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This column is part book review, part remembrances of my hometown, part discovery of things I didn't know about my hometown, and part admiration of a friend's excellent writing and research. I've just re-read If Perfectly Agreeable by Anne Stanton Sims, subtitled “A love story and life in the 1880's and 1890's in Northwest Florida and Southwest Alabama.” If you live in this area and like history, find and read this book. It is the story of a young couple, Frances Rebecca “Fannie” McDavid and Joseph Parmer “Joe” Harrison, as told mostly through...
Sunday afternoons were for playing and sharing time with friends that lived within walking distance to us Smiths. After church and after the dishes were washed, we usually headed out to spend quality time at the house of whomever was on our radar for a good time of playing, or have some over to play at our house. We enjoyed playing at others’ houses because things were more interesting and less restrictive away from home. Buddy and I shared a brother and sister pair that lived south of us. The Murphys lived on a dirt road behind the Allen Smith...
Thank you for the opportunity to be a guest columnist with the Tri-City Ledger. I was asked to take this on now that Ms. Carolyn Bivins, Alabama Cooperative Extension System Regional Extension Agent, is retired after 45 years of service to Escambia County and the surrounding counties. Ms. Carolyn was a blessing to our region and she has more than earned the time to invest in whatever projects and opportunities that she wants to pursue. As a guest columnist, I will be bringing some information and articles about what 4-H is doing here locally...
A whisper echoing through a gentle breeze, willow trees that witnessed life and death and an old white oak that stands in silent repose while holding in her wisdom acquired over a century of being rooted near the banks. These are some of the sights and sounds of Sizemore Creek which reverberate as if in another dimension as creek goers and traffic pass on the bridge above unaware of her past. Yet just off the roadway this ancient creek seeks to pass on its secrets on to a new generation....
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...
23 was a big year for the Crews family. Our precious Peggy had started "Candy Garden" at Lacoochee Elementary in Pasco County, Florida. She was filling up her head with letters, numbers & colors while being shoved into the wrong bus line and having her pregnant mama close to a nervous breakdown. This caused a blubbering confrontation with the school Principal, the teachers, the school nurse and both janitors. The little darling announced to her favorite teacher’s aide that her mama would need a whole seat for herself if she volunteered to g...
Hello Readers! I am submitting my final article for publication due to the fact that I am retiring from Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) in Escambia County. It has been my pleasure to write these articles for more than 35 years, and I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you. As an employee of ACES for more than 40 years, my career has been a special treat for me and those I have worked with starting with the Office Staff, in the Escambia County Extension Office. We are more like a family....
The following article by Bobbie Randall, a certified diabetes educator and registered certified dietician is very timely and informative as we celebrate September as National Food Safety Month. She states - Schools are in full session. County fairs and fall festivals attract people from miles around. Organizations start up again with regular monthly meetings. To many people, this is the beginning of a new year. Just the simple act of hand-washing can make the difference between a fun day and a sick day later in the week....
As the morning of September 20, 1863 began, Confederate forces stood defiant amidst the hard won ground of the previous day's fighting. Longstreet's men now supported Bragg's fledgling forces and Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest stood prepared to deliver a crushing blow to Rosecrans forces. At 10:15 am Bragg ordered a full frontal assault on the Union lines. As the frontal attack gained momentum Rosecrans made a fateful decision. At about 11 a.m., Rosecrans ordered General T.J. Wood to replace...
OK, y'all know I'm just not into football. Never understood the game, but attended many during my high school years. My main interest was the socializing and watching all the excitement. I jumped up to scream when others did; didn't know if it was a score or if they were screaming at the Ref. I loved the halftime show; seeing the cheerleaders go over to the visitor’s side and fain interest in chatting up the opposition, only to come back to the home side-shaking pom poms, giggling and throwing slurs at those "knobby-knee capped, bucked t...
On August 31, 2019, a group of ham radio operators sent a weather balloon up from the Brewton Area YMCA. Our balloon adventure was a huge success. The payload package contain several instruments, including a repeater that was used to talk to each other through. We weren't able to use some of the instruments we wanted to due to FAA weight restrictions. After reaching approximately 113,000 feet the payload package parachuted down on Grist Mill road in Excel. It was found by a local resident in Excel and he called one of the numbers attached to...
Most folk who know me, know I love flowers. Old-fashioned flowers like ones found around long-abandoned home places and sad, old Plantation places and along the red clay ditches in middle gut Alabama. Flowers like Gladiola, Morning Glory, Easter Lilies, Seven Sisters Roses and Spider Lilies. To be fair, I have to put Crepe Myrtle in the mix. Although it is a shrub with blooms, it gets left behind and dragged down into those ditches by road graders and rains; only to take root and cling to life...
With childhood obesity rates increasing in the United States, it is important for children to eat snacks that will support healthy development. While it may seem more appetizing and convenient to grab a candy bar or a bag of chips, parents can bring a fun new perspective to healthy foods that outshine junk foods. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, many food group recommendations for kids are merely guidelines, and every child has different energy needs. It is important to create an environment that allows your child to choose...
