Adventures at the Smokey Hollow Restaurant in Jemison

One of the places Dianne and I visit from time to time is Petals from the Past in Jemison. She's the gardener, but the business does feature "heirloom" and "antique" plants, so there's some natural history there. Recently they have begun specializing in plants native to and once common in Alabama and the South. To get there, take the Jemison exit at Chilton County 42, go west, and turn left at County 29. Drive a couple of miles and Petals will be on your left.

However, the best part of such a trip is a stop for breakfast, lunch or supper at the Smokey Hollow Restaurant. You can't miss it; the place is on the right where you turn left to go to Petals. Nothing fancy there, just good food and lots of it. We've eaten there many times in recent years and never been disappointed. The interior has a neat decor; the photo below only gives a taste of the interesting signs and posters all over the walls.

I do have one funny story to tell about the place. One Sunday afternoon back in September, on our way to a talk on native plants at Petals from the Past, we stopped in for lunch. We had been seated for a few minutes when an older gentleman in overalls, ball cap and several days growth of beard came in alone and sat in the booth behind Dianne. Soon the young lady who had been waiting on us went up to him and asked what he wanted.

He wanted a steak, and he wanted the waitress to bring the meat out for him to examine before it was cooked. "Sir," the waitress protested, "I can't bring raw meat out here." He didn't miss a beat. "You go back there and tell so-and-so [he gave the cook's first name] and tell him so-and-so [he gave his own name] is out here and wants to look at his meat." 

The poor waitress, who must have been new enough not to have dealt with this customer before, dutifully went to the back and soon brought out a steak wrapped in butcher paper to show him. He approved. She asked how he wanted it cooked. "Almost that raw," he replied. 

I wonder if Highland's Bar & Grill has customers like that.

The town of Jemison had about 2500 people in 2010. You can read about its history, much of it involving the state's early railroads, here. Jemison was incorporated in 1907. 

This photo of Smokey Hollow Restaurant and the one below are courtesy of TripAdvisor

Some of the decor is superb. 

What's Coming to the Blog in 2016??

On January 1, 2015, I posted a document with a similar title. Here I am again one year later doing more or less the same thing.

First, let's take a look at last year's list, which you can also find below. I've actually posted blogs on a couple of the topics I intended to do. In February I covered the film The Lawless Breed and its connections to Alabama. Two more postings in that series followed during the year and more are in the pipeline.

I also started the series on film actresses from Alabama before 1960 and have posted on Lois Wilson and Gail Patrick. Dorothy Sebastian is next and others will follow. 

And that's it. All the other topics I listed a year ago have yet to appear on this blog. What can I say? I'm easily distracted. Don't worry; they are all still in that mythical pipeline and some may even pop up in 2016. I also have many other topics "coming soon":


-What was America's first female detective doing in Montgomery before the Civil War?  

-Some old Alabama postcards and the messages they send to us

-Some Alabama medical ads in 1911

-Augustus Thomas' 1891 play "Alabama"


Of course, the various series such as "Alabama Book Covers", "Old Alabama Stuff", "Birmingham Photos of the Day" and so on will continue. And other topics will surely pop up that I don't even see coming at me yet. Isn't this fun?

And as granddad still used to say, "See you in the funny papers." You do know what funny papers are, don't you? 

What's Coming to the Blog in 2015??

People will be born, people will die. People will fall in love, get married, fall out of love, get divorced--wait, wrong list!

What's in store for THIS BLOG in 2015? Maybe I can get more specific with that one.

I began this blog in March 2014 and by the end of the year I'd put up 95 postings. Crazy. Topics ranged from old books to silent movies to old photos to abandoned drive-ins to a giant frog in Mobile. Oh, and Alabama Pizza Pasta in London. All of it related in some way to Alabama history. Mostly.

This year the onslaught of random quirkiness will continue:

-What's the Alabama connection in Rock Hudson's 1953 film The Lawless Breed?

-Who were some well-known movie actresses from Alabama--besides Tallulah Bankhead--long before Kate Jackson, Louise Fletcher, Courtney Cox and Kim Dickens?

-What three famous film directors have Birmingham connections?

-Who were all those photographers criss-crossing Alabama for the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s?

-Who were three female writers from Alabama whose first names began with Z?

-Who was Ambrose Bierce and why did he come to Alabama in the 1860's?

-What kind of career has train robber Railroad Bill had in blues and folk music?

-Will the madness ever end?

As my grandfather used to say, "See you in the funny papers."

Birmingham Photo of the Day (41): Two Hats

You never know what you'll find when you start roaming around in the archives, whether physical or digital.

I found the photo below in the Alabama Department of Archives Digital Collections. The description proclaims "Two unidentified women in Birmingham, Alabama" and gives the date range as 1900-1909, probably based on their dress. Those magnificent hats!

