Tag: Features

Big Canoe Creek Preserve

The beauty is forever yours

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and Roxann Edsall

John Liechty and Richard Edwards chat about old times as they turn along a switchback on Slab Creek Trail at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve in Springville. The two have spent countless hours hiking together over their nearly three decades of friendship.

Edwards got Liechty hooked on hiking when the two worked at the same company in Columbia, South Carolina. The friendship grew when the two moved their families to Birmingham to open a new office for that company.

Liechty has since moved back to Tennessee, where he was born, but hiking, and their passion for it, continues to be the thing that brings them back together.

The Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve has been open less than two months, but the word is out about this hidden gem.

Doug Morrison, the driving force behind it all

Liechty and Edwards heard about it in a newsletter update from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Recourses. “We’ve done a lot of hiking, lots of backcountry stuff,” says Liechty. “The trails here are great with the elevation, the rise and fall. It’s all good. Y’all have a good thing here.”

The 422-acre Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve is a Forever Wild Land Trust property, owned by the state of Alabama and managed by the City of Springville. It boasts four hiking trails, for a total of 7.3 miles of trails. Creek Loop Trail is designated solely for hiking. Fallen Oak Trail and Slab Creek Trail are open to biking also, while hikers on Easy Rider Trail share the space with horseback riders. Benches along the trails offer a place to rest or to bird watch, with picnic tables and portable restrooms available in the parking area. While you can canoe or kayak the creek, there is currently not a put in or take out point on the property. Plans include adding pavilions for outdoor education.

Preserve Manager Doug Morrison says environmental education is a top priority at the preserve. “Personally, I’d like to make 70% of our mission about education,” he says. “The recreation is going to happen. There are so many things to enjoy here. But if you can somehow get the message out that you can enjoy nature and not love it to death, that’s a good goal.”

Morrison’s personal motto is “explore and discover,” and it’s what he hopes people will do at the preserve. “I love to see kids outside learning and discovering things as they run around this place. There’s a lot to learn in nature. We had a home-school group out here yesterday, and they had a great time.”

With a little research, a visitor might learn that the area provides critical habitat for many aquatic creatures. One might discover that clean, moving water is necessary for mussels to thrive, and that the existence of several species of mussels in the Big Canoe Creek watershed is a testament to its cleanliness. One might further note that 18 miles of Big Canoe Creek has been listed as a “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act.

After moving to the area in 1999, Morrison began kayaking the creek and learned about the environmental importance of Big Canoe Creek. He helped to form the group “The Friends of Big Canoe Creek,” which at the time was mostly neighbors who loved the creek.

They learned about the critical habitat that is provided by the Big Canoe Creek watershed and about the threatened and endangered species that make their homes there, including the threatened Trispot Darter and the endangered Canoe Creek Clubshell mussel, found only in the Big Canoe Creek watershed.

The 50-plus-mile-long Big Canoe Creek, runs through the nature preserve and is touted as the “Alabama’s crown jewel in biodiversity.” More than 50 fish species can be found in Big Canoe Creek.

In 2010, and again in 2018, this exemplary biological diversity was explored and documented during what scientists call a “BioBlitz,” a 24-hour-long period where experts from various environmental fields survey and catalog all forms of life found in the specified area. Finding such biodiversity and both threatened and endangered species is what helped in the efforts, spearheaded by The Friends of Big Canoe Creek, to preserve and protect the land for future generations.

Had Morrison and The Friends of Big Canoe Creek not stepped in as advocates, the area might look very different today. When they learned of a developer’s plans to build a subdivision on the property, the The Friends of Big Canoe Creek petitioned the developers to make changes to ensure the creek would be protected.

When the economy took a downturn in 2008, the planned development stalled and gave members of The Friends of Big Canoe Creek a chance to talk to the landowners about nominating the land for purchase by the Forever Wild Land Trust.

Established in 1992, Alabama’s Forever Wild Land Trust purchases lands to expand the number of public-use natural areas to ensure they will be available to use freely forever. It took nine years to get the initial 382-acre parcel and another 40 adjacent acres approved for purchase, but by 2019, the combined tract officially became Forever Wild property.

