Bookstore Tour of Huntsville

My brother Richard and I were in Huntsville on a recent weekend, and we spent that Saturday tooling around the city visiting several bookstores, including a side trip to Priceville, as well as a few other favorite stops. Many of my previous bookstore postings can be found here; others include Branch Books in Hartselle, Branch Books 2 in Cullman, and the Goodwill Bookstore in Pelham.  

See my comments below the photos for details on this particular journey. 

Our first stop involved brunch at Southern Egg Cafe on Bailey Cove in southeast Huntsville. We've eaten here a number of times in the past year or so, and have really enjoyed it. We do eggs/bacon/biscuit/cheese grits, but their menu is extensive and they also offer lunch and dinner. The "Breakfast All Day" is just so hard to resist. 

Several years ago the South Huntsville Public Library opened on Bailey Cove Road. This branch in the city's library system replaced two older branches in the area. We stop here often on our trips to Huntsville to donate books and buy some new ones in the bookstore operated by the branch's friends group.

Also on Bailey Cove is a now empty older branch just down the road from mom's house. She and dad used this branch for many years, and she worked as a volunteer in the quarterly book sales. That's where she bought many books that she, Richard and I read in turn and discussed by authors like J.A. Jance, Stuart Woods and the delightful McNally detective novels by Lawrence Sanders. 

Just a random artifact on the road to Priceville Discount Books. 

Priceville is a small town in Morgan County between Somerville and Decatur. I wrote about the historic courthouse in Somerville back in 2014. Several years ago we discovered this bookstore, and Richard, son Amos and I have visited a number of time since and purchased many tomes. Naturally I've done a post on this place. You can find out more on their Facebook page.

Later we arrived at Booklegger on Holmes Avenue in northwest Huntsville. This bookstore has been a long family tradition; dad used to frequent the place which has been operating since the 1970s. Richard, Amos and I have been many times. My blog post on it was written in 2021. Ownership has changed since then, and the new owner has been busy upgrading the place. 

We always work up a thirst by book hunting, and this establishment near Booklegger has been a frequent place to take care of that problem. The Nook has operated in Huntsville under various names since the 1960s, when it was originally Napoleon's Nook and a favorite steakhouse of Werner von Braun and friends. The place reopened in 2007 under its current name and offers more than 400 beers, with 80 on tap and 36 Alabama brews. Wines and stiffer libations are also available. 

Richard seems excited to be escaping the real world. 

Before our final bookstore of the day, we stopped at Das Stahl Bierhaus in the same retail strip in southwest Huntsville as the Bookwyrm. This place has a large selection of foreign and domestic beers as well as a bar and seating.

Signs for these two Alabama breweries were on the wall at Das Stahl Bierhaus.

The Bookwyrm, our last bookstore of the day is a new one in Huntsville. We found the selection large and eclectic, and both bought a few items. 

Our final stop of the day before heading back to mom's was dinner at the Viet House, a favorite in recent years. The menu is extensive, but we always seem to order one of their clay pots--so much good food! Oh, and this restaurant plays low volume light jazz, which makes conversation easy.

And here are a  few of the purchases we made. We've been reading through John D. MacDonald's books, especially the Travis McGhee novels, for the past couple of years. Harlan Coben is a new author we're trying; we've enjoyed some of his novel adaptations by Netflix. The logo on the book in the upper right means it's a crime novel about the Saint, Simon Templar, by Leslie Charteris. 

A Pelham Map from 1989

                          

We live in Pelham, so naturally I've done quite a few pieces over the years about the city and its history. Several have featured maps older than this one, which is similar to a 1985 Hoover map I wrote about in September 2024.  I have a third one of Shelby County, and I may post about it one day.

Pelham was incorporated on July 10, 1964, although the town dates back to 1820 when it was known as Shelbyville and the seat of Shelby County. That status only lasted until 1826, when Columbiana replaced it. The Shelbyville name remained until soon after the Civil War when a change honored Confederate cavalry officer Major John Pelham. For a bit more of history, see my post on Pelham in the 1880s. 

Thus this 1989 map commemorates the 25th anniversary of incorporation. We moved to town in 1985, and I've discussed some of these places in that linked post. Let's see how many of these businesses and  landmarks are still around or that I remember. 

