Beaver Creek gristmills, cornbread and memories

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and submitted Photos

Some of our readers are of an age to remember a family farmhouse with a wood-burning cookstove in the kitchen. As memory pulls them into distant reveries, the smell of cornbread browning in the oven is so real that mouths begin to water. On the table sits the fresh-churned butter that will crown a slice cut steaming from the cast iron skillet.

Then, as memory fades into 2023 reality, they realize a skillet of cornbread baking in a gas or electric oven smells just as good.

Two hundred years ago in St. Clair County, the meal for that “bread of memory” came from a local gristmill that had ground the farmer’s homegrown, dried and shelled corn.

Yarbrough waterwheel attached to wooden frame, submerged in Beaver Creek

In the book, Anthology of People – Places – Events of St. Clair County, Mattie Lou Teague Crow (1903-1999) in her article, “Mills in the Valley,” records that before the construction of local gristmills, “The man of the family often traveled all the way back to Georgia or Tennessee to have corn ground into meal. In time, each community had its own gristmill.”

Later in the article she laments that “Today we buy … a box of corn muffin mix, which (Tennessee) Ernie Ford assures us is ‘pea-picking good.’ But it’s a sad thing that today’s generation will never know what real cornbread was like. Corn pone. Egg bread. Spoon bread. Johnny cake. Crackling bread. Corn dodgers. Hush puppies. Today’s variety is a pale imitation of the bread our grandparents made from that wonderful water-ground meal.”

Yarbrough Mills

Manoah Yarbrough no doubt built the first gristmill on Beaver Creek c1823. He moved his family from North Carolina to St. Clair County in 1822. His original destination was Choccolocco Valley in Calhoun County, but after learning of the Indian unrest in that area, he settled in St. Clair County.

According to an article written by Fitzgerald Yarbrough for The Heritage of St. Clair County, Manoah, having run corn and flour mills in North Carolina, had “brought his mill, including the mill rocks, with him,” and soon after getting “the family settled, he began constructing a dam across Beaver Creek to furnish power for his grist and flour mills. The dam is approximately 450 feet long and is built of mountain rock and dirt.”

Fitzgerald was proud of the fact that “The original dam is still used today as a roadbed leading to a bridge which crosses Beaver Creek. … The bridge foundation is the original dam where the water gates were.” Fitzgerald and his two sons, Fitz and Burk, constructed the bridge in 1985.

In the fall after the harvest and through the winter months, the family and farm workers added height to the dam “… to give a greater head of water so more machinery could be added.” Manoah died in 1840, and his son, Littleton, continued running the mill and making improvements.

In addition to corn and flour mills, over time, the Yarbrough mills included a sawmill, a shingle mill and a wool carding mill. Fitzgerald wrote of Littleton’s son, “My grandfather, John Yarbrough, Sr., ran the wool carding mill to make wool yarn for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was only 13 years old when the war began.” John Yarbrough, Sr., added a cotton gin, which operated until about the time WWI began.

The traditional waterwheel powered the mill until the 1880s. By then, Littleton had died and his son, John Yarbrough, mentioned above, operated the mills and continued making improvements to them.

“The turbine water wheel (that John purchased) was known as Morris Wheel,” Fitzgerald wrote, “because it was constructed at Morrisville, Alabama, and sold to my grandfather by John and Elbert Morris.”

When John and Elbert Morris came to Beaver Valley to install the Morris Wheel, romance blossomed between them and two of Fitzgerald’s aunts, for “A few years later, John Morris married my aunt Mae,” he wrote, “and Elbert Morris married Aunt Jennie.”

At the location of the mill, Beaver Creek flows wide and sparkling in the sun. The mill dam allowed a large lake to form above it which became a place local folk enjoyed for fishing, camping, swimming, fish fries and picnics.

With the passing decades, sediment built up behind the dam, thus reducing the volume of water in the lake. The Yarbroughs estimated that between the years 1823 and 1925, eight feet of sediment accumulated. Then in 1925, an exceptional flood washed out the water gate and swept the waterwheel downstream about 50 feet from its original location in the water house, which was also damaged by the flood waters and never rebuilt.

The waterwheel, still attached to its wooden frame, lies today in the waters of Beaver Creek and has not been removed for two reasons recorded by Fitzgerald: “(1) Its weight. It is very heavy, and (2) It is better preserved under water than if it was raised and exposed to the elements.”

The Yarbrough mill functioned for more than 100 years. The corn and flour mill stones carted here from North Carolina remain in the family. And from the sawmill, several 19th century homes constructed by Littleton Yarbrough, with lumber sawn in his mill and dried in his kiln, remain in the Beaver Valley today. The kiln lay east of the dam and the outline of the rock foundation and sides remain visible today. In addition to these Beaver Valley homes, the Ashville Courthouse and the second Ashville Baptist Church building were constructed with lumber from the Yarbrough mill.

Abernathy Grist Mill

In the previously mentioned book, Anthology of People – Places – Events of St. Clair County, Larry McCullough wrote the article, “History of the Abernathy Grist Mill,” from history he collected from L.E. Abernathy and V. Ray Thompson. Larry wrote, “The Abernathy Grist Mill once located in Beaver Valley was purchased in 1918 by M.R. Abernathy after the sawmill he operated in Ashville was destroyed by fire. The mill was previously known as the Gilchrist Mill, though it is unclear who actually built the mill or when it was built.”