“In conjunction with the Economic Development Council of St. Clair County, Freshwater Land Trust nominated Big Canoe Creek to be acquired by the Forever Wild Land Trust,” said Liz Sims, Land Conservation Director of Freshwater Land Trust. “We are elated to see such a large portion of the Canoe Creek watershed and its biodiversity protected, including the threatened trispot darter fish habitat.”

Since that time, Morrison, along with the The Friends of Big Canoe Creek, has worked with the City of Springville, the St. Clair County Economic Development Council and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to develop plans for the property.

In 2022, Morrison was hired by the City of Springville to officially manage the project. After 15 years of work to protect and preserve the land and creek, Morrison is finally seeing the joy it is bringing to visitors. He is seeing crowds of at least a hundred on weekdays, with weekends and holidays swelling to nearly twice that number.

Vicki and Kevin Folse heard about the preserve on Facebook and came out to hike. “It is absolutely beautiful,” says Vicki. “We took some time to sit on a bench on the trail and had some quiet time with God.” She thanked Morrison and all those who worked on the project for the opportunity to enjoy the property.

Jeff Goodwin lives just four miles from the preserve. “I come a couple times a week,” he says. “I’m a big hiker, so having this land to hike on this close is a huge benefit. And it’s way more interesting than walking through the neighborhood. I’m hoping they add some longer trails.”

While the trails are not the longest they’ve ever hiked, Richard Edwards and John Liechty agree they are well planned. Edwards, who grew up just minutes from a section of the Appalachian Trail, has spent countless hours hiking trails around the country. His longest hike was 160 miles on the John Muir Trail in California.

Six years ago his sight began to deteriorate due to a condition called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optical neuropathy. “I’m almost blind,” explains Edwards, “so rocks and roots are hard on me. These trails are really a dream.”

Even so, Liechty walks in front of his friend to alert him to any potential hazards. “We’ve kind of had a role reversal,” laughs Liechty. “He led me to hiking, but now I’m leading the hikes.” They agree that time spent together enjoying nature is good therapy.

Good therapy in the form of outdoor recreation can be enjoyed at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. now through October, with closing time shifting to 5 p.m. from November to February. Admission is free.

If you go in the afternoon, take a good look at the metal fish on the left side of the entry gate. The color of the Trispot Darter changes as you move to the left and right. It’s just another thing that’s unique to this beautiful piece of paradise. And it’s forever protected, forever yours to enjoy.

Editor’s note: Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve is located at 1700 Murphree’s Valley Road in Springville. If you would like to help support the preserve, you can make a tax-deductible donation online at bigcanoecreekpreserve.org.

Features

EDC: St. Clair Economic Development Council

A spark illuminates a 25-year path forward

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by David Smith
Discover Archives photos

It’s called a tipping point – that moment when an idea catches a spark and spreads – much like the momentum of a wildfire.

It is exactly that point where St. Clair County found itself 25 years ago with nothing more than an idea of how economic development could work for the future. This was the crossroads question: Do it the way it’s always been done or venture outside the box and bring an entire county together toward a common goal?

At Saks signing, from left, seated: Steele Mayor Alfred Lackey; Chairman Stan Batemon; Walter Scott, Saks Inc. Standing, Wendy Cornett, Saks attorney; Charles Robinson, Steele attorney; Pat Coffee, Steele clerk; Kenny Coleman, Metropolitan Development Board; John Wilcox, Steele IDB chairman; Warren Matthews, Saks attorney; Bill Weathington, county attorney; Lyman Lovejoy, owner; Ed Gardner Sr., EDC director; Tommy Bowers, EDC chairman; Elwyn Thomas, owner.

Lucky for St. Clair County, officials chose the latter, it took hold, and it’s been spreading like wildfire ever since.

You might say it was luck when the St. Clair Economic Development Council was created, but those who were there at those historic crossroads know differently. Those groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings that have become virtually a weekly routine around these parts today did not happen by accident.

