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.

What's Coming to the Blog in 2025?

Since 2015 I have begun each year with a post outlining some of the pieces I'd like to write in the coming year. These posts have become a history of futility on this blog. I list some topics I'd like to cover, and in the coming year I might get one or two of them done. So many topics, so little time, so many new topics popping up all the time. If you have the inclination, you can read all about it: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. 

For instance, last year's listing included the item, "Five Points South in Birmingham in 1987"; I have a neat map to use with it. I also had on my dance card "Louisa Shepard, MD". She was the first southern woman to be awarded a medical degree from a southern institution. She graduated from the Graefenberg Medical Institute operated in Dadeville by her father, Dr. Philip Madison Shepard, from 1852 until 1861. Then there were R.G. Armstrong and Henry Walthall, two Alabama natives who became incredibly busy actors. You might recognize Armstrong, who was born in Pleasant Grove; he appeared in so many films and tv shows before his death in 2012. Walthall never appeared on television; he died in 1936. Born on a cotton plantation in Shelby County, he made dozens of silent and sound films from 1909 until his death. Finally, one topic I mentioned for the 2024 list was Livingston Press, an independent publisher based at the University of West Alabama that since the 1970s has issued numerous works of fiction and other genres.

Perhaps in 2025 I'll get to one or all of these posts. What others would I like to write? Well, there's part 2 of "Alabama on the Hollywood Walk of Fame". I only managed the first half of the alphabet in part 1. Speaking of women doctors in the state, there's the sad tale of Laura Burton and Irene Bullard, two physicians who established a joint practice in Birmingham before World War I. Unfortunately, Burton was murdered by her second husband and Bullard left the state. It's quite a tale.

Earlier this year I wrote about a portion of my ticket stubs collection, the ones for concerts. Next I'd like to do one on the stubs I have for sporting events. Finally, I hope to get around to a post on the visit son Amos and I made in January 2023 to the Paul W. Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa. I've already completed one on another place we visited on that trip, the Capitol and Old Tavern.

I thought about doing an inventory from all these "What's Coming" posts of ideas I listed but have yet to write about. That thought quickly gave me a headache. Well, I guess I'll be back in January 2026 to see how all this speculation for 2025 turned out.

Alabama on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2)

I've written posts about Wilson here, here and here. She's one of many with state connections who will be featured in part 2.

Laura Evelyn Compton and first husband Captain Chesley Thomas Bartee on their wedding day 25 November 1893, Nanafalia, Alabama.

Compton later divorced her steamship captain husband, went to medical school and married fellow student Allen Burton. They moved to Birmingham, and Laura set up a practice with Irene Bullard. They had an office in the original Watts building. Laura was later murdered by her husband, and Irene left the state to practice elsewhere. See this site for more information.

Some Birmingham Barons ticket stubs in my collection. My son and I attended a Barons game this past August, and the only "stub" I have is a printout of the confirmation email I received. Pathetic. I ask you, what kind of world is it without colorful, meaningful ticket stubs?

I'm an Auburn fan, but I will try to do justice to this topic. War Eagle!

Paul W. Bryant Museum