Noccalula Falls Back in the Day [1000th post]

Well, here we are at my 1000th posting on this blog since March 2014. Scary. 

I thought I would devote this one to a bit of family history. 

In July 2016 I wrote a series of five blog posts about a cedar chest full of personal items belonging to my Dad's older sister Beulah Vee Wright. Part One gives a lengthy introduction. She died in December 1939 at the age of eighteen, so the items date from the 1920's and 1930's. Beulah Vee and my Dad and their parents lived in Gadsden, Alabama. In 2021 I wrote a follow-up post describing our donation of much of the material in the cedar chest to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. You can see a short video about the Beulah Vee portrait among those donated items at the Archives page on YouTube. The actual cedar chest and a small group of other items remain in the family.

We also have numerous photographs taken by her parents, Rosa Mae and Amos J. Wright, Sr. Some of these include a trip to Noccalula Falls in October 1938 and feature Beulah Vee and her boyfriend Porter,  and Rosa Mae. I've also included some photos I took on a visit in 1968. 

The city of Gadsden bought land including the falls in 1946 and has been developing the park ever since. The now expanded area includes campgrounds, a wedding chapel, butterfly and botanical gardens, a covered bridge, pioneer village, minigolf and other amenities. 

My brother Richard and I have some memories of several visits to the falls in the 1960s. Every year in August the Griffith families and other relatives on Rosa Mae's side met for a large reunion, and we often came from Huntsville for the event. Lots of good food was eaten and while the adults talked the kids could play on the rocks, walk the trails to see the old cabins and ride the little train. I seem to remember Dad taking us down the steep trail and under the falls at least once. Of course, the statue of Princess Noccalula reminded us of her legendary leap. 

More comments are below some of the photos. 

Beulah V., October 16, 1938

Beulah V., October 16, 1938. Those shadows must be Amos, Rosa Mae and Porter. 

Porter Hill [her last boyfriend] and Beulah V., October 16, 1938

I've obtained a copy of Beulah Vee's death certificate, which shows her passing at 9:30 a.m. on December 10, 1939. She was attended by Dr. J.W. Ford, who was the family physician. Cause of death is listed as bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis, which I guess explains why her funeral was held the next day. 

From September 7-27, 1939, Beulah Vee kept a diary in a small notebook while she was a patient at Holy Name of Jesus Hospital in Gadsden. A page is included above dated September 14. She notes that "No flowers came" but "Porter came." The notebook records such events as well as how she felt on particular days. In the back the names of her attending nurses are recorded. 

Some years later my mother's obstetrician in Gadsden, Dr. Ford's son, told her his father decided after her death that Beulah Vee may have died of leukemia. People can live for years with tuberculosis, but Beulah Vee's sickness began in March 1939 and she deteriorated rapidly until her death. There was also no treatment for leukemia at that time. 

Rosa Mae Wright [1900-1997]
You can see more photos of her and my grandfather Amos J. Wright, Jr., here and here. 

This photo and the ones below were all processed in June 1968; presumably the family trip to the Falls was in or around that month. I took the photos with a camera I bought on Friday, July 29, 1966, according to notes I made at the time. 

I'm not sure what this mound of stones was or if it's still at the park. Perhaps someone can tell us in the comments. 

I have been unable to determine who is buried beside this cabin. 

Here are a couple of postcards from my collection. 

Source and other photos of the Falls are here. A good account of the legend and its literature can be found on the BhamWiki site. 

Johnny Mack Brown Appears in Gadsden in 1945

I've written several pieces on this blog about football star, actor and Dothan native Johnny Mack Brown. Two of them discussed his 1928 silent films Our Dancing Daughters and A Lady of Chance. The first paired him with Joan Crawford [one of two he made with her] and another Alabama native, Dorothy Sebastian. He starred with Norma Shearer in the second film, much of which is set in Alabama. These attempts to make Brown a romantic lead did not take, and westerns became his forte. I've written about his role in 1930's Billy the Kid, the first sound film about the outlaw; and covered his 1945 Flame of the West in which he plays--of all things--a doctor. 

Brown came to the attention of Hollywood after he helped Alabama beat the favored Washington team in the 1925 Rose Bowl. He scored two of Alabama's three touchdowns as the Crimson Tide became the first southern team to win that bowl game. He soon appeared on a Wheaties cereal box and signed a contract with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio to make movies. The attempt to make him a leading man in A-list pictures didn't pan out, and Brown soon moved into B-Westerns. Between 1927 and 1966 he made over 160 films, most of them westerns. So by 1945 when he made this personal appearance he was deep into that genre. 

"Alabama's Own Movie Star" made five appearances onstage that Sunday, May 5. Brown made seven films in 1945, so these afternoon and evening stage shows could have also promoted one or more of those. I found no ads for any of those films in the two issues of the Gadsden Times where I found this ad.

Rounding out the show were other performers, Trixie McCormick, "Famous Girl Rope Artist" and Carl Zeller and the Three Drifters. A quick search on Google did not turn up any information on Carl Zeller and the Three Drifters. Perhaps they were a western swing band, a popular subgenre of country music in the 1930s and 1940s. Trixie McCormick was indeed a rope artist, apparently from Montana who died in April 2001 at age 91. According to one source her real name was Ethyl Stokes.

Brown died in November 1974. Before his death he was inducted into both the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame's charter class of 1969 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957. 

Gadsden Times 2 May 1945; the same ad appeared in the May 1 issue; these days were the Tuesday and Wednesday before the show. 

