The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, manages 23 public lakes in 20 counties throughout Alabama.  One of these is the 84-acre Washington County State Public Lake, or Emmet Wood Lake, located near Millry, AL.  This is a well maintained public facility that offers the perfect opportunity for fishing and other outdoor activities including walking, birding, and picnicking.  Concessions available at the lake include a wide variety of fishing tackle, live and artificial baits, and other fishing supplies, as well as drinks and refreshments. The lake has a fishing pier that makes it easy to fish deep water if you do not have a boat. There is a launching ramp for fishermen with their own boat.  Boats may have an outboard motor attached but it cannot be used in the lake, only the trolling motor can be used. Boats are also available for rent. Picnic pavilions are also available. Washington County State Public Lake has both primitive camping and RV spaces available. Call the lake manager at 251-846-2512 for details about the operation of the lake and for current schedules.

Washington County State Public Lake is located 2 miles west of Millry, AL (GPS coordinates N31.621889,W88.345417).

Source: http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/where/lakes/washington/

5/23/13

In 1845, the Anglican minister Rev. John H. Linebaugh organized and taught an Anglican confirmation class in Eutaw.  Nine were confirmed in June of 1845 and the small congregation was organized into a parish.  The first vestry was elected and appointed the Rev. Linebaugh as the first rector of the parish.  In 1848, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Alabama, the Rt. Rev. Nicholas Hamner Cobb.  Ceremonies and consecration activities lasted for three days.

The original church structure burned on the evening of February 14, 1913, following a Lenten service. It was completely destroyed; however, several memorials and furnishings were saved including the pews, the credence table, baptismal font, the walnut eagle lectern, the brass altar cross, the pulpit, the brass hymn board, and processional cross and the original altar. A new building was constructed in 1914. The new church was consecrated by Bishop Charles M. Beckwith in 1916. The items that were saved from the fire are still in use today in the new building.

The St. Stephens Episcopal Church is located at the intersection of Main Street and Eutaw Avenue near downtown Eutaw, AL (GPS coordinates N32.842327,W87.892386)

Source: http://ststephen.dioala.org/

5/10/13

This Italianate-style cottage is located beside the historic Sturdivant Hall in Selma, AL. It  was built in 1859 for Mr. and Mrs. Clement Billingslea White. Mrs. White was the former Martha Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, and a half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln. Mr. White was not a military person so the couple was able to visit Washington D.C. during the War Between the States. They were given escorts through the Federal lines and were able to smuggle medical supplies back to the South. This house was also the home of Miss M.M. Force, Selma’s first postmistress. Today, the White-Force Cottage is part of the Sturdivant Hall Museum and is available for special events.

The White-Force Cottage is located at 811 Mabry Street in Selma, AL (GPS coordinates N32.413822,W87.029065).

Source: Selma’s Architecture and History Tour ( A Self-Guided Driving Tour)

5/1/13

This beautiful two-story Victorian-style home was completed in 1890 by Robert Allen White, a prominent merchant and banker in Newbern, AL. It has Victorian gables on the front and a long porch running the full length of the house. Along the edge of the porch is a total of nine small columns – five of them grouped decoratively near the double-door entrance. Inside, there is the familiar wide central hall, with a stairway to the second floor. The only major change in the original structure of this house is movement of the kitchen into the rear of the house. The kitchen was originally located separate from the house which was the common practice during this time period because of the potential for a fire in the kitchen.

This house is located beside Highway 61 at Newbern, AL (GPS coordinates N32.589703,W87.533442). It currently serves as the headquarters for Auburn University’s Rural Studio.

Source: Historic Hale County published by The Greensboro Watchman

4/16/2013

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is a historic Carpenter Gothic church, built in 1854 at Cahaba (also spelled Cahawba), the first capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1826. The builder closely followed plans published by architect Richard Upjohn in his 1852 book Rural Architecture. Exterior features of the Gothic Revival structure include lancet windows, pointed arch doorways and vertical board and batten sheathing. The building originally had a square bell tower on the corner to the left of the current main front entrance, but this was not rebuilt when the church was relocated in 1878.

St. Luke’s was built during Cahaba’s antebellum boom years, on Vine Street near the intersection of Vine and 1st South Street. Following the post-war decline of Cahaba, the church was dismantled in 1878 and moved 11 miles to the community of Martin’s Station where it continued to serve an Episcopal congregation for several decades. St. Luke’s was then used by an African-American Baptist congregation for over 60 years before being acquired by the Alabama Historical Commission.

During the academic years of 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, students from Auburn University’s Rural Studio carefully dismantled the church and reassembled it at Cahaba near the corner of Beech Street and Capitol Street, across from the Old Cahawba Archaeological Park visitor center. The new Cahaba location was chosen because of the original location on Vine Street was in a floodplain. The majority of the original timbers was saved and used, including the 50′ heavy timber buttressed arches. Some of the original wood had rotted considerably over the years and students replaced it with oversight from the Alabama Historical Society and Cahawba Advisory Committee. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 1982.

Click here for additional pictures of this historic church.

The Old Cahawba Archaeological Park is located southwest of Selma, AL near the Alabama River.  GPS coordinates of the church are N32.319444,W87.105111.

Source: Wikipedia

2/9/12

Demopolis is located at the confluence of the Tombigbee River and Black Warrior River atop a chalk cliff, known locally as White Bluff. The settlement was founded and named by a group of political exiles who had been banished from France following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte.  This group reached White Bluff on July 14, 1817 with the intention of establishing the “Vine and Olive Colony”.  This was an unsuccessful venture to develop an agricultural settlement that grew wine grapes and olive trees.  These French settlers named their settlement Demopolis which is a Greek word that means the “People’s City” or “City of the People”.