Gilchrist-Abernathy Grist Mill and pond

However, in the same Anthology, Lura Jean Cobb Smith, a Gilchrist descendant, has an article titled “Who Built the Mill?,” wherein she stated, “My Great-Grandfather, Truss Vann Gilchrist brought his family from Calhoun County to St. Clair County, bought farmland in the valley of Beaver Creek, on October 28, 1879. He and my grandfather, John Dudley Gilchrist, built the Mill now known as Abernathy Mill.” The rest of the article relates Gilchrist genealogy and family history.

In a recent interview, Judith Ramsey Abernathy recalled information her husband, Bob Abernathy, had gleaned about his grandfather, Marion R. Abernathy, who bought and ran the mill. “The Abernathy family lived in Cherokee County where, as carpenters and millers, they designed mills, dams and raceways flumes for carrying water. The family mills there included a gristmill, sawmill and cotton gin.”

Marion was five years old when his father died. In those days, children in large families grew up learning how to work, and so did Marion. In the 1880 US Census, he is listed as a farm hand and living with his cousin in Cherokee County, Alabama. Then in later censuses, he is in St. Clair County.

The Abernathy family were related to the St. Clair County Lindsey family who “… had a mill on Canoe Creek northeast of Ashville,” said Judith, “and we believe that is why Marion came to St. Clair County.”

“The mill sat on a large lake created by dams on the creek,” she related. “Bob’s mother recalled seeing large trout in the lake. They built a big farmhouse on the Beaver Creek property. It had a dogtrot through the center and many large rooms.”

Larry McCollough describes the remains of the mill. “The dam is still intact except for a 20-foot section on the south side of the creek. The dam stretches 80 feet from end to end, stands 15 feet tall and is 10 feet thick at the base. Some of the rocks making up the dam are half as large as automobiles.”

Abernathy Grist Mill stones

According to Larry’s article, the millhouse was a wood frame structure that stood two stories high and sat “…atop the dam on the northside of the creek. …A cotton gin occupied the top floor, though the gin machinery was never used by Mr. Abernathy.”

The Abernathy mill never had the traditional waterwheel, so when time came to grind corn, the miller raised a sluice gate in the dam to release the water. “The water was directed through a water turbine. …The turbine converted the rushing water into power that turned various gears and shafts, finally setting into motion one of the 800-pound millstones. One stone turned in a circular motion (this one had to be balanced) while the other remained stationary during the grinding.” The ground corn meal fell into a hopper under which the miller had placed a sack into which he released the meal.

Margaret Franklin Berry, who grew up in Slasham Valley, remembers this process from the mid-to-late-1940s.  “When we needed corn meal, my parents would send my brother and me out there to shell corn. I remember we shelled gallon buckets of corn. My daddy would take it to the mill to have it ground, and I’d go with him. I just thought that was fascinating to watch that man pour that corn into that hopper, and it come out cornmeal.” She couldn’t remember the name of the mill, but her description seems to indicate the Abernathy Gristmill.

Larry also pointed out that the millstones’ grooves would wear down from the grinding and required regrooving periodically. The miller used a hammer and chisel for this job. This chiseling left grit in the grooves for several days afterward, and during those days, the miller ground only chicken feed until the grit was gone.

Just as at the Yarbrough mill, the Abernathy millpond was a social gathering place where people could swim and fish in the cool water and then picnic on the bank.

In the early 1940s, unusually heavy spring rains caused Beaver Creek flooding, which swept the Abernathy millhouse off its foundations. At the time Larry wrote the article in 1985, “Boards, rafters and heart pine logs can still be seen beneath the clear waters, looking like the wreckage of a Spanish galleon.”

Time no doubt has taken its toll on those timbers the passing years. The millstones were retrieved by Larry and remain preserved at his home today.

According to Judith Abernathy, after the storm washed the Beaver Creek mill away, “Marion purchased land in Ashville and built a new home. He also began operating a heading mill, making wooden barrelheads. This mill was located at the corner of Highway 23 and 7th Avenue in Ashville. Every day at noon, a steam whistle would blow at the mill.”

The Cox Mill

In an article on file at the Ashville Museum and Archives, Margaret Coker wrote of the Cox Gristmill in a paper titled, “Childhood Memories of an Old Gristmill.” Henry Cox operated this mill in Beaver Valley. According to Mr. Cox’s obituary in The Southern Aegis, Nov. 8, 1928, he became blind at the age of 12, and in spite of his blindness, as an adult he delivered mail in Beaver Valley for 15 years.

The Cox gristmill had the traditional waterwheel, and the dam across the creek formed a millpond. When the miller opened the water gate, the rushing water turned the waterwheel to power the mill.

“I remember helping my father by turning the handle of the corn sheller while he fed the ears into it,” Mrs. Coker wrote. “Then the corn was sacked and taken to the Cox Gristmill.” Folk could have their corn ground fine, medium or coarse.

“I remember as a small child going to the mill with my father in a wagon,” she wrote, “and then later in an early model Ford car. Some customers came bringing their sacks of corn across the backs of the horses or mules they were riding. Others came in buggies or wagons.”

She drew a word picture with this recollection from the past. “One of the pleasant memories of my childhood was walking into my mother’s kitchen and smelling the enticing aroma of hot cornbread just out of the oven of the wood burning stove. Even better was the taste of the bread when a slice of it was filled with home churned butter.”

