Pell City Past and Present

Story by Scottie Vickery

Photos courtesy Pell City Library

Photos by Graham Hadley

Even the walls of the Maxwell Building in downtown Pell City have a story to tell, just like the others lining the blocks of Cogswell Avenue.

The first brick building constructed in town, it still bears the scars of a 1902 dynamite explosion at the nearby train depot. The accident killed two people, injured several others, and left a large crack in the building’s exterior.

The structure was built in 1890, a year before the city was incorporated, and has been home to a boarding house, grocery stores, post office and hotel over its 129-year history. It’s the only survivor of the handful of houses and buildings that made up the original eight square blocks of Pell City. Today, the building that boasts so much historical charm now counts art galleries and a martial arts studio among its many tenants.

“It’s a monument to the humble beginnings of town and stands as a testament to the resilient nature of its people,” Urainah Glidewell said of the Maxwell Building and its many lives. The organizer of the 4th Annual Pell City Historical Walking Tours held each Saturday in April, Glidewell said the building is just one of many that participants can explore. “A lot of people who live in Pell City don’t know much about its history, and there are so many wonderful stories. This is a way for us to open the doors for the community and kind of invite them in,” she said.

Glidewell, who has called Pell City home for 13 years, researched the origins of the city, its founders and businesses for the tours, which average about 150 participants each year. Led by community volunteers, they are a project of The Heart of Pell City, a group dedicated to the preservation, revitalization and cultural development of the downtown historical district. More than 30 cities and towns across the state, including Springville, are hosting tours this year as part of the Alabama Department of Tourism’s initiative to highlight the rich history of the state.

“Everyone who calls Pell City home, who has a business here, they’re now part of the history of Pell City,” said Glidewell, who serves as president of The Heart of Pell City. “We’re walking in the footsteps of all the people who came before us. We thought the tours would be a wonderful way to educate people.”

In its infancy

Downtown Pell City, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, has a long, storied history. Founded by railroad investors, a town charter was issued in 1887, and the city was officially incorporated in May 1891. It was named for one of the financial backers, George Hamilton Pell of New York.

Pell City was nearly abandoned following the Panic of 1893, but it was redeveloped after Sumter Cogswell and his wife, Lydia DeGaris Cogswell, moved to town in 1901 and bought the city for the bargain price of $3,000. “Mr. Cogswell influenced the location here in 1902 of the Pell City Manufacturing Company, subsequently Avondale Mills,” according to the historical marker in front of the courthouse. “The town’s prosperity was secured after that time.”

Much of Pell City’s growth over the years can be attributed to the construction of I-20 and Logan Martin Lake, both built during the 1960s. It’s the historical district, however, that gave the largest city in St. Clair County its start. The district includes two blocks of Cogswell Avenue, as well as several buildings on 19th Street North, 21st Street North and 20th Street South.

Here’s a look at some of the buildings and their stories, according to Glidewell’s research:

Pell City Drug Company/Rexall Drugs, 1901 Cogswell Avenue, was built in 1903 by Dr. R.A. Martin. When Comer Hospital closed in 1931, he opened a six-bed clinic above the drugstore and started construction on the 42-bed Martin Hospital, which was directly behind the store and now houses law offices. The drug store, which closed its doors in 2001, sold everything from prescriptions to school books during its nearly 100-year history and featured a soda fountain and lunch counter, according to Carolyn Hall, Martin’s granddaughter. Today, visitors can still enjoy a meal at El Cazador Mexican Grill, which opened there several years ago.

Singleton’s Barber Shop, which opened in 1905 at 1911 Cogswell Avenue, is now home to Partners by Design, a multimedia marketing company that publishes Discover, The Essence of St. Clair, as well as other magazines. They don’t offer haircuts, but today’s visitors who are having a bad hair day can also buy baseball caps and visors there, as well as T-shirts, sweatshirts and other products promoting Logan Martin Lake. Partners by Design sells its brand of LakeLife™ products at its downtown office. The brand’s origin comes from a logo the company designed years ago and trademarked.

