seems to be happing there. Good job folks.

As I walked the pretty much empty streets on a Sunday afternoon, (I went on Sunday so I could photo some buildings without too many cars present) I started to reminisce. 

When I was a little kid 55 to 60 years ago Camden was one of the primary towns we went to for groceries and supplies. I remembered going into the Barber Shop. A man called Mr. Caton ran it. It was one of the first Barber Shops I ever knew of that have vacuum cleaner hoses hooked to the clippers so that you did not have hair all over you when you got a haircut. My grandfather loved it for that reason.

Then there was the building where the Ratcliff Hardware used to be. I remembered going in there and seeing all of the interesting things that they had to offer.

At the South end of the square where the Western Auto used to be, the entire end is now in use. A very wide selection of various things from furniture on is here. Beautiful clean and crowded but well kept. I saw the Old Mathews Hardware building. I remembered going in there as well. Seems like I vaguely remember some kind of elevator being in that building but I was to small to remember exactly what or how it worked. I was proud to see it filled to capacity with what appeared to be an incredible assortment of things to buy. Good job. I remembered two grocery stores there but could not place exactly where either one of them was. Apparently they were both gone and there is now a Piggly Wiggly out on the bypass. There are numerous other stores out on the bypass. Dollar Stores I saw, and a drug store or two and various other things. I mainly stayed in the downtown part though walking and looking and reminiscing. The old Jail has been refurbished. Looks so nice. The other various other buildings several of which had the placards on the front where you can call a number and listen to a recording talking about that particular place and the history of it.

We rode through various areas on the West Side of the river in Wilcox County. We did ride through communities that had businesses long gone. Catherine for instance is one. There we found some buildings that were long abandoned. There were other communities as well that have suffered because of people moving away, and economic losses, and various other things, that bring blight to our rural communities.

One neat community we went into was Gastonburg. It is located up on Highway 5. There is a display with numerous pieces of antique farm equipment sitting there that is neat to see. Seeing how I am fascinated by that sort of stuff I had to take a closer look there.

There are also two beautiful old historic churches located there. Of course I had to check them out. I ran into an older gentleman there and we struck up a conversation. Lo and behold when we got to talking, I found out his brother had been married to my grandmother’s niece. Small world ain’t it? He had actually known one of my great uncles who I admired when I was small. That great uncle was a sawmill mechanic, and knife maker. I still have a knife that he made for me when I was about 14 years old. It is made from a saw blade with deer horn for the handle.

The two churches were the Presbyterian, and the Methodist, churches.

We rode up to Gee’s Bend. We were hoping to catch the ferry back across into Camden from that side of the river. Sadly it was out of commission because of something having to be done to the ferry. We ran by the Gee’s Bend Ferry Terminal and took a look around. Sitting out beside the parking lot is the Old Ferry Boat that ran across the Alabama River at Haynes Island, or as the locals call it Davis’s Ferry, in Monroe County for many years. I had crossed that ferry many times when it was there. 

This ferry had been built by the State of Alabama back in the early 1960’s. It was built according to several sources at the landing and put into the water there. It was a cable ferry. It ran across the Alabama River there from Ellis’s Landing on the East side of the river to Gee’s Bend on the West Side of the river for several years.

When the Dam was constructed in the mid 1960’s the distance was too wide to run a cable ferry and it was discontinued. The ferry was then moved down to Holly’s Ferry in the vicinity of Pine Hill and was used there while construction of the paper mill was going on. When the Highway 10 bridge was completed, it was then moved down to Davis’s Ferry where it ran for many more years.

We had a great time visiting Wilcox County. It is a place rich in history and an integral part of our beautiful Southland that I definitely wish to ramble again in the not-too-distant future. I highly recommend you doing so as well.