Like laying a foundation brick by brick, a group of visionaries carefully transformed an idea into what St. Clair Countians may take for granted these days. But it was all part of a strategically laid plan.

For years, Pell City Realtor Ed Ash assumed responsibility for economic development and by all accounts is owed a debt of gratitude. Many of the early industries were recruited and the projects landed because of Ash’s efforts.

In about 1998, he decided to retire from industry recruiting, and officials faced a decision. What do we do next?

“We figured we needed a full-time recruiter,” said Bob Barnett, who serves as chairman of the Pell City Industrial Development Board, a post he still holds. But they wanted to take it a step further – make that several steps – and develop it as a countywide effort. “It was an idea that just started taking wings. Everyone saw the need.”

Barnett and then commission chairman, the late Roy Banks, are credited with giving the idea those wings early on.

They enlisted the counsel of Circuit Judge Bill Weathington, who was county attorney and Moody city attorney at the time, and he skillfully set up the framework of what would become the EDC. Municipalities came on board, and the idea was in motion.

“One thing we realized was in order to get economic projects, we needed to incentivize differently to compete with surrounding counties and larger municipalities,” Weathington said. “We determined that together, we could compete.”

“Together” is a recurring theme throughout this 25-year success story. Up to that time, municipalities operated from their own silos, sometimes competing with each other.

Former Gov. Don Siegelman and EDC Executive Director Ed Gardner Sr. with Yachiyo executives at groundbreaking

The new concept meant they could compete effectively with others outside the county rather than battling among themselves. What was good for one was good for all.

“We could do things we could not do individually, and if we helped each other, we could help the county have a better chance of landing some of these things,” Weathington said.

With over 8,000 new jobs and $1.7 billion in new investments to its credit since that time, Weathington concluded, “it turned out pretty well for us.”

Banks was a driving force early in the planning, urging Weathington to structure it so that it would be “fair for everybody,” he said. As history would have it, Banks was defeated that year for the chairmanship by Stan Batemon.

But Batemon, recognizing the importance of the effort, not only kept it going in his administration, he and the commission appointed Banks as a member of the first EDC Board of Directors. The structure of the board was critical to the ‘together’ plan. Representation on the five-member board was spread around the county, and no elected official was allowed to serve, a move aimed at keeping politics out of the process.

The charter board was Tommy Bowers, Pell City, chairman; Terry Stewart, Ashville; Joe Kelly, Moody; Lyman Lovejoy, Odenville; and Banks, Pell City. The county commission gave the first $100,000 to fund it, and each municipality invested based on a percentage of their population.

The structure of the board has remained the same. “It still functions like it was set up,” Weathington said. “It speaks well” that the boards, mayors, council and county worked together across administrations to ensure the continuity of mission. “You don’t find that everywhere,” he said.

Weathington noted that Barnett was involved in bringing the idea to the table and played an instrumental role in “making this happen.” Banks, he said, guided the process. And Batemon was the “salesman, made us look good and sold a lot of people on St. Clair County.”

Sibling rivalry thwarted

The biggest fear at the beginning was that the first major project would go to Pell City rather than another municipality and endanger the concept of working together. But it went to the tiny town of Steele in the northern tip of St. Clair County, which landed a Saks Fifth Avenue distribution center.

In fact, the second project went to Steele, too – Yachiyo, an automotive supplier.

Former Pell City Mayor Guin Robinson followed the late Mayor Mack Abercrombie into office in the early goings of the EDC. Recognizing that locating the first industry outside Pell City would actually help the overall, long-term success, he recalled telling former Executive Director Ed Gardner Sr. that it would not hurt his feelings if the first project landed elsewhere.

When the second project went to Steele, he told Gardner in jest, “Hey, Ed, I didn’t mean they all had to be outside Pell City.”

Robinson’s tenure eventually saw plenty of growth. The expansive Walmart development, Jefferson State Community College and a host of other industrial, commercial and institutional projects dotted the landscape.