The wonderful thing is a wood burning stove is not required for making family memories of your own. So, go to the store and purchase some self-rising corn meal – and a pound of real butter. For dinner tonight, open a jar of the vegetable soup you canned this past summer. Turn your oven – gas or electric – to 425 degrees and put the oiled iron skillet in the oven while it heats. A sizzling hot skillet gives a good crust to the cornbread. If you don’t have a recipe, there will be one on the bag of cornmeal you bought, or you can call your mother, your grandmother, an aunt, or a friend for their recipe.

Over the past 100 years, sugar has crept into cornbread recipes in the South, but for true, old-timey Southern cornbread, cooks don’t add sugar to the batter. Beloved storyteller, Sean of the South, addressed this in his Nov. 2, 2022, online blog titled, “For the Love of Cornbread,” when he wrote:

“Only a few days ago, I visited a restaurant in Franklin, Tennessee. It was one of those fancy joints where waiters and waitresses walk like they’re in need of fiber supplementation. The waitress brought me a hot basket of sweet cornbread.

“ ‘Excuse me, ma’am,’ I said to the waitress. ‘There’s something wrong with my cornbread.’

“‘What’s wrong?’ she said.

“ ‘Well, I think the chef spilled a box of Duncan Hines into the batter.’

“No, sir, we put sugar in our cornbread.”

“ ‘Why would you do such a thing?’

“Because our chef is from Chicago.”

And cornbread lovers all over the South murmured commiserations along with Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Well bless his pea-picking heart!”

Seed + Sun

Mandy and son, Corbie, share a moment on a tractor

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mandy Baughn

If you Google “poppies,” you’ll learn that poppies aren’t recommended for growing in this area (Zone 8), poppies don’t do well with root disruption, and poppies typically don’t bloom the first year they are planted.

Mandy Baughn’s poppy experiment defied all the odds and confirmed her idea to develop a flower shop by the side of the road.

That experiment began with a seed packet she picked up at a dollar store, planted in trays on her kitchen table, then transplanted into a garden bed. They survived transplantation, sent their roots deep during the winter of 2022-23, then bloomed beautifully their first season.

“I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to grow poppies to sell for many reasons, but for me, that first brave, pink poppy bloom was a sign and a confirmation that this is what I’m meant to do,” she says.

Seed + Sun Blooms, the name she gave her new flower business, involves growing a large variety of colorful flowers, arranging them into bouquets, placing them in Mason jars and selling them on the honor system in a little stand next to her house on Mays Bend Road. She charges from $5 to $40 for a bouquet, and purchasers leave the money in a lock box.

“They can take the flower jars home with them and keep or return them,” Baughn says. “Most folks return them, and some even bring me extra jars.”

She presented the idea for a flower stand to her husband, Scott, this past April. They had been on their 10-acre homestead for two years and had been tossing around ways to have it make some money. “I’ve always loved growing things,” Baughn says. “I come from a long line of green thumbs.”

She came up with this honor system, which, as she points out, isn’t the first in St. Clair County. “There are several in this area, including the Wadsworth Farm that sells blueberries and others who sell veggies. I’m a dreamer – it was my idea – my husband is the logical one. To my surprise, he said, ‘Let’s do it!’ ”

They had no tiller, no tractor and no experience in flowering farming. Then a friend explained the no-till method, where you lay a tarp down, and it kills the vegetation underneath, decomposing it and putting the nutrients back into the soil. So that’s what they did.

A workshop using pumpkins as vase

This growing season, the flower beds are covered with landscaping fabric, and she’s trying a gardening concept called the Cool Flower Method that a woman in Virginia named Lisa Mason Ziegler came up with. “You plant hardy annuals in the Fall, they over-winter, and do their thing in the Spring,” Baughn says. “Their roots are stronger because they survived the winter.”

In addition to the poppies, she grew sunflowers, zinnias, celosia, gomphrena, strawflowers, cosmos, marigolds, lots of Black-eyed Susans, Bachelor Buttons and more – all easy to grow, according to Baughn. “We hope to add tulips and daffodils this year,” she says. “We have 1,000 tulip bulbs and almost 500 daffodils already in the ground. We planted them during the first week of December.”

The “we” includes her husband and their two children. Son Corbie, 11, and daughter, Ellery, 9, help with the digging, planting and harvesting. “I have my own seed business, too,” Corbie says. They purchased a used tractor last November, which should help with developing the garden bed.

The whole affair has been trial and error, but has turned out even better than they had expected. “I have always grown things, but never from seeds,” she says. “I have been very surprised. I pictured people coming here just to get flowers, a destination, so to speak. But to my surprise, people in the neighborhood and passersby stop, some on their way home.”

Last year, after a late start, the stand opened in early July and closed in mid-December. Baughn estimates they sold 300-400 bouquets during that time. “Whew, that’s hard to think through and just a guess,” she says. They plan to open this year as soon as the bulbs start blooming, which could be as early as mid-February, weather permitting. “We’re hoping to have flowers at least through the end of October and maybe into November,” she says. Maybe we’ll establish a U-Pick patch with sunflowers and zinnias this summer. Obviously, everything is based on the weather.”