The Maxwell Building, which once housed a herd of goats, was originally built by John Maxwell, who was trained in the leather trade. The original plans called for the building to be used as a tannery, but records are unclear as to whether or not that actually happened. The building currently houses a number of businesses, including Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio, Artscape Gallery, Mission Submissions Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Dirk A. Walker Fine Art Gallery, Mila Le Beauty Bar and Lilly Designs.

The Willingham Building, built in 1920 at 1922 Cogswell Avenue, was originally home to a furniture store and grocery in the front part of the building and a funeral parlor in the back. Joe Kilgroe later acquired the funeral service, which is now known as Kilgroe Funeral Home and has locations in Pell City and Leeds. The building later housed Hagan Drugs and is now home to Judy’s PC Tees, which makes custom Tshirts.

Pell City Hardware Company was built in 1904 at 1910 Cogswell Avenue and sold everything from tools to guns, cutlery, and dishes. One of the original partners was Hardy Cornett, who at one point opened a hotel in the Maxwell Building. Pell City Hardware was sold in the 1980s and became Gossett Hardware Company. Today, the building is home to three businesses: Express Shipping, Toast Sandwich Eatery, and The Old Gray Barn, an antiques and collectibles store with finds that include cutlery and dishes of days gone by.

“I love history,” said Glidewell, who dresses in period costumes for the tours she leads. “I didn’t grow up in Pell City or have family roots here, but this is my home now. I’ve loved looking back at all the people who helped build Pell City. Being able to preserve that and share it in this way has been very rewarding.”

Cinertainment comes to Pell City

Story by Linda Long
Photos by Graham Hadley
and Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Heads up, Pell City and environs, Cinertainment has come to town, and there’s nothing else like it anywhere around. When people talk about the ‘wow factor,’ this place defines it.

Take it from Mark Vaughan, facility director of the 47,892-square-foot facility, which houses seven theatres with reclining seats, 12 bowling lanes, a café and bar, and an arcade complete with zip-line – all under one huge roof.

The name is a derivative of the words, cinema and entertainment, but that barely begins to describe the multiplex, multifaceted attraction. 

As Vaughan explained, the innovative concept is geared toward serving as a destination point, drawing patrons from Lincoln, Leeds, Anniston, Oxford and Talladega.

“Of course, we would love to draw from the Birmingham area as well, but those cities are where we expect to get our customers,” said Vaughn.

Ten years in the planning and construction phase, Cinertainment opened its doors in January to record crowds. As Vaughan points out, the facility was a long time coming but well worth the wait.

“We offer something for just about everybody,” he said.

Mayor Bill Pruitt, who cut the ribbon on opening night and took his turn on the zip line, echoed the sentiment, crediting multiple city administrations; St. Clair Economic Development Council; developer Bill Ellison, president of I-20 Development; and St. Clair County Commission. 

“This very well could be the single most important date in Pell City history,” Pruitt said, making a joke about Facebook and the years of discussions and comments from an impatient community. “This is the fourth administration to have this dream, he said, singling out former Mayors Adam Stocks, Bill Hereford and Joe Funderburg. “Joe worked diligently,” he said. Ground was broken on the complex just past the end of Funderburg’s term and the beginning of Pruitt’s.

“I deserve no credit for this,” Pruitt continued. “I am just honored to be a part of this and to be able to stand here tonight. After walking around inside and seeing this place, it was well worth the wait.”

The mayor also talked of Ellison’s role. He said Premier Cinema CEO Gary Moore told him how excited he was to finally meet Ellison a couple of years back. He remembered Moore telling him, “ ‘ Who in the heck is this Bill Ellison who keeps calling me about bringing this movie theater to Pell City?’ ”

Ellison, long known for his persistence in recruiting business to Pell City, recalled, “I stayed on him. I kept calling him and telling him about Pell City. We started building a relationship, and it progressed to the point that we could put the right people together to make it happen.”