The map features several government buildings that haven't changed, such as the post office, city hall [which has had extensive interior upgrades] and fire station #2. Highway US 31 had already been renamed Pelham Parkway. Other entities still operating include Oak Mountain State Park, Pelham Cemetery, the main City Park and Pelham High School. Businesses like Cracker Barrel, Southern Heritage, Alabama Power, Goodyear Tire Center and Blue Water Park haven't changed much either.

Some places have different uses today. The Bradford Center is now a part of Shelby County Schools, the Linda Nolen Learning Center. K-Mart became Old Time Pottery. Valley Elementary School, which both our kids attended, is now the Campus 124 retail and city park complex. First Baptist Church built a huge new facility, and Skate Time became the church's annex. The Food World Plaza is no more; it's now the Pelham Place Shopping Center. Mi Pueblo Supermarket replaced Food World, where our son worked during high school. China One, later Cafe, was an Asian restaurant we frequented in the early years of our days in Pelham. The business eventually closed and has been replaced by Wok On In. 

Some things on this map are simply gone. Fran's Restaurant, opened in 1962, closed in September 2013. The small retail strip where it and the Pelham Barbershop were located is now an empty lot. The Methodist Church, the first religious group in the city, occupied that corner from 1898 until October 2006, when it moved to Shelby County 11. The sanctuary, built in the 1940s was demolished; the new Family Life building remains. Demolition of Oak Mountain Amphitheater is expected later this year. 

Well, all things must change, more or less. Take a look at how empty Helena Road is up to the high school and think about all the businesses, etc. located there now.

The last two images are excerpts giving most of the locations in a hopefully more readable size. I've written a blog post about Pelham as we knew it in 1985. A good source for Pelham history is Pelham Memories: A Pictorial History by Bobby Joe and Diane Seales [2008]. 

Town Square Graphics, Inc, the Georgia company responsible for designing this map was formed in 1988 and dissolved in 2010. 

Moving Lydia's Remains

My great-great maternal grandfather Reverend James Wilson Shores [1828-1918] was born in Putnam County, Georgia, on October 6, 1828. He moved to what is now Elmore County in 1842 and joined the Methodist Church in May 1845. He was a minister for more than five decades, having been licensed to preach in 1850. He died on March 21, 1918, in his home at 24 North Hull Street in Montgomery. Funeral services were held in Dexter Avenue Church, and he is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery. 

The state archives has a manuscript of his, "Record of Work, 1851-1861" which can be viewed online or downloaded and includes this description:

"Reminiscences of James Wilson Shores, a circuit preacher for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Alabama and Mississippi.  Shores changed circuits every year or two, covering the following counties from 1851 to 1861: Autauga, Barbour, Clarke, Dallas, Fayette, Greene, Lowndes, Marengo, Marion, Perry, Russell, and Sumter Counties in Alabama; and Lowndes and Monroe Counties in Mississippi. When writing about preaching appointments, he lists the dates, locations, and sermon texts for each. In his year-end summaries, he records the number of sermons and classes presented, total distance traveled, number of persons converted and visited, amount of money collected, and topics of personal study. Of particular note in this manuscript are his notes from 1851 and 1853, which include lists of enslaved people preached to and lists of "promiscuous places preached at" (Shores uses "promiscuous" to mean "irregular"; that is, locations not on his regular circuit)."

His future wife Lydia Ann Edwards was born on January 25, 1833, in her father's home near Montgomery. They were married in Prattville on March 16, 1852 and had twelve children together. She died in Orville, age 47 on November 2, 1879. She was buried in Liberty Cemetery midway between Orville and the old state capitol Cahawba. Her tombstone notes she was "A True Wife, A Devoted Mother, A Consistent Christian". James Wilson Shores did not marry again, even though he outlived her by nearly 40 years.  

I am directly descended from Sterling Soule Shores, the sixth child of James and Lydia. He was born on November 22, 1861, in Suggsville in Clarke County. On November 3, 1887, he married Julia Peterson McMillan in Rehoboth in Wilcox County. One of their children was John Miller Shores, my maternal grandfather. John Miller was also a long-time Methodist minister, serving in north Alabama for more than 50 years. 