Mandy’s daughter, Ellery, takes her pick of flowers

The family wants to make enough money off the flower stand this year to fence their property. Then they can get some horses, sheep and chickens. “We love horses,” she says. “For three years, I taught riding lessons two days a week at RaeAnn Ranch in Moody. The kids, who are homeschooled, would go with me and had a ball roaming the ranch and taking riding lessons.”

She plans to set up a picnic table near the stand, a place for people to hang out, have a picnic, relax and enjoy the Spring and Summer breezes. “Our goal is to nurture community by building more of a community atmosphere so people can connect,” she says. “Young people are always on their phones, and older ones like to socialize. I want people to pass by and say, ‘How cute, let’s stop and sip our coffee at that picnic table.’ We may even offer coffee later. There’s a little bistro table out there now.”

It thrills her when people message her and say, “Someone gave me your flowers, and they made me feel so good. They cheered me up.” That cheers Baughn up, too.

“Flowers are a miracle of God, the way everything comes together to make them grow,” she says. “I go to the garden and know this is not a coincidence, and it strengthens my faith.” l

Editor’s Note: Follow them on Facebook

Innovation comes home

Story by Paul South
Photos by David Smith and submitted

“Businesses that grow by development and improvement do not die.”

— Henry Ford

Henry Ford, the innovator who brought us the assembly line process that produced automobiles in large numbers, knew a thing or two about development and improvement. Over the years, the company that bears his name brought America the Model A, the Mustang and the wildly popular pickup truck.

That spirit of innovation is now at work close to home at Pell City’s Town & Country Ford. A new customization facility, electric vehicle charging stations and an expanded service presence of 48 service bays mean a multimillion-dollar investment in the local economy, with more growth on the way.

In short, Town & Country – with locations in Pell City and Bessemer – has the pedal to the metal, with a new 36,000-square-foot building soon to be online.

Town & Country Dealer Principal and CEO Steve Watts calls the new facility, a customization operation and two EV charging stations, “the verification of our dream.”

Ford truck customized all around

He and his partner, Bill Sain, brought Pell City Ford Lincoln Mercury in December 2009. It was something of a risk. The American economy was in the tank. But Watts saw something in the dealership, then in a 9,150-square-foot building.

“It was my vision that it one day could really become something. It had a lot of potential being off the interstate (I-20),” Watts said. “You know, back in 2009, the economy was going to hell in a handbasket, and we were glad that we could step in and purchase the business.”

The dealership had 19 employees back then and rented its property. Today, Town & Country  has a staff of 71 in its state-of-the art headquarters and now owns 13 acres on the blossoming Interstate 20/59 corridor.

“We’re planning to double our size and capacity and the number of people employed there in the coming weeks and months, once this new building comes online,” Watts said.

Customer demand fueled the new building, Watts said.

“Right now, we can’t get the work out,” Watts said. “Currently, we’ve got 22 service bays for our customers. When we get this thing completed by November, 2024, we’ll have 48 service bays … more than double the capacity of service.”

The customization facility will serve both electric, gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles.

“This building is going to be a (Ford) Bronco building. It’s going to be an accessory and customization shop showroom, and it’s going to do everything commercial for emergency vehicles. It’s going to be for (internal combustion) vehicles and electric vehicles.

“I really believe Ford’s strategy for EV is appropriate because we’re not giving up on internal combustion vehicles. We’re going to continue to produce those, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.”

However, Watts is also sold on EVs. He drives a Lightning F-150, which he calls, ‘the best driving vehicle I’ve ever ridden in.”

The dealership is investing “seven figures” in dollars to construct two Level 3 EV charging stations, with more to come in order to accommodate the growing fleet of electric and hybrid cars and trucks on the nation’s highways.

These stations – with 24-hour, seven-day access – will be the first such facilities in Pell City and St. Clair County, Watts said.

The state and federal governments are providing funding to grow the number of charging stations around the country. In November 2023, for example, the state provided funding for the construction of three stations near Coosa Landing in Gadsden. Bipartisan infrastructure legislation passed by Congress provided $7.5 billion to construct more charging stations.

The new Pell City stations are expected to provide an additional economic boost to restaurants and other businesses eager to serve travelers and locals alike. The two stations were expected to go online this month (February), with plans to expand to as many as eight stations.

“If (motorists) stop to buy electricity, or stop to eat or spend the night, it drives more tax dollars. That’s a thing we’re really excited about,” Watts said. “It’s an opportunity, not only for my business and our associates, but  also for the city and the county.”

And just as Ford’s founder was an innovation pioneer at a global level, Town & Country is innovating locally, in the spirit of Henry Ford.

“We have a choice to invest in EV or not,” Watts said. “I think the strategy is going to include those as well as ICE (internal combustion engines), and I think you’re going to see a lot more hybrid.”

Aerial view of Town & Country’s campus

But even with the growth of EVs, Watts says they’re not for everybody.

“The more infrastructure we get – because people don’t have ‘range anxiety,’ they have ‘charging anxiety’ – the better it is. But you’d be surprised at the number of local people who’ve bought electric vehicles and love them.”

At the end of the day, even with the land, the sparkling new facility and its amenities, that’s not what’s most important, Watts said. He reflected on those early days in 2009.

“The most important thing is not the land. It’s not the building. It’s the people,” Watts said. “I’m just so honored that we’ve been able to go from 19 people to 71 and being able to double that by November of 2024,” Watts says. “That just creates a lot of opportunity for the people. We’re desperately looking for people in all areas.”