Brown had appeared in Gadsden before; I found this ad in the Gadsden Times 3 March 1942 for a March 8 appearance.

Nine issues of Johnny Mack Brown Comics were published from September 1950 until September 1952. 

Flame of the West was one of the seven movies Brown made in 1945 and the one in which he played Dr. John Poole. 

Alabama Postcards: Motels (1)

I have a sizeable and growing Alabama postcard collection, and this post highlights six that feature  motels. I have many others on that topic, as well as hospitals, libraries, etc, to use for future postings. Postcards can be fascinating links to specific times, places and the minutia of life, even more so when they were actually mailed and include a message. 

I've already written a number of pieces about specific postcards and used cards as illustrations in many other posts. Some specific ones include:  

Ross Chemical Building, Auburn 

Wetumpka Penitentiary 

Redmont Hotel, Birmingham  

Jefferson Hospital, Birmingham 

Mentone Springs Hotel 

State of Alabama

Hotel Reich, Gadsden

Electrik Maid Bake Shop & Restaurant, Birmingham

Auburn Serum Plant

Forrest Cemetery Chapel, Gadsden

Whew, more than I thought! 

Postcards have an interesting history which you can read about on Wikipedia and the Library of Congress web site. Dating postcards is discussed on this Smithsonian page. An entry about the history and evolution of motels can be found on Wikipedia. 

Below are two different cards for the Witt Motel in Oneonta, and one each for Bob's Court in Ariton, Town Motel in Birmingham, the Pine Lake Motel south of Montgomery and the Colonial Tourist Court in Troy. More details are between the images. 

On the back of this first card we learn that the owner at the time was Joseph Schoolfield Wittmeier, Sr. [1874-1961] a physician who's Find-A-Grave entry tells us was also very active in civic activities in Oneonta and Blount County. He and his wife Mamie are both buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Oneonta.

The "triple A" symbol indicates the motel was approved by the American Automobile Association. The facility is built of native sandstone and each room has a private tiled bath, air conditioning, carpet, etc. A restaurant operates next door. The location is the junction of U.S. 231 and Alabama state highways 25 and 32 in Oneonta. 

This card was mailed from Oneonta on February 19, 1954, from a woman to her sister in Illinois. On their way to Florida, "all 4 of us" spent the night here 500 miles from home. Sister Francis was apparently suffering from a cold. The stamp featuring President John Adams was issued in 1938. The MWM Company [Mid West Map Company] of Aurora, Missouri, issued many cards. 

You can see a matchbook cover advertising the motel on Pinterest. I found little else about the facility, except a mention on Facebook that it opened in the 1940s and closed "decades later". The site has since been redeveloped.

The handwritten correction on the back of this second Witt Motel card includes a Zip Code, which was  not introduced by the U.S. Post Office until 1963. Presumably the couples indicated as owners here took over after Dr. Wittmeier's death. The phone number indicates a more modern system. Note that "television" has been added to the list of room amenities, and the restaurant is still next door, along with the AAA seal of approval. 

The owners originally listed on this card are John T. Dransfield [1903-1972) and his wife Beulah [1910-1976], both also buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Oneonta. The "H.J. Malwitz" may be Henry J. Malwitz 1897-1981], buried in Birmingham along with his wife Vesta.

Bob's Court was a small 10-unit motel on US 231 in Ariton. The facility had a guest lounge and a restaurant "in connection" which I guess meant next door. Is the motel in a pecan grove? Note that old, old school phone number: 153R. 

Owners Robert Henry Dean [1897-2001] and his wife Lou [1900-1995] are both buried in the Ariton Cemetery. Ariton is in Dale County and the birthplace of blues singer Big Mama Thornton. 

This card was produced by one of the prominent postcard companies, E.C. Kropp of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which operated from 1907 to 1956. This particular card is stamped "cabinet sample" presumably at the card company. The other note would seem to indicate a thousand copies printed/available on February 10, 1953. I'm not sure what the other word is following that date. 

 

The Town Motel was on U.S. Highway 11, one mile west of downtown Birmingham. The motel provided soundproof rooms, carpet and other amenities. This card indicates another old school phone number, 53-9293. Owners  Charles D. [1910-1980] and Jewel [1920-2000] Mitchell are listed in the 1953 Birmingham City Directory as operating the Town Motel. 

This card is also the E.C. Kropp Company. This motel and its newer sign can be seen near the end of this video on Facebook. Other photos of that sign are on Wikimedia Commons and Flickr. The motel made the news in 2021. 

Here's another facility with AAA approval. The Pine Lake was 12 miles south of Montgomery at the junction of U.S. Highways 82 and 231. "Free TV in every room" and "Saxon's Delicious Candy and Restaurant" next door. "Eat and Sleep with Us." Phone AM 2-6088. 

This postcard was addressed to a couple in Lakeland, Florida, but apparently never mailed unless an envelope was used. The author of the note includes a date, May 16, 1966, as the date left for Winfield, Missouri. 

The sign can be seen in a night photo on Facebook from 2021. This card was also issued by the Midwest Map Company. 

Colonial Tourist Court was located on U.S 231 South in Troy. The facility boasted air conditioning and "panel ray heat." I found nothing else about this facility. Interestingly the description is on the front of the card and not the back. The card looks pretty old, doesn't it?

The Artvue Postcard Company operated in New York City from 1948 until 1963. I did not find anything else online except postcards.