On a recent Saturday my brother Richard and I visited the town of Fayette; a pair of blog posts about that trip will be coming soon. Along the route we passed the Townley Rest Area seen below. The stop has achieved a certain amount of fame; the website Roadside America even has an entry with photos of earlier incarnations. A three year-old YouTube video also shows a very different look to the attraction and includes some history in the comments.
Townley is an unincorporated area in Walker County. The former coal mining town was incorporated from 1895 into the 1920s. In the 1920 U.S. Census the town had about 1500 resident, but the mine soon closed, and Townley gave up or lost its incorporated status. The nearby Boshell's Mill, site of a grist mill and sawmill, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. The first mill was built in 1885 by William R. Boshell and the site operated by the Boshell family until 1963.
Two U.S. Congressmen from Alabama were born in Townley. Carter Manasco [January 3, 1902-February 5, 1992] graduated from Howard College and the University of Alabama law school. He set up a law practice in Jasper in 1929 and began running for office; he served in the Alabama House from 1930 to 1934. Manasco worked for William B. Bankhead, the powerful Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1933 until 1940.
He ran for the U.S. House himself in 1941 and remained until January 1949. Manasco resumed his law practice and also worked as legislative council for the National Coal Association from 1949 until 1985. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper. As these things happen, our maternal grandparents, Tempe and Rev. John Miller Shores are also interred there.
Near Townley is the ghost town of Manasco. Multiple families by that name lived in Fayette, Walker and Winston counties. Apparently only a few wells and a cemetery mark the spot today.
Tom Bevill [March 27, 1921-March 28, 2005] also graduated from the law school at the University of Alabama. He served in the Alabama legislature from 1958 until 1966 and then the U.S. House 1967-1997. Bevill has another place in history. He answered the world's first 9-1-1 call made on February 16, 1968, from Haleyville by Alabama House Speaker Rankin Fite.
One way to find the rest stop is take I-22 out of Birmingham toward Memphis, exit at AL-69 South and after a brief stretch take AL-124 West. The stop will be on your left.
The Boshell sawmill on the left burned in 1976 and the grist mill in 1986. The photo of the ruins below was taken in 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
Carter Manasco [1902-1990]
Source: Find-A-Grave
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