The dealership has an Asset Training Program to grow the number of automotive repair technicians. Four local high school graduates are currently enrolled in the program at Lawson State Community College. A fully trained, experienced  certified technician can earn up to $45 an hour.

“It’s really a great career path,” Watts said. “You have to work and you have to have the desire to get you there.”

He should know. The Alabama native began his automotive career as a high school student working on the assembly line at the Ford plant in Wayne, Mich., installing heater cords on Ford Granadas and moved on to auto finance and then to ownership. Two uncles owned dealerships in Talladega and Pensacola, Fla.

But Watts emphasized, it’s not about dollars or buildings or charging stations.

“My biggest and best investment is the people,” he said. “Every day, we’ve got 180 people in Bessemer and 71 in Pell City that clock out and go home. And I’m praying that they come back the next day, because without good people, we have nothing.”

Editor’s Note: For more information about Town & Country Ford, its Asset Training Program, inventory, service and employment opportunities, visit them online pellcityford.com and also visit tccustoms.com and on YouTube.

Fall on the Farm

Pumpkins and peanuts and handcrafts, oh my!

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Richard Rybka

The smell of caramel popcorn, the sounds of children laughing, the sea of tents filled with handmade crafts. There’s nothing like a fall festival to entertain you on a cool, crisp Saturday, especially one like Fall on the Farm on Chandler Mountain.

Held at Smith’s Tomato Farm, this year’s event — the seventh — featured all of the above plus good, old-fashioned guitar and banjo picking for entertainment. It doesn’t get much better than this!

“We just wanna do something for the community, where families can come out and enjoy the day with no admission charge,” said Kista Lowe, manager of Smith Tomato Farm. “We just want families to come have a good time.”

At the entrance to the festival, fall displays such as a rusty Farmall tractor with pumpkins and a scarecrow beside it provided the perfect place for a family photo shoot. Two giant John Deere 200 h.p.+ tractors normally used in the tomato fields were parked nearby.

Esther Smith mans her booth at the event

Carrying the farm theme even further, a “tractor track” allowedtots to ride old toy tractors within the confines of a pumpkin “patch.” A bench at one end provided another photo op, with its backdrop of a slatted wood fence piece bearing a sign reading, “Hello Pumpkins.” Squeals and giggles of delight came from the two inflatable slides nearby.

Kristin Simpson painted smiling faces in her Starshine Faces booth near rows of potted mums in garnet, yellow and white, for sale at $30 a pot. Turning the corner, the familiar smells of festival foods made you hungry, no matter when you last ate breakfast. And the sight of all those crafts made you wish you had left your wallet at home, because you knew you weren’t going to get away without spending some money.

As you turned the corner, the hum of a portable generator provided a backdrop against a cacophony of bargaining voices, squeals of delight, and questions of, “How much does that cost?” Aromas of caramel popcorn and grilled meat filled the air, and the longest line was at the big booth serving tamales, asada (strips of grilled beef) and grilled chicken on quesadillas, tacos and more.

“Our (farm) crew leader’s wife did the asada booth to benefit the family of a little girl hit and killed while waiting on a school bus in Oneonta recently,” said Kista Lowe. “Her family worked on another farm in Blount County. Our crew chief is Pepe Gonzales, and his wife is Estella.”

Although Lowe said the number of vendors was down slightly this year, you couldn’t tell it from gazing at the rows of tents lined up. Some 2,000-3,000 people shopped with vendors selling jewelry, T-shirts and hoodies, water color art, pottery, candles and hand-woven dish towels. The latter sold for $15 each, with several woven on-the-spot by Marcia Wells of Springville. She brought along her loom to demonstrate her craft. “I have several more looms at home, including four I inherited from my mother,” Wells said.

Other booths sold “Welcome” signs for porches, sarapes and ponchos with western art in their designs and brightly-colored Mexican ceramics. Brown Hat Bakery, a north Gadsden establishment, contributed to the sweet aromas of baked goods at another booth.

Fall and Christmas wreaths, handmade stuffed animals, hand-decorated tumblers, caramel and chocolate-covered apples, T’s Nuts (key lime, Cajun, garlic, Parmesan, coconut rum flavors) and Woodcraft30 of Fosters, AL, with its signs, and Christmas ornaments, were lined up nearby.

Moon’s Resin Designsoffered trinket trays, tarot boards, charcuterie boards, plus birdhouses made of gourds. Jessica Wade of Bee Leaf of Springville sold candles of beeswax and soaps made with honey. Beau Blossom Blowof Springville had skull-shaped flicker lights. Run by Amethyst Blow and Jeremy Varden, who are raising money for their wedding, the business got its name from the nickname Amethyst’s grandfather used for her.

Bluegrass band turns out to entertain

Tiffany Tibbs of Odenville manned the booth called His Grace Creations, which featured embroidered gifts and apparel such as baby bibs, tees and home decor. This was Tibbs’ third year at the festival. Embroidering, she said, is “a hobby that pays me a little bit.”

Dorrie’s Salvage Art, fromTalladega County, featured decorative signs such as smiling pumpkins, prancing roosters and a cabin in the woods painted on wood planks, not to mention banana gourds, egg gourds and birdhouse gourds transformed into Christmas ornaments and, guess what? Birdhouses!