The Archives' listing identifies the photography studio as Up-To-Date Photo Company in Birmingham; that information is probably on the back. So far I've found no information on the firm.

Who are these women? Perhaps mother and daughter?



Alabama Book Covers (7): Stephen Gresham

Back in the dim past of the 1970's I worked for several years at Draughon Library on the Auburn University campus. How we met is lost in the mists of time, but at some point I did meet a young English professor named Stephen Gresham. We spent significant time in the break room at the library discussing the possible supernatural or extraterrestrial overtones of such things as cattle mutilations. He was from Kansas and had a bit of personal experience with such matters, as I remember.

By the time I left Auburn in 1980, Dr. Gresham had begun writing fiction and has continued to do so ever since. Today he has retired from the English Department and has become well-known for his suspense, horror and young adult novels and stories written under his own name and two pseudonyms. 

He continues to live in Auburn. Below are covers from a few of his novels.   



Birmingham Photos of the Day (40): The Post Office in 1906

The magnificent building in the first photograph below stood on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 18th Street. Constructed in 1893, the structure served as both federal courthouse and post office. The second photograph shows the building under construction in September 1892. New Orleans architect William Freret also designed some of the Woods Quad buildings at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The BhamWiki site has more detail about the materials and design. That site also notes the building's fate:

"The courthouse was torn down in the 1920s to accommodate the expansion of a nearby retail store. That project was never realized and the lot was used in 1970 for a parking deck for Loveman's department store. The deck continues to serve the McWane Science Center."

One thing to notice about these two photographs taken 14 years apart are the different signs in the lower right corner and across the street. According to comments about the much larger version of the first photograph on the wonderful Shorpy site, Schindler's Saloon is advertising "Old Musty Ale." Herman D. Cable founded the Cable Piano Company in Chicago in 1880.

Source: U.S. Library of Congress Digitial Collections

Source: BhamWiki.com



PawPaw, World War I and All That

In the fall of 1918 my paternal grandfather, Amos Jasper Wright, Sr., [1894-1975] was called up for service in World War I. He trained on the campus of Auburn University, or Alabama Polytechnic Institute as it was known at the time. The allies signed the armistice with Germany on November 11, and PawPaw did not have to sail for Europe. 

The photos here are mostly from that training period at Auburn. Notes on those and the others are below. Who took these photos is a mystery. The handwritten notes on the backs were written by my father many years later. 

Auburn faithful will recognize the iconic Samford Hall clock tower in the background of this photo. 

This draft registration card is dated June 5, 1917. It notes that he was a "natural born citizen" with a birth date in September 1894. So he was 24 while training in Auburn.

PawPaw and my grandmother Rosa Mae lived in Gadsden. The 1920 U.S. Census gives his occupation as a laborer at a lumber company; he may have been doing similar work in 1918. In a 1927 Gadsden city directory he's listed as a "switchman", which means he had begun working for the L&N Railroad. He worked there until retirement in the 1960's. 

She must have come to visit while he trained. I wonder if that building at Auburn is still standing. My grandmother was known in her younger years to be fond of hats. 

Civilian Marksmanship Program matches began in 1903. They were moved to Camp Perry, Ohio, in 1907 and continue to be held there each summer.

 

I wonder if PawPaw got to ride in one of those biplanes in the background.

This picture was published on August 3, 1941, just four months before Pearl Harbor.

Sometime in the late 1950's PawPaw spent several months in this facility.

Christmas Past in Alabama

What to say about Christmas? A time of both great spirituality and much commerce, the day has a fascinating history and practice both sacred and secular.

Let's take a look at a few items from Christmas past in Alabama.
Many other Christmas images from the state's past can be found on Alabama Mosaic. 

This card is postmarked December 24, 1909

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

A brochure published by the Birmingham Association of Social Workers in 1927.

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Christmas party at the Auburn University Baptist Student Union in December 1945.

Source: Auburn University Digital Library 

Christmas party at Dickert Lumber Company,  Brundidge, Alabama
December 24, 1949

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

Choir at the First National Bank in Montgomery in December 19, 1955

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

Christmas decorations at a Gulf gas station in Montgomery on December 21, 1955

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History Digital Collections

Choir in the lobby of the First National Bank in Montgomery on December 18, 1956

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections 

Salvation Army Christmas donation booth in Montgomery on December 2, 1962

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

This article appeared in the Birmingham News on November 23, 1965. Eastwood Mall was the first enclosed mall in the Deep South and the third largest in the nation when it opened in 1960. The mall was demolished in 2006; a Wal-Mart currently occupies the property.  

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Christmas parade in Birmingham in 1972

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Just to keep the historical record straight, our daughter Rebecca [now Becca], is between Santa and Mrs. Claus. That is indeed our son Jason [now Amos] on the far right with that knowing smirk on his face.