Ellison noted that it indeed was a team effort of the city and county, noting that St. Clair EDC Executive Director Don Smith played a major role in “putting the package together.”

Moore agreed, saying Smith and City Manager Brian Muenger’s support for the project ensured its success. “Without their support and enthusiasm, this project would never have happened.” He added thanks to Funderburg as well.

So now the dream is finally reality. “It’s not only a great thing for Pell City,” said St. Clair Commissioner Tommy Bowers, “it’s a great thing for St. Clair County.”

Moore took it a step further. “This is a destination attraction. It will draw from counties from miles around. It is a lifestyle enhancement, we think, of great proportions.”

He’s right. From 12 state-of-the-art bowling lanes to seven “luxury experience” movie theaters, an indoor zip line and obstacle course, Cinertainment’s management take their night-out-on-the-town experience to a whole new level.

“We’re offering what we call the ultimate luxury in movie going,” said Vaughan.  “All the seats are reclining. The recliners are electrically powered in all auditoriums, complete with USB ports and swivel tables for dining. Movie goers may order their food. We’ll give you a buzzer. When your food is ready, we’ll buzz you and you go right to your theater door to get your meal.”

As Vaughan explained, “this way you can have your popcorn and Coke or a full meal right there at your own table.”

The expanded food and beverage options are expected to be a huge draw, with a full-service kitchen, a pub and full bar, offering four top drafts, four light beers and four craft beers from local breweries.

Food choices include pizza, hamburgers, grilled chicken, wings, onion rings, fried green tomatoes, chef salad and fried pickles.

For those who might want to work off some of those calories, Cinertainment offers a zip line and an obstacle course. And, of course let’s not forget the arcade.  “Our game room has about 46 different games. “You can redeem points here, then take them to the redemption center to see what you can buy,” said Vaughan. “We’ve got winnings ranging from trinkets to an Xbox.”

The facility also offers space for private events such as birthday parties and business meetings.

“We’ve even gotten a couple of churches interested in holding Sunday services here. Like I said, something for everybody,” said Vaughan. l

 

Cinertainment is located at 2200 Vaughan Lane in Pell City.
– Carol Pappas contributed to this story.

 

St. Clair Outdoors

From hunting to climbing to cycling:
Not one single reason to stay inside

Story by Loyd McIntosh
Submitted Photos
Discover Archive Photos

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
— Margaret Atwood

The promise of another spring is just around the corner. Time to shake off the fog of winter, as well as the handful of pounds many gained waiting for the wet, cold and gray misery of winter to finally come to an end. Spring is a time to put the remote control down, shut off the cell phone, get outdoors, learn a new skill, and, most importantly, have some fun!

St. Clair County is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, and there are a ton of local experts ready to help you take advantage of the many outdoor activities available just outside the front door. Regardless of your physical fitness level or knowledge of a new interest, the only limit is your imagination and willingness to try to something new. The following is just a sample of some of the activities you can do throughout the county.

Kayaking Big
Canoe Creek

More and more people are learning about the great kayaking and canoeing along Big Canoe Creek, a 50-plus-mile-long waterway snaking through St. Clair County and part of the Big Canoe Creek Watershed. 

One of the most ecologically diverse in the state, Big Canoe Creek is home to more than 50 species of fish and one of the healthiest populations of mussels in the country. The creek is also stunningly beautiful, and one of the best ways to experience it is in a kayak.

“Our creek has lots of wildlife on it,” says Randall Van, owner and operator of Yak Tha Creek, a small business providing kayaking experiences based in Ashville. Among the species of fish are alligator gar, crappie, brim and red eye bass.

Van says many of his customers are anglers who want to fish the creek from kayaks. “I have a lot of fishers that come to me and want to fish the day out there, fishing on the edges, and find them a little hole where there’s a deep spot to fish because our water goes from ankle-deep to 12 to 15 feet deep.”

Even if fishing isn’t your thing, kayaking Big Canoe Creek is a spectacular way to appreciate the natural wonder of St. Clair County.