 “This is our first time here,“ said Dorrie, whose husband helps in the business. “A fellow vendor from the Rustic Bucket (another festival) in Odenville told me about it.” Fall on the Farm was well worth her time. “I’m a hoarder of wood,” she said. “My husband was a saw-miller before his stroke.”

Stephanie Abernathy of Steph’s Hand-Stamped Jewelry had a booth that sold her own creations as well as bracelets made by her daughter, Sophie. It was their second year at the festival. “I like supporting local fairs by selling something locally made, and I like seeing my students come through,” said Abernathy, who teaches second grade at Ashville Elementary.

She makes jewelry by using a hammer to stamp pre-cut designs onto aluminum, brass and copper. “I’ve been doing this for 12 years,” she said. Sophie, 13 and an eighth-grader at Ashville Middle School, makes Sophie’s Handmade Bracelets from glass and plastic beads.

Music for the day was furnished by Phillip Mulkey and Friends, an old-time bluegrass group that featured Phillip on banjo, Rick Morton on upright bass, Wes Phillips on mandolin, Mark and Adron Willingham on guitars, and Robbie Lawson, female vocalist singing harmony and playing guitar.

“We always hold this on the first Saturday in October, and there’s no charge for parking or admission,” said Kista Lowe. “Come out and join us next year!”

Springville Preservation Society

A labor of love for the past

Story by Paul South
Photos by Richard Rybka

Love comes in many forms.
A dozen roses.
A whispered lullaby
A perfumed letter.
Driving a nail or sweating over a grant application.

But the love the Springville Preservation Society holds for its historic hometown can be seen in preserving the iconic Rock School, restoring the Presbyterian Church, the Springville Museum and historic homes dotting the city’s landscape.

It can even be seen in celebrating the life of Springville natives Hank Patterson and St. Clair County native Pat Buttram, stars of the zany 1960s sitcom, Green Acres.

Patterson and Buttram have passed on, but their lives and the TV show are celebrated in Springville with “Green Acres Day”, featuring a doppelganger of the precocious porker pet Arnold Ziffel, the “son” of Patterson’s character.

The society, about 100 members strong, raises money for its all-volunteer labor through grants and membership fees, ice cream socials and appropriate for this season, a festival of Christmas trees.

For Carol Waid, the reason for the tireless work is simple. She serves on the society board, and her husband Frank, an Air Force veteran, is its chairman.

After his military service ended, the couple came home.

Clay Allison and others take part in the skit

“We were born and raised here,” Carol Waid says. “We love this little town. It’s just a wonderful community.”

The Preservation Society has poured its heart into restoring the Old Rock School. Built in 1902 as a general store, it became a center of learning for generations of Springville children.  The Preservation Society’s efforts to restore the school have earned recognition from the State of Alabama. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The Preservation Society started in 1992. Carol’s father, Marcus Pearson, was among its founders.

The school, the preserved church and other projects are far more than bricks and mortar, sweat and maybe a few tears for members of the organization. They speak volumes about the people who call Springville home, whether those folks are newcomers, or part of a long lineage of local families.

“It’s a real hometown feel,” she says. “Neighbors helping neighbors. You always have a friend.”

While it works to preserve the city’s cherished heritage, the society also strives to help Springville strike a balance between growth and preserving the past.

“That’s one of the appeals of Springville is its history,” she adds. “People love the history of the town, and the old buildings are just full of history. We want to preserve that.”

Frank Waid says that while growth is inevitable, they want residents –  old and new – to celebrate and preserve the past.

“You can’t stop growth,” he says. “But we want people coming into the town to know about the town and its history. That’s why we have things like the home tour. We have tour guides who tell the stories of the old homes.

“As people come into town, we want them to know about the town so that they feel like they’re a part of it, and they’re not just moving in. They feel right at home.”

Not only is the society restoring buildings, but it’s building relationships. Ice Cream Sundays at the Rock School are popular events where friendships form.

Organizers Carol Waid, Brad Waid and Kathy Burttram

It’s easy to think that only older people are in love with the older buildings in town. But when Frank Waid strolls downtown to grab a cup of coffee at Nichols Nook, he sees a different, diverse demographic.

“It’s full of people and it’s full of people of all ages,” Waid says. “There are a lot of young people and families – mothers pushing strollers coming in, and you just feel at home right off the bat.”

And younger people are embracing the Springville Preservation Society’s efforts. In October, local fourth graders from Springville Elementary flocked to the museum – some with their parents in tow – to explore and find joy in small things, like pecking on an antique manual typewriter.

By the way, the school was designated a “School of Excellence” by the state of Alabama in the state’s bicentennial year.

Students from Springville Elementary restored a first-grade classroom at the Rock School, where teacher Nina Crandall taught for generations.

Board member Tami Spires, a counselor at Springville Elementary and a member of the society board, spearheaded the school’s efforts, not only at the Rock School, but in other winning efforts, like the Blue-Ribbon designation.

The society is also converting the manse at the old Presbyterian Church into a city archive, known as the Springville Heritage Center, where genealogy and family histories can be researched. The society also hopes to create a digital oral history archive.

As committed as it is to history, the Springville Preservation Society also makes new memories for this and future generations. Remember Arnold, Jr., the star of Green Acres Day?