Now Dean of Economic Development at Jefferson State Community College, Robinson has a rare vantage point as councilman, mayor and college official. The EDC is headquartered on the third floor of Jefferson State. “At that time, the community recognized the importance of the future of the EDC, and Jeff State recognized that as well.”

During the late Jefferson State President Judy Merritt’s term, the college expressed its desire to locate EDC there if space was available. “Judy Merritt and her team, which included current President Keith Brown, embraced the idea. Making that decision before the building was even built says a lot about the importance of EDC and its future.”

Robinson referred to the college’s mission of economic development and workforce development as a “natural fit” with EDC’s own mission and what would become a solid partnership.

Other areas of the county found natural fits, too, because of the strong foundation EDC was building. Moody saw Red Diamond, a global coffee and tea manufacturer pull up its 100 year-old roots in Jefferson County and head to St. Clair County, building a stunning facility there and making sizable initial and subsequent investments in expansions and generating significant job growth.

In its 25 years, every area of the county has benefited from new or expanding industry investment as well as commercial ventures, a testament to their working together philosophy.

First hire

The EDC Board’s first decision set the course. Maybe the stars were aligned just right, as they say, or more probably, it was the vision shared by those who made it happen.

Ed Gardner Sr. was serving as head of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs in Gov. Fob James’ administration and was leaving office. He previously served as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Washington D.C.

His contacts and relationships in business and government circles were legendary. “If we could get him,” Lovejoy recalled, it would make all the difference. They hired him, and it did make all the difference.

When Gardner was honored by EDC in 2018 with its Chairman’s Award, Robinson remarked, “You can have all the necessary things for success, but it takes a leader. And it takes someone who can put all the ingredients together. You can call him an architect. You can call him a builder, but Ed put it together. … We all knew we had those things, but we needed someone to put it together. I’m forever thankful and forever grateful that that person was Ed Gardner.”

“Boy, did we hit a homerun,” Lovejoy said. Gardner had a working relationship with Metropolitan Development Board in Birmingham. He knew people to contact, not just in the state but around the country. He made the wheels turn. We were at a running gallop right off.”

Directors lineage

That gallop never seemed to let up. When Gardner retired, the board hired his son, Ed Gardner Jr., who was deputy director for economic development for the City of Auburn. At the time, Auburn was viewed by many as the pinnacle of economic development in the state.

He stepped into the role, and more successes followed. The first German industry – Eissmann Automotive put its first North American plant in Pell City. That led to VST Keller Oerlikon. Gardner, Jason Goodgame of Goodgame Company and Batemon traveled to Germany to help swing the deal. That led to WKW locating in Pell City as well. Today, Eissmann and WKW are St. Clair County’s largest employers.

Before he left, the wheels were in motion for the other two components of a trifecta for institutional growth in Pell City – Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair and Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home joined Jefferson State Community College – on the sprawling site fronting Interstate 20.

Gardner would oversee tremendous growth in the county over his five-and-a-half-year tenure.

During those years, he guided a fundraising campaign that saw the EDC budget grow from $200,000 a year to $2.5 million over five years. He hired an assistant director, Don Smith, and a retail specialist, Candice Hill, so that EDC could focus fully on all facets of economic development.

Smith was a former colleague from Auburn. When Gardner left the City of Auburn, he said he told Smith, “Hang out here and learn a little bit, and I’ll come back and get you.”

Fortunately for him and St. Clair County, he did. Smith became assistant director for the EDC and later executive director. Gardner Jr. left in 2010 for the Birmingham Business Alliance and later Power South, and Smith ascended to the role he has held ever since.

“It was the best decision of my career,” Smith said. At EDC, he worked as assistant with Gardner Jr. for one and a half years and then served as interim director for six months before being named executive director.

Groundbreakings for the hospital and the veterans home came at the beginning of his taking the helm. Scores of industrial and commercial developments have followed, and they show no signs of slowing.

