My Cub Scout Log Book from 1962

Back in the day I participated in both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. In the Cubs I was a member of Pack 301, Den 7 in Huntsville. Mom was the Den Mother. 

I guess at some point one of our projects was to create a "Log Book" about our lives, and mom has preserved it in all its glory. I discuss much of it below.

Here's the gang at what looks like some function. I'm in the back row left; younger brother Richard is front row right. 

I must have taken this photo; that's mom and younger brother Richard in the front. Those are the front steps from the driveway up to the porch of our house on Lakeview Drive in Huntsville. 

Same location, with me in the photo on the front left. Since mom was the den mother, I guess I had to always show up in uniform.

Another group photo, this time on the wall along the driveway. Richard is in the front relaxing, I'm second from the rear. 

This entry documents a family visit to the Museum of Natural History in Anniston. I have since learned the difference between "to" and "two". 

We took annual vacations to Florida in the summer, and this one is probably at Seagrove Beach. We went there for several years before changing to Naples. 

I was a big Hardy Boys fan at this time and read all the available books. I think most of the ones I read were the original versions published between 1927 and 1959, before revisions began. The Hardy Boys series ended in 2005 after 190 volumes, although there has been a subsequent "reboot". 

Strange Things Found in Alabama Stores (3)

Here's my introduction to part 1 of this ongoing series. Part 2 is here. 


Going through some photographs recently I came across a couple of examples of the random things I encounter here and there in stores and other public places. When I do I take photos. I've decided to share some of them in a series of posts on this blog.

These images may strike many as just silly, and some are, but I prefer to call them strange, weird, unexpected, something different springing out of the halls of American commerce. Or whatever. Let's begin. 

Feel free to tell us about your own strange finds in the comment section!

Just like the Easter Island heads in part 2, I found this classic in Old Time Pottery in Pelham this past spring. Now wouldn't this look good on YOUR front porch?  

A bit of philosophy spotted in Old Time Pottery & I heartily agree with it.

Well, maybe this one is not so strange if you're a fan of the 1983 classic A Christmas Story. Wish I had these ornaments AND a real leg lamp! These were seen at 2nd & Charles in Hoover.

Even drug stores get into the strangeness sometimes!

Another classic! This poster is above one of the booths at the Smokey Hollow Restaurant in Jemison. The whole place is decorated in Route 66 chic. I've written about various adventures there in another blog post.

And I'll conclude this episode with these two cuties, spotted at a Home Accents store in Pelham. In a back corner, of course. 

Until next time!!

Pelham, Alabama: A List

Since we live in Pelham, I've explored a few aspects of the city's history on this blog. Here's a list of those posts so far.

This post continues a series of lists bringing together related blog posts. So far I've also done posting lists for

"Holidays Past in Alabama" 

"Film Actresses from Alabama Before 1960"

"Medical History in Birmingham" 

"Alabama Library History"

"Finding Alabama in Distant Places"

Pondering an Alabama Map (3): Pelham in 1928

What Happened to Old Tuskaloosa Road? 

Pondering an Alabama Map (2): Pelham in 1926

Pondering an Alabama Map (1): Pelham in 1917

Keystone Then and Now

Pelham Schools Have a Long History

Pelham Railroad Depot Then and Now

Pelham's Oak Mountain State Park 

A Story in Stone: John Payne, M.D. [1860-1901]

Pelham in the 1880s

Pelham Reaches Fifty

Elegy for a Small Pelham Bookstore

A Brief History of Pelham High School Football

Riverchase Middle School Then & Now

Once Shelbyville, A.T. & Now Pelham

Ghostly Signs of Pelham's Video Past 

Birmingham Photo of the Day (59): Alabama Brewing Company

At the source for this photograph, the building is described as "Birmingham's Last Brewery" on 22nd Street and Avenue D, South. Let's investigate.

According to the firm's BhamWiki entry, the Alabama Brewing Company operated from 1897 until Jefferson County enacted prohibition in 1908. The firm had taken over the idle facilities of the Birmingham Brewing Company and produced 5,000 barrels in its first full year. 

Once the local prohibition passed, the company had until May 28, 1908, to sell or destroy its inventory. On that date 300 barrels were poured into the street. The company manufactured ice until 1917. 

Of course, in recent years beer brewing has returned in a big way to both Birmingham and the rest of Alabama. A book on the subject is Carla Jean Whitley's Birmingham Beer published in 2015. A list of breweries in the Birmingham area old and new is here.

Source: Samford University Library

John Phillip Sousa Comes to Birmingham

Born in Washington, D.C., John Philip Sousa [1854-1932] was a composer and conductor very popular in his day and remembered now for his patriotic marches, such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Semper Fidelis". He was also a great trap shooter and inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame. Those two interests were on display during a visit he made to Birmingham in 1924. 

You can read more below the photographs that follow. Sousa looks similar in age in both photos, although the date is known for only one of them. 

 

John Philip Sousa in 1900

Source: Wikipedia

The Birmingham Gun Club had a large facility at the Fairgrounds Park. Sousa is seated fifth from the right with Mrs. O.L. Garl next to him in the middle row. "She was a fine trap shot," notes the photo description here. You can see some 1916 shooting results for Mr. and Mrs. Garl here. 

Also included in the photo are H.C. Ryding, later president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, and Carlton Molesworth, manager of the Birmingham Barons from 1908 until 1922. Robert Henry Baugh was also in the middle row, second on the right. 

The date given for this photo at the source is "1913-1916 (?)", but I wonder about that.