“We had a huge crowd, and it was a lot of fun,” Frank Waid says. “People are going to say, ‘I saw Arnold run wild.’”

Fittingly, Spires looked back to the construction of the Rock School when early 20th century residents hauled wagonloads of rock to the top of the city’s highest point to build a beacon of learning for future generations. Their ethic survives in Springville to this day.

“They spent a lot of their own money so that the town could have something that they were proud of,” Spires says. “We need to keep that to teach people that this is the way we do things. Friends help friends.

“That’s what a community does,” she adds. “We come together for a common good and do what needs to be done for one another.”

But at the end of the day, the Preservation Society’s driving force hasn’t changed from that of their forbearers, who mined rocks to build a school for future generations. Spires put it simply:

“We just love Springville.”

Editor’s Note: Individual memberships for the Springville Preservation Society are $10 and $15 for families. Contributions can be sent to P.O. Box 92, Springville, AL 35146. The society meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Masonic Lodge on Main Street. For more information, write info@springvillepreservation.org.

Stars fell on Pell City

Kurt Russell latest actor to film in St. Clair

By Scottie Vickery
Submitted photos

For most folks in Pell City, 2023 will be remembered as the year Hollywood came to town.

Stars fell on Alabama – or at least converged upon the state – for several weeks last summer during filming of The Rivals of Amziah King, a crime thriller written and directed by Andrew Patterson and produced by Black Bear Pictures. By the time filming wrapped, St. Clair County residents were among the many in the state who’d had the chance to rub elbows with the rich and famous.

Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, who stars in the movie, and fellow A-lister Kurt Russell, who has a supporting role, both shot scenes in the area. “It was an experience I wouldn’t have gotten to have anywhere else,” said Lena Parris, of Ragland, who was among the many who waited for hours to catch a glimpse of McConaughey. “I’m not planning on going to California anytime soon, so I figure this was the closest I was going to get to seeing a celebrity.”

Kurt Russell with the Town and Country Texaco crew

If recent years are any indication, Alabamians will likely have more opportunities for star-gazing and all things show biz, according to Brian Jones, media and location coordinator for the Alabama Film Office.  It provides economic incentives to attract film and television projects, and Sweet Home Alabama is serving as a backdrop for a growing number of movies, he said. Each movie filmed in the state often leads to more.

“A lot of times, after doing one movie here, producers and production teams come back and do another one,” Jones said, adding that one reason is the welcome they receive. In larger cities, where filming is a much more frequent occurrence, people get tired of closed streets and other hassles.

“It’s generally the direct opposite in Alabama,” he said. “People are excited, and they’re turning out to see what’s happening. They’re taking photos and having fun. It’s a much more welcoming kind of feeling.” 

That’s exactly what happened when McConaughey came to town to film scenes at Pell City Steakhouse and a farm in Cropwell. A crowd of fans endured rain and the summer heat in hopes of meeting the Oscar winner, who starred in blockbusters such as Dallas Buyer’s Club, The Lincoln Lawyer and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

There already had been plenty of Matthew sightings in the state since filming locations included Birmingham, Bessemer, Jasper, Calera and Columbiana. That didn’t take away from the thrill, though, when the cast and crew made their way to St. Clair County.

McConaughey didn’t sign autographs at the Pell City Steakhouse, but the crowd was eventually rewarded with some great photo ops. The star, a graduate of the University of Texas and a huge Longhorns fan, also flashed a big smile and the “Hook ‘em Horns” sign to those gathered.

Behind the scenes

A few weeks after Matthew Mania started to subside, those Crazy for Kurt got their chance to swoon. Russell’s career started in 1963 when the 12-year-old landed a lead role in a Western television series, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. Since then, he’s starred in many films, including Escape from L.A.,

Big Trouble in Little China, and Backdraft.  He also played Santa in the Netflix productions Christmas Chronicles and Christmas Chronicles: Part Two, and his real-life longtime partner Goldie Hawn portrayed Mrs. Claus.

Ashley Morton, manager of Town &Country Texaco in Cropwell, has long been a fan of Russell’s so she couldn’t have been more thrilled when she learned he would be filming some scenes for the movie at the convenience store in July. He also shot scenes at a home in the Forrest Hills neighborhood. 

Morton said a location scout came by one day when she was away from the store, and one of the cashiers called her to say they wanted to film there. “I didn’t believe her,” Morton said with a laugh. “I accused her of messing with me and hung up on her.”

The interest was real, though, and after the scout returned to take some measurements and photos, they eventually signed a contract. Filming was scheduled for late at night, “so we didn’t have to close the store down,” she said. “We were happy about that. The only thing we had to cancel was a Thursday night fishing tournament.” Town and Country is a popular launch site on Logan Martin Lake.

They ended up cancelling it twice after the original filming date was postponed a week. “We had to cancel again, and we couldn’t tell them why,” Morton said. “That kind of had the fishermen’s feathers a bit in a ruffle.”

It was all worth it, though, when filming began. Morton wasn’t sure at first which actor would be in the scenes, but she delighted to find out it was Russell. “I was more excited about him than Matthew McConaughey,” she said.

“He was all business when they were filming, very professional,” she said. “You could tell he’d been doing it a long time and took it very seriously. In between shooting, he was very nice and normal. He said he had enjoyed his time in Alabama.”

