Where Alabama Began~~

This past Saturday, I had the best time exploring with family/friends! We have been exploring together for some years now, and always have a great time together! This weekend was no exception! Our cousin/friend comes in from Atlanta, GA driving down on a Friday afternoon, stopping in Montgomery AL to visit with a 103 year old cousin in the nursing home; continues on to Bates House of Turkey in Greenville where he must pick up some turkey sandwiches to satisfy his hunger; and then, continues on to Conecuh County, AL to stay with his cousin Janine and husband, Wayne. We gather at their home on Friday night for a wonderful supper, two more cousins: Pat; Janiece; and myself--and there is so much laughter, and kidding, and trading of new recipes--oh, the fun we have! We discuss everything from family genealogy, cemetery jaunts, politics, health issues for family and friends we have in common, church news, what is going on with each of us--it's kind of funny that three of us that live right in the same county, don't see each other much except when John comes home from Atlanta--but we make up for it on those weekends!~ On Saturdays, we usually plan an outing somewhere--maybe it's a trip to a family cemetery, or looking for an old homestead, or a canoe trip downriver, or shopping for antiques, or just browsing or riding the many dirt roads in and around the area. We usually go off together for about 4-6 hours, return to Evergreen on late Saturday afternoon, pick up the others who declined on going off with us, gather at my home for supper and visit some more til time to go home to get rested for Sunday Worship Service at our churches. Usually, John goes to church with another 90+ year old cousin and has lunch with her, spending the afternoon, and we gather again if possible before he leaves for Atlanta either that evening or early the next day. We squeeze as much time together as possible. Sunday, as the elder cousin was out of state, he chose to attend church with me, and we enjoyed some one-on-one time together before gathering again at lunchtime with the others. Let's get back to Saturday though! Let me tell you all about our trip! We left my home about 9:30 AM and headed towards Repton, AL which is about 15-20 minutes away--a small town on the railroad that is practically non-existent except for the school and the few churches; and the homes, city hall, the post office and a service station--it's on the way to Monroeville from Evergreen. Downtown, the citizens have taken on a renovation project to beautify their historic downtown. You can now find little flea markets and antique shops downtown, that stay quite busy! We toured the two that were open and just enjoyed finding some treasures that we recognized. We left Repton and headed West on Highway 84 also known as the El Camino Corridor. We were planning to visit Clarke County that day, and Washington County, if we had time. Thankfully, we had GPS or we'd still be down around the old Tombigbee looking for some cemetery! As a cemetery column writer, I'd always wanted to visit a certain historic cemetery and Pat's son, James, had thought we'd enjoy seeing it too!~ Just in case our signal got weak, as it is prone to do in sparsely settled areas, I took along an Atlas that I'd received as a gift from the Monroe County Kiwanis Club last year for speaking to their organization about our genealogy department. It's a good thing I tucked that atlas in the car! Because, wouldn't you know it; where we were headed didn't have a cell signal most of the time! Ha! We traveled thru Ollie, Monroeville; and crossed the Alabama River and traveling along Highway 84, I did a rolling commentary as I knew most of the area's historical significance. We passed through Gosport, a tiny community known for being the home of the 4th Governor of Alabama: Gov. John Murphy; passed the Forwood Cemetery, and the tiny town of Whatley, and viewed the historical markers dotting the highway. As we neared Grove Hill, we took a turn which took us on a back road connecting us to Highway 43 South towards Mobile. As we drove thru these little spots, we saw interesting homes, wonderful flower and vegetable gardens, and places we pegged for another trip later when it turns cooler. As we neared Jackson, AL we knew we were getting closer to our destination--and the GPS had us turning off a highway that seemed to be headed straight to a lumberyard--and indeed it did! We went straight thru the Boise Timberyards! The little road seemed to get narrower and narrower, and pretty soon, we went under one of those railroad overpasses that a sign had indicated would flood when raining--we can see why! We were very close to the Tombigbee River! We saw a Railroad Bridge, and had to stop and take some pictures, of course! John is very patient with us, as we would yell--oh, STOP!! It's a wonder we weren't hit from behind! Except, most of the time, we were on our own! Ha! We meandered up and around curves, where I swear we should have met ourselves coming and going! As we wound up a particular hill, I noticed a sign and we pulled off the road and finally stopped to stretch. We had stopped in Rockville, AL, established in the early 1800s and beside the Welcome to Rockville sign, there was a historical marker indicating we were very near the old home site of Col. Jeremiah Austill, the famed canoe fighter with Sam Dale, and others at Burnt Corn, AL

Mt. Nebo Cemetery in the southern-most part of Clarke County, almost in Washington County. Indeed, a treat! So very many interesting gravestones! The most unique ones I've seen are the Death Masks, created by a Mr. Nettles of his mother, his wife and two children, and others in his community of Carlton.

We continued on with our journey after we left Mt. Nebo and headed to where it all began in Alabama, my home! St. Stephens was the first capital of Alabama--and so much history is here--you need a whole week just to explore--and preferably when it is so much cooler than it was on Saturday! 100 degree temps made one want to be in the water for certain! Take a look at some of what we saw!