The section of the creek Van runs his business on and uses for personal kayaking is very secluded, keeping the modern distractions from the natural habitats to a minimum. Even an expert like Van is surprised from time to time at what he encounters when on the water. “I’ve been down it many times with my wife and all of a sudden a deer will cross the creek in front of you,” he says. “We had a bald eagle visit the creek several times last year to go fishing itself. Lots of neat stuff like that can be happened upon while you’re out there.

“This is part of the thrill and why I enjoy it so much,” he adds. “You just never know what you’re going to kayak up to.”

Bird Watching

If you’re interested in something a little less strenuous or just want a more relaxed experience in the outdoors, bird watching might be just the thing for you. Thanks to the county’s diverse natural resources and location along the flight path for many interesting species, St. Clair County offers ample opportunities to see an array of birds on their way to and from locations as far-flung as the Arctic Circle to South America.

 “During the spring you’ll definitely get a lot of spring migrants,” says Joe Watts, president of Birmingham Audubon and the author of Alabama Birding Trails (alabamabirdingtrails.com). “There are several hundred birds that migrate through Alabama each spring and fall, and some actually stop in Alabama and spend the summer here.”

According to Watts, many birds that make their way to our neck of the woods launch from the Dauphin Island-Gulf Shores area when the wind is ideal, allowing them to make the trip several hundred miles north.

“Sometimes they’ll fly all the way to St. Clair and Jefferson counties to the first line of the Appalachian Mountains, and then they’ll settle,” explains Watts. “They’re going as far as they can until they’re worn completely out.” Among the birds you’re likely to see during the spring include the rose-breasted grosbeak, indigo buntings and hawks, which are plentiful during the spring and fall along the ridges of Horse Pens 40.

On Logan Martin Dam, wading birds are common sights, such as the black-crowned night heron and other similar species that feed on the fish along the rocky shoreline of the lake. The majestic bald eagle, with its wingspan of up to 7.5 feet, can also be viewed throughout the area.

Other areas around the county that are great for bird watching include Ten Islands Historic Park, where visitors can see blue-winged warblers, along with prairie warblers and white-eyed vireos beginning in March, and Neely Henry Dam, where a variety of gulls, such as Ring-billed, Bonaparte’s and Herrings, as well as cliff and barn swallows, are visible throughout the spring. To get started, all you need is a willingness to get outdoors and patience. A nice pair of binoculars is the perfect complement.

Bouldering at Horse Pens 40

One of the most physically challenging activities around the county has to be bouldering at Horse Pens 40. However, if you’re up to the challenge, your hard work will be rewarded. Increasingly, the nature park situated on Chandler Mountain is gaining a reputation for some of the best bouldering in the nation – if not the world.

Made up of rare combinations of sandstone with bands of iron throughout, the rock formations at Horse Pens 40 are tightly condensed and due to the uniqueness of the formation, provide a more challenging climbing experience. “A lot of places that people go to boulder you have to walk a quarter of a mile to get to the next climb, but here it’s all laid out back-to-back like it would be in a gym,” says Ashley Ensign, assistant manager at Horse Pens 40.

The rock formations at Horse Pens 40 pushed up from underground with evidence to suggest the formations were under water for millions of years. This process led to the tops of the rocks being rounder and smoother than most rocks, forming what is known as “slopers” in the bouldering world.

Slopers are more of a challenge to climb than flat top rocks, making Horse Pens 40 an attractive location for bouldering enthusiasts around the world. “We’re known as the sloper top out capital of the world,” says Ensign. “It’s like you’re trying to grip a ball to pull up on the top. It is a lot more challenging because you have to squeeze. That’s what I hear people say every day. You have to grip the sides and hug it.”

On a typical weekend, up to 200 people can be found bouldering on the 40 acres of rock formations at Horse Pens 40, many of them coming from locations thousands of miles away. They have heard about the great climbing and the park and made the trek to Steele, Alabama, to check it out. “Recently we’ve had people from Colorado, Canada and even from Japan. It’s just that well-known within the climbing world.”