The actors and crew didn’t arrive until about 11:30 p.m. and filming wrapped up about 2:30 a.m., said Morton, who enjoyed watching the whole process. “It’s impressive to me how fast everything goes,” she said. “Everyone shows up, and in 30 to 40 minutes, they’re ready to film.”

The number of takes required for scenes was surprising, as well. “The mics pick up so much background noise,” Morton said. “If a car road by on (U.S. Highway) 231, they would have to re-film it.”

In addition to the photos she took, Morton almost ended up with a souvenir from the evening. “They had this old truck pull up to the gas pumps for a scene,” she said. “At the end of the night, everybody leaves, and this truck’s still sitting there. The windows were down, and the keys were in it. I knew there was no way it was supposed to be sitting there like that.”

After she made a quick call to the location scout, some of the crew returned to pick up the truck. “One of them said they would have been missing it on the next day’s shoot,” Morton recalled.

Although she truly enjoyed the experience, Morton said it seemed odd that a movie set in Oklahoma would be filmed in Alabama. That’s part of the magic of Hollywood, Jones said.

Made in Alabama

Film crews can make almost any setting look like another. “Birmingham is a pretty big city, but it’s no Chicago,” Jones said, adding that movies set in the Windy City can still be filmed in the Magic City. “All they’re looking for is an urban setting. They’re just catching the actors on the street with big buildings all around. They’re not going to pan up and show that some of the buildings are only 10 or 12 stories.”

Kurt Russell filming near the pumps at Town and Country

Jones said much of the Jesus Revolution movie, which starred Kelsey Grammar and is set in Southern California, was filmed in Fairhope and Mobile last year. “They filmed three weeks in Alabama and three days in California just to get some of the iconic shots you have to have,” he said.

“We’re blessed, fortunately in Alabama, because we’re a very geographically diverse state,” Jones added. In addition to urban areas like Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville, there are plenty of rural areas and beautiful countryside.

“In North Alabama, you start getting into the mountains and that kind of look,” he said. “Heading back down toward Mobile, it can look like Savannah, it can look like New Orleans, it can look like the Florida Everglades. We can find a location that matches pretty much any setting unless it’s the North Pole, Antarctica, or the desert. We can’t do that.”

The Rivals of Amziah King, which doesn’t have a release date yet, joins a long list of movies made in Alabama.  The first movie filmed in the state, according to the Alabama Film Index maintained by the Alabama Film Office, was the 1949 war film Twelve O’Clock High, with scenes shot at Fort Rucker.

The Phenix City Story was filmed in 1955, followed by four movies in the 1960s. The number of movies filmed in Alabama grew steadily the next few decades, and more than 130 movies or television shows have been totally or partially filmed in the state since 2000.

The lineup includes blockbusters like Norma Rae, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Big Fish, Selma, Woodlawn and 42. In addition, many St. Clair County residents remember when The Ark, a restaurant in Riverside, was transformed into the White Cow Diner for The Devil All the Time, a 2020 Neflix film.

Big movies often feature big stars, and Alabama has welcomed its share of famous actors and actresses. Bruce Willis was in at least three movies filmed in Alabama (Wrong Place, Wire Room and Assassin). Nicholas Cage, Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Robert DeNiro, Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford are also on the list.

The Rivals of Amziah King, in fact, wasn’t the first movie McConaughey filmed in Alabama. He shot part of 2006’s Failure to Launch in the state, including rock-climbing scenes at Cherokee Rock Village in Leesburg.

Show me the money

Having movies made in Alabama is good for the state as well as filmmakers, Jones said. The Alabama Film Office is a division of the Alabama Department of Commerce, and its mission is boosting the state’s economy and creating jobs for Alabamians by attracting film and television productions to the state.

A movie production “pumps a lot of money into the local economy,” Jones said. “The crews stay several weeks, they’re renting equipment and vans and trucks, and they’re eating in restaurants.” In addition, Alabamians are often hired as part of the cast or crew.

Producers benefit because filming in Alabama can be easier, faster and less expensive than filming in other places, Jones said. Movies that cost more than $500,000 to produce and are approved by the Alabama Film Office can earn 25 percent of the production costs back in tax incentives, he said. The percentage jumps to 35 percent when Alabamians are part of the cast or crew.

In addition, the process of getting permits and cooperation from city officials is generally shorter in Alabama, compared to big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York. That can mean significant savings in an industry where time is money.

“Every day they’re filming is money, money, money,” Jones said. “If you can cut down on the hassles and the delays of getting permits or the delays from waiting on the police to put up barricades, you can cut down on costs.”

That’s not the only way producers can save money. “The cost of filming, like everything else, is lower in Alabama than California,” Jones said. “The cost of gas and meals and everything else is lower. When you’re in Alabama, you’re spending less on all of these other things. Instead of going over budget, they can come in on budget or even under budget.”

That’s why Jones is optimistic that the Alabama Film Index list will continue to grow. “In addition to regular movies, you’ve got all these streaming services doing their own original content,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate to have some really good projects and some cool movies filmed here.”

The Rivals of Amziah King isn’t even the most recent one. Filming for The Life of Chuck, a movie based on a novel by Steven King, recently took place in Fairhope, Mobile and Bay Minette. Chances are, more will follow.

“They all make a difference moving forward,” Jones said. “Even if it’s a year, two years or three years later, someone will say, ‘Remember that Matthew McConaughey movie? That was filmed there.’”