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Since 1988, The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society has worked to collect and display items that reflect an earlier time. Originally dedicated to the lumber and logging history of Century, the society’s museum now holds relics that also represents the regional history of many communities of the great logging era. Above the doorway of our first display room is a huge carved oxen yoke donated from one of the area’s last oxen drivers, Joe Ross. In another room other yokes are seen. One item crucial to the work of oxen sits among the saws and axes of...
A few weeks ago my sister was sitting at home and getting a bit stir crazy as we all get in the age of covid-19, so she decided to take her household on a little ride along the state line. Part of her ride was around the old sawmill area of Century. She told me later that she was a bit surprised by the several big houses in the old town. I told her that they were built as homes for the executives of the old sawmill company and if that was a surprise, she had to visit the museum. The Alger-Sullivan Heritage Museum has cautiously reopened in the...
In 1787, while serving as Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson received a draft of the new constitution from his friend James Madison. Jefferson agreed with the draft, but objected to the non-inclusion of a bill of rights and returned a letter strongly suggesting one. As a result, Madison introduced 10 amendments that became the U.S. Bill of Rights. This is Amendment 1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right o...
Families leave a legacy. In this region many were connected to the timber industry, farming, or the railroads. Some legacies are quietly kept in family journals, others are better known. This story is of a well-known family who helped bring much positive change to the region. Charles Swift came to the southeastern part of Baldwin County, Alabama with his brother in the 1880s. By the later part of that decade he was general superintendent and his brother logging superintendent of the Southern States Lumber Co. The brothers then went into...
Among the Alger-Sullivan museums eclectic displays is a small collection of shaving razors called straight razors that date from the mid-19th century to the 20th century. This collection is not only a recollection of the razors former owner, like many other things in the museum it represents the end of an era. When one thinks of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, steam boats and railroads, massive iron bridges and the first skyscrapers may come to mind. But this period of history also changed many small things in people’s p...
If you are not already aware, our society has canceled our Sawmill Day festival and Car Show in May due to the national health threat. The society has held this event every year since 1990 as our major fund raiser and as an opportunity to bring the community together. We hope this setback simply gives us time to prepare an even better event next year. We have also decided to close our museums for the near future. In the meantime, repairs are being made on the buildings and museum displays are being updated to better share the history of the...
The U.S. today faces a new health challenge, but this is not new to our nation. One hundred years ago, or so, the challenge of unknown illnesses was almost routine. Today a primary recommendation is similar to one used then, isolation. The following is the story of one man in the era of quarantine. It is not known when Charles Dyer first arrived in the new town of Flomaton, but in 1888 he married a local woman, Fannie Still, when they were both about thirty years old. Their home in the years that followed was a couple of blocks south of the rai...
Contemplation. In my old dictionary, one of the definitions is “thoughtful inspection”. This seems like an old person’s word. The answer to “what ya doing?” from an old man sitting on the front porch, “Oh, I’m just contemplating.” Perhaps this is how common sense wisdom is gained by many of the elderly, a better insight of life and the world not seen by those younger, just contemplating. In the past years a few with front porch wisdom have shared that wisdom with later generations through their writings. One of these folks was A.V. Culpepper....
The political history of the U.S. is filled with a variety of scoundrels, although few rise to the blatant level of today. One of the nation’s earliest such political scoundrels had a slight connection to this region of the South. His name was Arron Burr. Arron Burr was born in 1756 in New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton College as a young man in 1772 and then enlisted in the Continental Army, rising from the rank of private to lieutenant colonel as a result of bravery and leadership in several major battles. After the war he became a l...
The political history of the U.S. is filled with a variety of scoundrels, although few rise to the blatant level of today. One of the nation’s earliest such political scoundrels had a slight connection to this region of the South. His name was Arron Burr. Arron Burr was born in 1756 in New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton College as a young man in 1772 and then enlisted in the Continental Army, rising from the rank of private to lieutenant colonel as a result of bravery and leadership in several major battles. After the war he became a l...
Often we think of some discovered building seen in our daily travels as simply a structure, but sometimes it is part of a long history. Along Highway 29 near the center of the county are a scattering of churches. Among the variety of denominations represented is the Aldersgate Methodist Church which is rooted in one of our oldest histories. Religion in early Florida under the Spanish excluded Protestants. In 1821 the new territory under the U.S. was established and that year the Pensacola Mission of Methodists began under Reverend Alex Talley....
Hello dear readers. In this note I take the role of one of our society’s past leaders who was well known for her weekly greetings and current news, in order to report on a special event. Last week the society held our annual December meeting and Christmas party. There were about twenty members in attendance, a modest number for our society. The meeting began with the customary opening ceremony of pledges and prayers, and then a short welcome by Mr. Fischer which was followed by games, stories and songs. Diane and Agnes spent a large portion o...
It seems that there is a general decline of young folks in interest of our country’s past. Some think that Americans have become isolated through the use of the internet and social media. Personally, after much thought, it seems that the problem is that there are no benches. You know, the ones that sat near the front door, usually occupied by two or three local elders. These were the oracles of our history. Liar’s benches was a name eventually given to these thrones of senior knowledge, and it was from these edifices of exaggeration that the...