For more on St. Clair Outdoors, check out the full special section in this month’s Discover St. Clair. 

David Foote

A master woodcarver at his craft

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

David Foote peered intently through the lighted magnifier attached to his kitchen table and carefully cut a miniscule section of a duck’s feather with a small knife. It’s that attention to detail that makes the woodcarver’s art come alive, whether he’s recreating feathers, a beak or the shell of a turtle.

“You’ll never find anybody who has put more love and consideration into a piece than I have,” said Foote, who has been carving wildlife – mostly birds – for 38 years. “You’re looking at somebody who no doubt loves what he does.”

Foote’s creations have been featured at the White House, the Smithsonian Institution, the headquarters of the National Audubon Society in Manhattan, and in homes and offices in 11 countries. He’s taking commissions two years out, and his carvings can fetch thousands of dollars. Despite the acclaim, the Pell City artist is always honing his craft.

“I’m just an old country boy,” he said. “I’ve gotten to go to a lot of places and meet a lot of people because of my artwork, but I never feel like I’ve reached a pinnacle. It’s a continual learning process.”

Foote has learned a lot about himself in recent years, largely because of health issues that have plagued him. Ten years ago, while in the hospital with double pneumonia, he had a heart attack at age 47. In 2015, he battled squamous cell cancer in his throat and very nearly lost his life. The experiences helped him grow as a person and an artist.

“I was on life support for three weeks and in intensive care for a few more,” Foote said of his cancer fight. “I left the hospital in a wheelchair because I couldn’t walk. The doctor said, ‘I can’t tell you what to expect, because I’ve never seen anybody come back from the dead.’ I thought I’d never carve again.”

Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Foote thanked God for healing him and for every bird he’d had the opportunity to create. “Even if I didn’t carve another one, that was fine,” he said. “I was at peace with it.”

Slowly but surely, however, he began to regain his strength. As he graduated to a walker and then a cane, he began to think about once again pursuing his passion. “Finally, one day I picked up a knife and took a piece of wood and just started carving,” he said. “I realized I could do a little more each day.” 

Foote, 57, first fell in love with carving at 18. The son of Wayne and Wanda Foote, he grew up on the river with his sister and two brothers, including an identical twin. His mother was a primitive antiques dealer, and his father, who had a long career in the iron industry, also built and restored furniture and log houses.

“My dad taught me a wonderful respect and reverence for wood,” Foote said, adding that he learned the different properties of wood make some types better for creating baskets and others best for making furniture. “He looked at wood like we look at different people.”

Foote also developed his love of nature and wildlife as a child. On fishing trips with his father, he spent more time feeding ducks than he did baiting his hook. “People ask me all the time why birds and why wood,” he said. “I’m a bird person; I notice them everywhere. And I like the unforgiveness of wood. You’ve got one shot. If you take something away, you can’t put it back.”

Not long after graduating from Pell City High School in 1980, Foote stumbled upon a craft show at a Birmingham mall and was mesmerized with one artist’s wood carvings. “We got to talking and he said, ‘You know a lot about wood, and you know a lot about birds. Have you ever thought about carving?’”

The man, Don Mitchell of Leeds, gave him his card and invited the teenager to visit his workshop. “I wanted to go the next day, but I waited two weeks,” Foote said. “He had an old garage he’d converted to a shop. When we walked in that door, that was it. Before I left there, he gave me my first carving knife and said, ‘Go carve a bird and when you get done, I want to see it.’”

Mitchell mentored Foote for about two years before he passed away. Later, Foote read everything he could get his hands on about birds and the art of wood carving, and he said he is largely self-taught. “My mother still has the first bird I ever carved,” he said. “My stuff was very crude back then, but my father gave me some good advice. He told me that there are no straight lines and nothing flat in nature.”

Foote’s art allows him to use another one of his talents and loves – painting. “I have always been artistic,” he said. “I was just always able to draw from first-grade on. The teacher would say, ‘Draw a bird, draw a house,’ and mine always got hung up on the board.”