Lydia's gravesite eventually disappeared from family memory. After a search of many years, Frank Parquette, a great-grandson of James Wilson Shores, located the gravesite in Liberty Cemetery, on the property of Oxford Smith. Frank, his son and brother-in-law got permission to visit the cemetery in January 1995 and found it totally neglected and overgrown. Discussion among family members led to a decision to disinter the remains and move them to a Shores plot in Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper. 

The actual exhumation took place on July 24, 1999. Among those in attendance were Frank Parquette, my dad Amos, brother Richard and his sons Ashley and Miller and yours truly. Cary Oakley, then director of the Office of Archaeological Research at Moundville and a friend of dad's, also participated and made sure state requirements for movement of a burial were fulfilled. Richard had once worked with Carey at OAR. As the attorney in the family, Richard contacted local officials about the disinterment.  

Liberty Cemetery is located near the junction where Dallas County Road 952 joins County Road 948. The place was indeed overgrown in many areas, including Lydia's grave. We spent much of that day there in the summer heat digging, sifting, and teasing what was left of Lydia's coffin and remains from the sandy soil. The effort and results can be seen below in the various photos. 

Also present that day was Sam Shelton of the Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home in Trussville and his wife. Mr. Shelton provided the hearse and new coffin and transported Lydia's remains to Jasper's Oak Hill Cemetery. She was reburied there the next day, a Sunday, next to her grandson John Miller Shores. Attending were  Amos J. Wright, Jr., Frank Parquette, Mr. and Mrs. Shelton and others. Dad offered a brief prayer at the ceremony. 

I am indebted to the late Virginia Nancarrow's 2003 book, Rev. James Wilson Shores: His Ancestors and Descendants, for some of the information in this post.  

Much of the cemetery looked like this area in the photo. Many prominent gravestones and fenced gravesites were caught in a veritable central Alabama jungle.

Brother Richard in his element. Clearly visible are the pieces of the coffin's glass viewing plate. 

The process of searching through the dirt was tedious, just like an archaeological dig.

Not much survived the acidic, sandy soil. Seen in this photo are pieces of the large viewing glass, metal handles, two six-inch pieces of leg bones & other bone fragments and a six-inch piece of Lydia's skull, seen in the upper right. The three small items above and the two below are the viewing plate thumbscrews that held the glass on the wooden coffin. 

Also found were wood fragments from the casket, bits of hair on the skull and glass pieces, some horseshoe nails, and a thin fragment of the metal coffin plate. That would have included an inscription and been attached below the glass.  

Lydia's Montgomery family had enough wealth to pay for a coffin featuring the glass plate and the iron handles. 

Lydia Shores was reinterred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper in a section where many of my other Shores relatives are also buried. 

These two photographs can be found in Virginia Nancarrow's book, cited above.

Hopefully Lydia would have been pleased with the presence of her Shores descendants and the care taken with her remains. 

The Empty Project: Alabama (2)

In January 2020 I posted "The Empty Project: Alabama (1)", so here we are with part two in this series. My introduction to that one:

"I can't live without empty chairs."
-Karl Kraus

For some time now I've been photographing scenes without people inside the "built environment", as they say. Make of these photos what you will.

What is emptiness, anyway??

More information/comments are below the photos. 

Branch Books 2 in Cullman
December 5, 2024

Fayette Art Museum
July 19, 2024

Back porch, Huntsville, Alabama
September 23, 2024

Townley Rest Area
I've written here about this legendary spot in rural Alabama.
July 19, 2024

Tornado or root shelter
County Road 35 in Pelham
June 20, 2024

This lot is very close to our house and it was being cleared for a new construction. This structure was about the last thing to go; a log cabin sat on the property when we moved to our current house in 1995. An article about tornado shelters, root cellars and such in north Alabama by Abraham Rowe can be found in the annual publication of the Alabama Folklife Association, Tributaries #18, 2024. 

Former site of a Pizza Hut, with a Travelodge being demolished in the background
Pelham, Alabama
September 30, 2024

The first Travelodge opened in San Diego in 1940 and the firm became one of the earliest motel chains in the United States. 

Center for Vein Restoration
Valleydale Road, Birmingham
September 18, 2024

TVs running in empty waiting rooms would seem to say something about American culture, but I'm not sure what. 