Today, Demopolis is the largest city in Marengo County – population 7540 according to the 2000 census.  It is located on beautiful Demopolis Lake which is the largest lake in the Black Warrior-Tombigbee system. The lake extends 48 miles upriver on the Black Warrior, 53 miles up the Tombigbee and covers 10,000 acres.  There is a beautiful U. S. Army Corp of Engineers’ campground and a large, full service yacht marina located on the lake in Demopolis.

Demopolis is one of the most historic towns in the Alabama Black Belt. It has eleven individual properties and one historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and thirteen properties listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage (ARLH). These listings include historic homes, churches, businesses and a beautiful one square block park that is one of the oldest parks in Alabama. Demopolis, AL also has a long theater tradition.

Shown is the 1895 cast iron fountain located in the Demopolis Public Square. Click here for additional pictures. Brief details are provided for each picture.

This is the oldest documented structure in Camden. It was built for Thomas Dunn who was one of the earliest settlers of this area. He donated the land where Camden was built. This house was originally a two-story log house constructed c. 1825. The two-story frame addition was added to the house in the 1835-1840 time period. It was modified again in the 1890’s to its current structure with the addition of a full-façade portico and extended eaves. The home, owned by the W.J. Bonner family for many years, was donated to the Wilcox Historical Society in June 2001. The Historical Society began restoring the house and then sold it to Blake and Bettie Field, who completed the restoration in 2006.

This home is located on Broad Street near downtown Camden, AL (GPS coordinates N31.993816,W87.290567).

Source: Wilcox County Historical Society

1/29/2013

In recent years, Bald Eagles have nested in a giant loblolly pine near the entrance to this 600-acre park. The park contains four oxbow lakes, formed when the Cahaba River changed its course about 150 years ago. Foot trails traverse the park’s mature hardwood forests and swampy lowlands. The park contains several unique features that were designed and constructed by architecture students from Auburn University’s Rural Studio. These include the park’s pavilion, covered bridge, boardwalk, 100-foot birding tower,and three restroom facilities (tall toilet, long toilet and mound toilet). The tower allows birders to peer into forest layers usually obscured by foliage from the ground. Be sure to follow the 1⁄4-mile trail from Perry Lakes Park to Barton’s Beach Cahaba River Preserve. Barton’s Beach offers a spectacular vista from which to observe the Cahaba River, the most biodiverse river in North America. Owned by a partnership that includes The Nature Conservancy of Alabama and the Perry County Commission, this 125-acre preserve is open to the public for outdoor recreation, education and scientific research.

Directions:  From the intersection of Hwy 5 & Hwy 175 (between Marion and Brent), travel south on Hwy 175 for 3.1 miles to the turn-in on the left for the park.  GPS Coordinates of park entrance:  N32.698083,W87.259139.

Captions on the pictures provide additional details.

Source: Alabama Black Belt Nature and Heritage Trail, a publication of the Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel

This home was built circa 1840 for William Peter Webb, a lawyer, who came to Eutaw from North Carolina in 1839. The Greek Revival I-house styled building was built by Benjamin D. Gullett.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a part of the Antebellum Homes in Eutaw TR multiple property submission on April 02, 1982, due to its architectural significance.

This house is located at 401 Main Street in Eutaw, AL (GPS coordinates N32.841898,W87.892519).

This is a private residence – drive by only.

Source:  Wikipedia

The First Presbyterian Church is a historic Greek Revival church building in Eutaw, AL. The two-story frame structure was built for the local Presbyterian congregation in 1851 by David R. Anthony. Anthony was a local contractor who constructed many of Eutaw’s antebellum buildings. The congregation was organized by the Tuscaloosa Presbytery in 1824 as the Mesopotamia Presbyterian Church.

This church has shuttered, three sash 12-over-12 pane windows which allow light to fill the church.  These tall window panels also make the front doors appear even taller than their actual height.  A louvered bell tower over the south facade rises into a tall spire capped by a weathervane. Furniture is Gothic Revival. Original whale-oil pulpit lamps previously stored in the slave gallery have been wired for electricity and re-installed along with Eastlake chandeliers.

This church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 16, 1974, due to its architectural and historical significance. It is located on the NW corner of Main Street and Wilson Avenue near downtown Eutaw, AL (GPS coordinates N32.841387,W87.890472).

Sources: 1) Wikipedia; 2) Walking and Driving Guide to Historic Eutaw, Alabama, prepared by the Greene County Historical Society.

B&W photograph courtesy U. S. Library of Congress, Photographer: Alex Bush, Date: January 4, 1935

12/13/10

This home was built for Edward A. Blount and his wife, Mary, between 1853 and 1859.   In January 1852, the Blount’s bought three lots at the location of this house for $26, $40 and $20.  A clear title was granted for this property in January 1853 when the note was satisfied.  In 1859, The Blount’s sold the home and property to the Siloam Baptist Church.  It was used as a church parsonage until a new one was built on Washington Street.  This 2-story frame home has full width porches up and down, decorative saw work columns and railings and heart pine and eastern white pine floors.

This home is located at the intersection of Dekalb Street and Smith Street in Marion, AL. (GPS coordinates N32.628948,W87.321069).

This is a private residence – drive by only.

Source: Perry County Heritage Vol. II

6/16/10