He took art in middle and high school and said he was blessed to have accomplished artist John Lonergan, who lives in Pell City and is well known for his paintings and pottery, as his teacher. “He kind of took me under his wing,” Foote said.

For much of his career, Foote’s brush strokes provided the exquisite detail on the figures he carved mostly from bass wood. His recovery from cancer and brush with death, however, gave him the incentive he needed to try what he had wanted to do for a long time – take his skill to the next level and provide most of the detail through woodburning and carving rather than just paint.

Foote had experimented with the technique before cancer, but was afraid the extra work and time required would make his pieces too costly. “Everything back then was smooth and slick and didn’t have the intricate details,” Foote said. “When I got through cancer and saw I was going to be able to carve again, my whole attitude changed. I decided I don’t care if anyone buys it. I’m going to do it like I want.”

Foote, who now creates full-size, half-size and miniature works of art mostly from Tupelo gum wood, needn’t have worried. His customers pay anywhere from $1,000 for a small songbird to $5,000 for a full-size waterfowl. “What used to take 20-40 hours to complete now takes 400 or 500, so I’m averaging $8 or $10 an hour,” he said with a laugh. “I do what I do because I love it. I have never seen the face of a wood carver on the cover of a Fortune 500 magazine.”

 

Early career

Foote got his start in craft shows in his 20s and quickly began to win awards. The resident wood carver at Springville’s Homestead Hollow for 20 years, he shared his love with kids, many of whom were inspired to carve their own pieces. Perhaps the biggest surprise of his career, though, was when officials from the Alabama State Council on the Arts asked him to carve a yellowhammer for the White House Christmas tree in 2002. First Lady Laura Bush had selected a theme of “All Creatures Great and Small,” and the tree featured ornaments of each state’s bird handcrafted by local artists. The works were later exhibited at the Smithsonian.

Not long after, Foote was one of two artists worldwide selected to provide sculptures of endangered birds for the Audubon Society headquarters. “I consider that to be my claim to fame because they are the bird people of the world,” said Foote, who carved a pair of Virginia rails. “The other artist was a 10th-generation porcelain bird sculptor from Germany.”

While he appreciates the recognition he has received, Foote mostly enjoys doing what he loves for people who love it.

“It gives me great satisfaction when someone who gets up early every morning and works hard to put food on the table calls and says he wants one of my pieces,” he said. “This is a passion. I don’t know any other way to say it. As long as God gives me the strength in my hands and sight in my eyes, I’ll continue to do it.”

 

Dry Creek Farms

Christmas in the Country

Story by Paul South
Photos by Susan Wall

This time of year, thousands of electric lights welcome visitors at Dry Creek Farms. Barns, fences, even a waving wire Santa behind the wheel of a wire tractor, pass on Yuletide greetings with a gentle glow that grows brighter as darkness falls.

It’s all part of the joy the St. John family has shared now for three years on their working cattle farm, where even at Christmas, white-faced Hereford cattle trump red-nosed reindeer. On the weekend of Dec. 7-9, Dry Creek will host its third annual “Christmas on the Farm,” a gift to the people of Pell City and surrounding areas.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will be on hand to meet the children and hear who’s been naughty or nice, as well as Christmas wishes. Gallons of hot chocolate and plates full of goodies will be served. And farm animals – a bottle-fed calf, bunnies, chickens and a horse – will give children a taste of life on the farm.

Photos with Santa are available for $10 each. And kids will also be able to write and send letters to Santa at a small post office in the barn.

But for Joyce St. John, paternal grandmother of this farm family, the lights, tinsel, trees and Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus who come to Dry Creek, dim in comparison to the lights gleaming in the eyes of children and in the Christmas story she loves to share. Dressed in red velvet as Mrs. Kris Kringle, Mrs. St. John reads Clement Moore’s classic, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas. But her true joy – and to her and many others “the reason for the season” – the telling of the birth of Jesus, born in a Bethlehem barn more than 2,000 years ago. For Joyce, the event is more Nativity than North Pole.