An interesting period in the regional history of the panhandle is the few years during the War Between the States. Although events here merit little historical interest compared to many terrible events during this time, this region was a war area and there are interesting stories. In 1862 the Confederate Army defending the coast at Pensacola and at Apalachicola was ordered to move north to meet the Northern military’s advance into Tennessee. Small detachments of Southern troops were left in the area. Locally they were stationed along the P...
A little town just south of the state line will soon celebrate its one hundred and twenty year anniversary. In the 1800s this area around the town was called Teaspoon, because early river travelers could identify the shoreline here due to its flood-washed lake in a bend which resembled a spoon. In 1901 a sawmill company came to the community. Employment opportunity at the company soon drew great numbers of workers and for years after the company would be the largest employer in the county. To celebrate the date of the thriving new town’s b...
Escambia County’s premier educator at the end of the nineteenth century was Professor James M. Tate. After he retired about 1914, he wrote several articles about his loved community for a Pensacola newspaper. Some of his early contributions contained stories of buried treasure which quickly garnered much interest. Several local residents were among many folks who decided that the tales were true and made efforts to seek out the prize. One of these was a neighbor of the old professor - a religious but superstitious farmer identified in the a...
At one time in Escambia County, Florida, schools were titled with the names of outstanding members of the community, people considered role models. Today, with a need by local governments to not offend, or possibly due to the historical ignorance by those who are choosing titles, new schools receive insignificant generic titles like North End, or West Side. Most of the old honorably named schools of the county like Clubbs, Earnest Ward, and Woodham have faded away, but a few remain. One is named after a most remarkable man, J. M. Tate. James Ta...
The history of the American Era of Escambia County in Florida is now almost two hundred years old. In the early years it is remembered that a few areas in the northern part of the county grew slowly as remote, self-sustaining woodland communities. Then, after the War Between the States, the population grew dramatically around sawmill communities along the route of two railways which lay on either side of the county, transforming railway stops into thriving boom towns. This period of almost seventy years may be called our great logging and...
At Century’s ASHS Museums treasures abound. Although the monetary value of almost everything here is minimal, the historical merit of many items cannot be measured because they offer unique windows to our past. One artifact placed on a glass shelf among several other trinkets here is a small ring of keys. It is typical of most, attached are a few keys to unknown doors and locks. But, also on the ring is a brass fob, and engraved on the fob is a simple epitaph: Levi Sampley 1935 I.O.O.F. Lodge. Such things stir my curiosity and make me think ...
The Alger-Sullivan museums are over-packed with items that recall the history of Century and the surrounding area. Many of these are photos, some are pieces of machinery or tools, others only trinkets, but almost all of these things have a story attached. Among these artifacts, in a frame hanging inconspicuously on a crowded wall, is an old letter. This is the story of that letter. Robert Coon was born in 1872 in Michigan. After completing only the fifth grade, he began work at about the age of eleven. As a young man, he held a series of jobs...
Let’s take a little history trip, it is not far. A drive along the river roads of the northern part of Baldwin County will reveal many sites that mark points of our regional history. Just north of Spanish Fort is one of our many interesting historic sites at the old town of Blakeley. Prehistoric Indians were the first inhabitants in the oak and pine covered forests along this riverfront area. Huge mounds of oyster shells can still be found near the banks of the river. In the mounds have been discovered many ancient artifacts, some only old tras...
A unique feature of the American landscape is the county courthouse. Take a trip along the old major highways and you will often find at the center of a county seat stands a large, old, sometimes overly elaborate courthouse. At first glance, you may think that these ancient buildings have always marked the center of county government, but this is often not the case. All of our local counties have moved county seats. Milton is the second known center of government in Santa Rosa County. In Escambia County, Alabama, Pollard once held the title,...
I was digging around in a box of stuff the other day and came across my old high school class ring. My mind flashed to the people, cars, and places that I knew in those days and I thought it funny how something of little physical value can hold so much worth in memories. This is the thing that our society is built on also, simple items that hold worthwhile memories. In case you have not been to the museums lately, let me offer a short description. But, first l will state this. This year the society celebrates thirty-one years of sharing...
It is with a sad heart that we announce the passing of our society's matriarch, Mrs. Margaret Collier. Mrs. Collier died after a long and notable life. Her careers included social worker, school teacher and mother. She is remembered by our society as its co-founder, our first president, life-time society trustee and mother hen, as well as initiator of the National Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company Residential Historic District. During the years that I knew her, she had three great loves: her...
In the later part of last year, I was notified that a close friend had passed away. He and I had met at work, developed a good relationship, and by the time that we retired often met for lunch with our wives, helped each other on many home projects and shared a bit of beer. It after he passed, I discovered that during his Vietnam War service, he had earned a Bronze Star. But, he was a person who modestly recalled his military service and gallantry as a small part of his life. My father was...