His innovative and strategic thinking have given birth to new initiatives – Tourism, led by Coordinator Blair Goodgame, and Leadership St. Clair County and a newly created Grant Resource Center, led by Candice Hill, director of Grants and Leadership. He named Jason Roberts director of Industry and Workforce Development.

“Don is forward thinking,” said former EDC Chairman Tommy Bowers. “He has a great team.”

Looking to the future from the lofty position of $233 million in new annual wages announced to date, Smith and his team are poised to announce 1,200 new jobs and $350 million in new investment over the next five years. It is a target they are already on track to exceed.

Lovejoy’s assessment was right. EDC hit a home run indeed.

Features

Equine Aid

New Springville barn uses horses to heal peoples’ bodies and souls

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and submitted Photos

“There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.”

While that quote has been wrongly attributed to several famous people, including Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan, research indicates it probably dates back centuries before they were born.

Nevertheless, the sentiment expresses in a nutshell what Nicole Whitehead Tucker has in mind for Canoe Creek Stables in Springville.

“Canoe Creek Stables is home to Light Of The World Adaptive Horsemanship, a faith-based nonprofit with the mission of helping others heal and grow while enjoying one of God’s greatest gifts, horses,” she says, quoting her mission statement. “We use adaptive horsemanship to provide both physical and emotional benefits to those in need.”

Adaptive Horsemanship is recreational horseback riding and horsemanship lessons adapted for each individual’s needs, goals and abilities. It utilizes mounted and unmounted activities to provide both physical and emotional benefits.

Potential students include autistic children, children suffering from emotional and physical trauma, those with crippling diseases such as cystic fibrosis and veterans suffering from PTSD. Nicole wants to use horses to help these folks and more. That’s why she is working on her certification from CECTH, the Council for Education and Certification in Therapeutic Horsemanship.

Nicole has had horses all of her life. But her dream to use them to help others mentally and physically began when she was a teenager.“My younger brother, Kyle, was born with cystic fibrosis,” she says. “I watched him grow up battling this disease. He inspired me because he never gave up. He died in May of 2019, when he was 29, but he never lost his spirit. I owe a lot of my personal and spiritual growth to him.”

Her husband, Jake, also comes from a horsey family. He lost his brother the year before Nicole lost hers, and it helped Jake develop the same passion she has. “I also want to take horses to places like Children’s Hospital, church events and nursing homes,” Jake says.

“My brother and I talked about doing this for about a month before Kyle passed away,” Nicole says. “I told him about my dream, too, and he said, ‘That’s awesome, Sis.’”

The Tuckers broke ground on a 100 x 100-foot barn on April 1, 2023, after Jake had sketched the design. They contracted to have the outer shell erected, and they finished the inside themselves. “What a journey,” she says. “Jake even built the wooden fence, and he has never done that before. He has no training in carpentry. He was a fuel truck driver for McPherson Oil for 10 years, and now he’s maintenance man at the new Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve, which is next door to our property.”

One side of the barn measures 30 x 100 feet and has 15 stalls. The arena is 50 x 80 feet and covered with sand, while the other side is 20 x 100 feet and has space for seven more stalls. Ten skylights and a chandelier in the center of the arena light up the premises. “I ordered the chandelier via Amazon, and Jake built a crank system so we can lower and raise it,” Nicole says. When he asked her why she needed a chandelier in the middle of a riding arena, she replied, “For barn dances and fundraisers.”

The structure is bathed in Scripture, literally. Several posts and internal walls are covered in Bible verses because Jake and Nicole invited people to write their favorites on them. Some wrote the Scripture reference, while others scribbled entire verses.

“If you take out the wall panels of the social room, for example, you’ll find the internal walls covered with verses,” Nicole says. “Friends, family members, even the Alabama Power crew and concrete contractor wrote them on studs, posts and the plywood under the paneling there.”

To handle the $250,000 price tag of the barn, the couple dipped into their savings account and took out a loan that comes with $1,400-a-month payments.

Lessons are one hour long, and include riding, grooming, lunging, tacking up, learning the parts of a saddle and building a relationship with the horse. They cost $65 per hour. However, low-income persons can be sponsored through donations and fundraising.