“A lot of children who don’t get to experience the things of the manger and all because they’re not involved in church, this is a way of being a witness to them that Christmas is not about Santa Claus, it’s about the birth of Jesus,” Mrs. St. John says. “You’d be surprised at how many children will start asking questions once I start telling the story of Jesus and how He was born in a stable and His bed was a trough that the cattle ate out of. They start asking questions and then you can start sharing about Jesus, and they’re so surprised. Then you have children who can tell you the story of Jesus, and it’s amazing how excited they get being able to tell you stuff about Jesus.”

Grandson Carter St. John runs the day-to-day operation at Dry Creek, which along with raising and selling show cattle, serves as a popular celebration venue. He hopes the event will spark an interest in a generation of kids more familiar with Fortnite than farming. The St. John show cattle compete in events statewide and around and across the country in fairs and other agricultural events.

 “We want (youngsters) to come in here and actually get to know livestock,” Carter says. “That’s how we were raised, and we want other people to see that . . . Maybe it will help their future, maybe they’ll love livestock and not do bad things on the street and make this a hobby for them, loving animals. It kept me out of trouble because it kept me busy.”

He added, “It gives them different options, because they didn’t know farming was out there . . . It’s just like playing baseball or football. It’s a hobby for them. We want more kids involved in farming.”

Six stalls offer different activities for children and their parents. Refreshments, the letters to Santa, spots to visit Santa and his bride and more. At big box retailers, holiday festivities may be best remembered for long lines and long waits. But at Dry Creek, it’s joyous “organized chaos,” Joyce St. John says with a laugh.

Some kids steer classic, pedal-powered metal toy tractors. Others run to Santa. Still others cuddle furry baby bunnies or pet pigs. Sometimes the barn is as quiet as a Christmas Eve mouse, but more often it’s a blizzard of activity. About 150 kids, with parents in tow, flocked to last year’s event.

“Sometimes the barn would be full,” she says. “Sometimes there would be little breaks, but it seemed like someone was in there all the time.”

Joyce St. John has a gentle, welcoming voice that overflows with kindness. The kindness remains when she takes on the role of Mrs. Claus. But, she says, her personality changes when she dons the red velvet dress and hat.

 “I just love how excited the children get to sit in Mrs. Santa’s lap. I also do the story, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and so many of them have heard the story about Santa. You do kind of change your character. My character changes while telling the story of Jesus’ birth compared to ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.

She senses a transformation when she tells the story of the baby born in the Bethlehem barn. Her already happy heart overflows with joy while telling the Gospel story. Sometimes, she says, children return to hear the story again and again and again.

“Telling the story of Jesus, it puts you almost like you’re almost there in the barn witnessing it and being a part of it. I get excited talking about Jesus. There’s a big difference talking about Santa Claus and talking about Jesus.”

The St. Johns string lights, hang tinsel and decorate trees weeks before the Dec. 7-9 event. But for Joyce St. John, only one beacon matters – the Light of the World. She sees Christmas at the Farm as “a ministry,” countering the commercialization of Christmas.

 “Several children . . . just to see their eyes light up when you told them the story about Jesus, especially those who really didn’t know about Him.” You knew that this may be the only time during the year that anything is really said about Jesus.

Doing this Christmas on the farm . . . It’s about the true meaning of Christmas. If it touches one person’s life, and they come to know Jesus, it will have been worth it.”

For more information about Dry Creek Farms, visit www.drycreekfarmscattle.com.

Got Her Goats

Rental ruminants help clear kudzu from Ashville farm

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Cindy Massey took more than a casual look at the kudzu-covered cliffs that surrounded her Ashville farm and knew she had to put a stop to the invasion.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, describes the invading kudzu as climbing, coiling and trailing perennial vines introduced in America from Asia in the 19th Century. It’s even earned the infamous reputation as ‘the weed that ate the South.’ But never mind the lore behind it. All Massey knew was that it had to go.