POSITIVE PEOPLE are healthy folks. They are not only positive because they are healthy, they are healthy because they are positive. POSITIVE PEOPLE take things as they come. They don’t stew over situations they can’t do anything about. They accept things as they are and get on with doing something about those things they can control. POSITIVE PEOPLE put out positive vibes wherever they are. They are grateful for what they have…excited about where they are and what they are working on…and hopeful about the possibilities of the future. POSITIVE P...
On a recent trip to Conecuh County I found myself with a few minutes to spare so I stopped by the library in Evergreen to do some light research on a McKinley ancestor who had lived in Conecuh in the early 1900s but about which I knew little else about the gentleman. Ms. Sherry Johnston, who is always a wealth of information on the area, gave me some valuable information on Mr. Pinkney McKinley and I greatly enjoyed my visit with her and Ms. Mattie McMillan from Newton, Mississippi who were in...
I spent Saturday, September 8, 2018 at the 4th annual Barrineau Park Gathering. I love the name of that local festival. As a member of a group that has to look for as many sources as possible for the funding of our endeavors, I spend several Saturdays a year helping to man a booth at one of the many local festivals. Whatever else the festival is focused on the main attraction is the gathering of people. I always enjoy the conversations, some with those I have known most of my life, some with those I meet for the first time, have an enjoyable...
Lamar and I set out to Center, Texas for a looksee. Lamar (The CEO) has talked for years about going to Center to find the reason why his Granddaddy Joseph Holland, founder of Hollandtown, Florida went to Center circa 1915-1919. Why he didn't move there is still unknown. He knows from family lore that it was at the suggestion of a friend to move there, buy some land and raise cattle. If Granddaddy Joe was planning to complete that venture, his plans were cut short due to his unfortunate death in April of that year (1919). He died from injuries...
Are you ready for some FO-OOT-BA-A-LL? College football season has begun and that means thousands of Alabamians will be tailgating before, after and even in their own back yard as they watch the game from TV screens at home. Although tailgating traditions vary among schools and regions, they all include food. The heat in the Southeast sometimes dictates the food selections for tailgating. During the early part of football season, while temperatures are still quite warm, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers are always a favorite, as are fried...
My Mama and Daddy were old school rounded to the highest power. We answered with, "yes sir and no sir and thank you ma'am and please." No short cuts, otherwise…So this being the day the Lord gave us to be glad in it, I'm sharing a Sunday lesson on honoring thy Father and Mother and leaving the last piece for Mr. Manners. So, it was Sunday, the day for being on time for Sunday School and Church and hosting the Preacher for dinner. Dinner being the mid-day meal, this day being Sunday and feeding the Preacher called for FRIED CHICKEN and f...
While watching the local news one morning before going to work I heard one of the anchors use a word that I haven't heard anyone use for years, in fact about forty years. A friend that lived in Monroeville used the “made up word” one night while we were going to Bonifay to a Century Blackcat football game. Our plan was to go to Bonifay in my Mercury Montego, but the water pump was leaking on it so we decided to go in a friends Ford Maverick. T his was sometime during the mid to late 1970's because I had a ham radio walkie talkie with me and I w...
After leaving the Antioch Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, we continued our way to Booker’s Mill. Relying on GPS proved to be a fallacy in the journey in that it took us down a dirt lane called Twin Bridges Road which led nowhere but it did produce a kindly gentleman who had us follow him to the mill site. Upon arriving at Booker’s Mill, it seemed as though the entire place was a public park or some sort of historical exhibit, but it is actually the private property of the Stinson family who purchased the property in the 1970s and have add...
The history of Southwest Alabama is like a patch work quilt composed of the lives of everyone who has called the area home. Each patch of the quilt tells a story and adds color to our area's history. No single area of this "quilt" tells a greater story than the history of Monroe County. History would not be as interesting if it were only composed of dates and names. The story behind the history is always more fascinating and as Mark Twain once wrote; "truth (or fact) is always stranger than...
We camped. It was cheap and fun. During the Oil Embargo of 1973-74 we had saved enough money to take a trip to Colorado. In his military days Lamar had been stationed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and always wanted to show me the place that inspired him to go to college. He had been an airman assigned to the motor pool and drove those big, old coach buses that shuttled the cadets to concerts and the ski areas. He saw how a fellow with a degree had the upper hand and he wanted some of that. Once honorably discharged, he wooed me,...
Today's column is not so much history as thankfulness for living in a rural area. When my family arrived at Jimmy's Grill in Molino last Friday night we were surprised to learn that a band was playing on the porch. Quite a few people were sitting in the chairs set up just off the porch enjoying the music. We at first thought that was the waiting line, but learned that those people had either already eaten or had just come to listen. We actually had a short wait for a table. The band is one of the bands that participate in the Barrineau Park...
Labor Day is commonly celebrated as the last hurrah to summer! It’s lots of fun activities and a chance to spend time with family and friends during the last long 3-day weekend of summer. Friends, families and grilling make for a memorable holiday! My fellow colleague Janice Hall, a regional food safety agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, reminds us to be aware of safe food handling practices. “If we don’t handle and prepare foods in safe ways, we could make family, friends and ourselves sick,” said Hall. “Food that is handled,...