“This barn has been a Band-aid for me,” says Nicole. “In the past few weeks, I’ve had conversations with families about what they are going through, including a couple of people who were autistic, and a couple with sensory disorders. They found me via Facebook.”

She started a Facebook page in October, before the barn was even finished. As of Feb. 29, she had 5,500 followers, but her goal is 10,000. “Imagine if 5,500 people said a prayer for our program,” she says.

The barn houses nine horses and three ponies, with five of those used for equine assisted activities. The others are personal ones. Two activity horses include a white horse and a pony from a woman in Mississippi who learned about Nicole’s mission via mutual friends on Facebook and contacted her. “She drove them over the next day, along with some hay and feed,” Nicole says. “That’s a four-hour trip one way.”

Other donations have included two Haflingers, a brother and sister named Candy and Cane. “These are our two main buggy horses, but we use them in our adaptive horsemanship program, too,” Nicole says. “They were given to the program by the family of my great-uncle in Tennessee, who died in the summer of 2022. We got them that November.”

Open house was a great time to meet the animals

A more recent equine donation was the return of her “heart horse,” which she had sold when her brother was ill. “As my brother got worse, I started riding less, because I was just too emotional to enjoy it,” she explains. “So, I sold Handsome to a sweet lady in Georgia. I stayed in touch with his new mom for five years, and she’d update me on him from time to time. Then in February she gave him back to me because she wanted him to be part of something special. I still can’t believe it!”

Handsome is a 16-year-old Tennessee Walker with a lot of personality. “We used to compete in local horse shows in Western and English gaited classes,” Nicole says. “I feel like I got a HUGE piece of my heart back. My brother would be so happy!”

Other in-kind donations include the bathroom, three carriages and the sound system for the barn. The donation of the three carriages came as the indirect result of fulfilling another lifelong dream, that of becoming an airline pilot.

“I had wanted to be a pilot since I was 6-years-old,” says Nicole, who is 43. “My grandmother lived near the Birmingham airport, and I grew up lying in her yard and watching the planes go over. I’m stubborn, and I had no back-up plan.”

She got her pilot’s license at 19, started her aviation career as a flight instructor, then did corporate flying to get jet experience. Later, she was a commercial pilot for ExpressJet, a regional airline, for five years. She quit to start a family. “I’ve gone back to corporate aviation so I can control my schedule,” she says.

During the Springville Christmas Parade of 2022, she saw people like the homecoming queen riding in cars, and joked to her husband about how great it would be to have a carriage so she could auction a seat in it and donate the proceeds to a charity. The next day while she was co-piloting a corporate client to a meeting in Texas, he came into the cockpit and struck up a conversation.

“I showed him pictures of our horses and told him about my dream, and when we landed back in Birmingham later that day, he asked if he could talk to me. He said he had three carriages he wanted to donate, and he did. He paid for the delivery of the first one, and we picked up the other two.”

And that’s why an additional side of the barn was added to the original plans. The carriages include a Purple Princess that has hydraulic brakes and battery-operated lights, an Amish buggy and a covered wagon.

Other animals besides horses are being added to the mix. “We were given a five-day-old lamb whose mother rejected her, and we are working on adding more little critters to the barn, including a mini cow,” she says.

“We will also be taking over the petting zoo at Homestead Hollow this year. I’ll be working the May events with Anne Sargent, who has run it for 10 years. She’s going to show me the ropes, and then I’ll take over for future Homestead Hollow weekends. The petting zoo will be a big part of our barn, as it will bring lots of smiles to children. I’m so excited!”

And what about those “dream crushers,” the people who said she and Jake can’t do it, it won’t happen, they need deep pockets to make this dream come true? Nicole says phooey! “Think of what would not be accomplished except through deep faith.”

Features

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 19^th 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.”

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.”

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 7^th 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!”

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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.

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

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Innovation comes home

Town and Country Ford’s massive Pell City expansion means jobs, improved service and cutting-edge technology

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.”

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.”

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.

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