She had kept it under control for years through a treatment process. But when that process was skipped a couple of times, the vines enveloped the hillsides and rock formations – top to bottom – that form a natural, dramatic backdrop all around her expansive valley acreage. That is, when you can see them.

She asked her landscape architect, Rodney Griffin at Gardens by Griffin, for advice, and his answer would set in motion a solution not seen all that much around these parts. “Why don’t you rent a goat?”

It was no time for conventional means anymore, said Massey. So, she turned her attention to the internet and made a discovery that’s catching on around the country – renting goats – and lots of them.

She found a company in Tennessee – Rent-A-Ruminant – that would bring a herd of goats to Alabama and let them do what goats do best. And on a warm, sunny day in August, kudzu started tumbling down like a row of dominos given a mighty thump.

 All across Massey’s 135 acres, one by one, members of the herd of 47 goats made their way up and down and all around the hillsides, craning their necks to reach their ‘gold.’ Some stood on hind legs to get an extra boost toward their target. They tracked, tromped and chomped on one hillside and then headed to the next course at Taylor’s direction.

If one man’s trash is another’s treasure, the same holds true for goats. According to Rent-A-Ruminant owner Jax Taylor, kudzu is like the “golden corral” to them. She compared the bottom to broccoli, the next layer to a chocolate fountain and at the very top, they strike gold.

As Maddie, an Anitolian Shepherd, Great Pyrennes mix herded the goats, keeping them inside temporary netting that encloses each section designated for their clearing prowess, Taylor talked of how her story began.

Now a veteran, she was in Kuwait, about to be deployed to Iraq. A library in Los Angeles had donated out-of-date books to soldiers, and she picked up one on suburban homesteading. For the next 15 months, she would read that book over and over again and became “intrigued” with the concept of self-sufficiency and homesteading.

She decided when she returned home, she would buy a goat. And that she did. Her first was a Nigerian Dwarf, Becka, and you might say that goat cleared the path forward for her in more ways than one. After a second tour, this time in Afghanistan, she decided that when her Army career ended, her next career would involve goats. She had already started her farm and had moved to standard sized goats.

Her herd has grown sizably since then, and so has the territory for Rent a Ruminant, a franchise company begun in 2004 in Washington State. Besides Taylor’s franchise in Tennessee, there are others in Louisiana and Texas.

This was Taylor’s first time to herd in Alabama, and she settled into a loft apartment above the barn on Massey’s land for the two and half weeks she was there with the herd. She and her goat caravan have traveled to parts of Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky clearing property and taking care of the environment.

“We try to run the business like animal lovers would run the business,” she said, noting that most are rescues. She calls them by name if they venture where they’re not supposed to go as if they are wandering toddlers.

There are three generations out there, she said, proudly pointing to each. Becka is the matriarch. Fiddle is her first kid, and Banjo is Fiddle’s first kid.

How do they get their names? “Sometimes, they just come to us. Pineapple is “off the wall.” Morgan is named after a niece. Sir Richard? He’s their “problem child.” He jumps the fence. “They do something that gives them a name,” she explained.

Taylor likens their approach to clearing the kudzu to the atmosphere of a Jurassic Park – “like dinosaurs attacking.” 

And when they were done, Massey’s property was cleaner that it had been in years. By the end of their stay and multiple work days, Massey was calling the goats by name, too.

“I saw firsthand that running a goat rental business is not for the faint of heart,” Massey said. “Some of our terrain is quite steep and while it was no problem for the goats, Jax and her husband, Mathhew, had to clear brush and install fencing to contain them.

“I love the fact that they demolished a lot of kudzu, and no chemicals were used. I try to be mindful of the wonderfully diverse ecosystem we enjoy here. The goats neutralize seeds in their gut rather than broadcasing them as with a machete or Weedeater.”

She noted that the goats were extremely efficient and worked quickly, returning her property to the picturesque landscape she first fell in love with.

“The goats and the Taylors were a delight,” she said. “I missed the sounds of tinkling goat bells and ‘baaaaah’ after they left.”