Source: Samford University Library 

Robert Henry Baugh

An article on the Country Club of Birmingham in the Encyclopedia of Alabama identifies Robert Henry Baugh as President of the gun club when he became president of the country club in 1901. He was also former president of the Birmingham Baseball Club. 

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

On February 18, 1924, this photograph was taken in front of the Cathedral Church of the Advent at the corner of 6th Avenue North and 20th Street North in Birmingham. Front and center is John Philip Sousa; to his left is Eugene C. Jordan, leader of the band standing around them. Could the woman be Sousa's wife Jane? She lived until 1944.  

The young boys surrounding them are members of the band of the Alabama Boys Industrial School, a reformatory chartered in February 1899 and located in the Roebuck area of Birmingham. The facility still exists; in 1975 it became the Vacca Campus of the Alabama Department of Youth Services. Who is the young girl dressed in a similar uniform?

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History

Who Was Joseph H. Woolf, M.D.?

For some years now I've been seeing a family doctor at the UAB Family Medicine practice on 20th Street near Five Points South in the Community Health Services building. On recent visits I actually took note of the plaque below and wondered about Dr. Woolf. Let's investigate. 

The Department of Family and Community Medicine was established at UAB in 1975. The May 22, 1981, issue of the UAB Reporter noted the dedication on May 17 of the Family Practice Center in Dr. Woolf's name. The building is not named after him, just the FPC. Got that? Universities do things that way...

So, who was Dr. Woolf and what was his connection to UAB? The UAB Reporter article explained only that he was a doctor in rural Alabama. 

I did some research at Ancestry.com and elsewhere, but also found him included in an obscure reference book I have, Frank L. Grove's Library of Alabama Lives [1961]. Here's the entry:

"Woolf, Joseph Henry, physician, 403 Riddle Avenue, Piedmont. Born on April 29, 1901, in Calhoun County, at Piedmont, Alabama, he is the son of John P. and Nell (Kiernan) Woolf. Dr. Woolf attended Auburn University; University of Alabama; Tulane University, and the University of Illinois, earning the M.D. degree from the last named. On July 31, 1930, he married Maye Chew of Macon, Georgia. Dr. Woolf served his internship at Hillman Hospital, Birmingham, spending the following year at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He began his practice of medicine in Piedmont in 1929, and is still thusly engaged. He served as the first Chief-of-Staff of the Piedmont Hospital which opened in June of 1957, and is presently a member of that Staff. Dr. Woolf holds the following professional memberships: American and Southern Medical Associations, Calhoun County Medical Society, Association of Southern Railway Surgeons, and State Medical Association. Politically, he is a Democrat; and his religious affiliation is Catholic. Reading is Dr. Woolf's recreation."

This material neatly sums up Dr. Woolf's life until the time of publication in 1961. Via Ancestry.com I found his  February 1942 registration for the draft in World War II. That document tells us he was 6'1" tall at the time, weighed 158 pounds and had hazel eyes and black hair. I have been unable to locate a photograph. He died on November 23, 1967.

Going by the biographical entry above, Dr. Woolf did his internship at Hillman Hospital probably in 1927. As noted below, the hospital is now part of the UAB Medical Center, and seems to be Dr. Woolf's only connection with UAB. Anyone with further specifics please tell us in the comments section. 

Additional notes are below some of the photographs. 


UPDATE October 27, 2018: In the summer of 2018 the UAB Family & Community Medicine Clinic moved to UAB Highlands Hospital on the other side of campus. The Clinic opened in its new location on July 31. What has happened to the Woolf facility name and this building on Southside is currently unknown.

Here's the view from inside the building lobby looking out at 20th Street. 

Dr. Woolf is buried in Highland Cemetery in Piedmont. 

Source: Find-A-Grave

Piedmont Hospital in 2017; the facility closed in the 1990's. There was some hope in 2012 of turning it into an adult day care facility, but that plan never materialized. In June 2017 a local doctor purchased the site for a future primary and urgent care clinic.

Source: WEIS Radio

The Hillman Hospital complex, ca. 1929. The original structure on the right was erected in 1902 and the annex, in the middle, was added in 1913. On the left is the 1928 addition, or “new” Hillman. The buildings today are part of the UAB Medical Center.

Source: Birmingham Public Library

Strange Things Found in Alabama Stores (2)

Here's my introduction to part 1 of this ongoing series:

Going through some photographs recently I came across a couple of examples of the random things I encounter here and there in stores and other public places. When I do I take photos. I've decided to share some of them in a series of posts on this blog.

These images may strike many as just silly, and some are, but I prefer to call them strange, weird, unexpected, something different springing out of the halls of American commerce. Or whatever. Let's begin. 

Feel free to tell us about your own strange finds in the comment section!

Children's toys sure can be weird sometimes, as exemplified by these two found in a Tuesday Morning store in Huntsville. "Meowlody, Daughter of a Firecat"?

We found this display box at Vintage Interiors in Pelham. What intrigued me was this message on the back. I wonder where that St. Joseph School was located.

These dolls were found creeping people out at Encore Resales in Pelham. 

Did you know that in some areas of the country boiled peanuts are only available in cans? This situation is shocking. These cans were on the shelf locally, but boiled peanuts are best hot from the kettle. We get ours at a little shop down US 31 toward Alabaster, Wayne's Produce. Yum, yum!

My wife Dianne is a big fan of Peeps, but sometimes the new flavors are just too strange for her. 

Easter Island came to Old Time Pottery in Pelham this past spring.