UAB Highlands Hospital waiting room
August 7, 2019

State of Alabama Postcard

As a Wikipedia article tells us, Alabama has 41 official state symbols. The postcard below only had room for six: the state flag, adopted in 1923; the state flower, the camellia, in 1959; the state bird, the yellowhammer, in 1933; the state tree, the long leaf pine, listed in Wikipedia as the Southern longleaf pine, 1997; coat of arms, 1939; state fish, the Atlantic tarpon, 1955. As you'll see on Wikipedia's inventory, the state now has a freshwater fish symbol, a horse, a game bird, a nut, a reptile and many others added since this postcard was issued.

The back of the card tells us that Alabama's nicknames are Cotton State and the Heart of Dixie, but there apparently is no formal nickname for the state. 

So, when was the card printed? In the middle of the back we read "Alabama Post Card Co." in Bessemer and a ZIP Code. Use of those U.S. Postal Service codes began on July 1, 1963, so this card was printed after that date. The company also issued a USS Alabama card with the same ZIP code. Another card from the company featured Holy Family Hospital in Birmingham and gave an address of 111 Livingston Court, but no ZIP. I also found a card from the company with a launch of a Jupiter-C rocket at Redstone Arsenal probably from the "late 1950s" according to the dealer. Back of the card is not shown.  

I checked some telephone white and yellow pages for Bessemer in the first half of the 1960s and did not find the company listed, so I have no idea how long they operated. A quick Google search only turned up the three other cards mentioned. 

Source: Troy University Libraries Digital Collections

A Visit to Unclaimed Baggage

In August 2019 my brother Richard and I made a trip to Scottsboro and visited among other places Unclaimed Baggage. Their web site will tell you the store's history and how the business works. You can read my two-part report of that visit to Scottsboro here and here. This past December 26, Dianne, my son Amos and daughter-in-law Kim made the trip to the popular attraction. Amos had also visited long ago, but the ladies had never been. So on a gray, drizzly day we traveled north from Pelham. 

By the time we arrived everybody was hungry, so the first thing we did was find a place to eat. Payne's Soda Fountain and Sandwich Shop on the courthouse square was open, and we stopped in there. The popular place was busy, but we were seated quickly. We all enjoyed our meals; Kim and I had their BLTs and some fruit. Strangely, they don't do fries. Dianne and I had some delicious ice cream, too!

Unclaimed Baggage was next, and we stayed for maybe 90 minutes. Kim and Amos found a few t-shirts, and Amos bought a book. Dianne purchased a couple of small pieces of jewelry; she said most of what they had was overpriced. I bought three books. All-in-all the visit was a disappointment. Naturally the place was packed the day after Christmas, and I had no interest in the clothes, hats, jewelry, sunglasses, electronic geegaws, etc. 

However, since the time Richard and I visited an Unclaimed Baggage Museum has been opened within the store, and that was pretty interesting. Comments are below some of the photos.

We parked at the side entrance, which is not far from the museum gallery. 

The "oddities and treasures" range from shrunken heads to a basketball signed by Michael Jordan. On the cover of the pamphlet is Hoggle, a life-size Jim Henson puppet that appeared with David Bowie in the 1986 film Labyrinth.

Even medieval armor has found its way to Scottsboro.

The Gucci suitcase carried Egyptian artifacts dating back to 1500 BC that included a burial mask and ancient coins. Who leaves this kind of stuff unclaimed?

That violin dates to 1770.

I had to laugh when I came across this 2008 novel by Lawrence Block featuring Keller, his lonely hit man character. Someone shelving this book must have assumed it was about baseball.

The courthouse gazebo was decorated for Christmas and holiday music played all over the square. The building was the scene of various trials of the nine Scottsboro Boys in the early 1930s. I wrote about that and the Scottsboro Boys Museum in the previous posts linked in the first paragraph of this one.

Payne's Soda Fountain and Cafe celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019. The business has been located on the courthouse square since February 1891.

Here's a totally random photo I took on the way home as we drove from Scottsboro to I-59. I have a fond memory of  Attalla. When we were young sprouts, my brother and I used to separately visit our grandparents in Gadsden in the summer for a week at a time. On one of those visits my grandmother Rosa Mae Wright took me to a theater in Attalla to see Sink the Bismarck!, a 1960 British film. We saw the movie in the afternoon, before picking up my grandfather Amos J. Wright, Sr., at his job as yard foreman for the L&N railroad.