2022 April 16, Walking tour Decatur Cemetery Decatur, AL with Phil Wirey

Today I attended the walking tour of Decatur Cemetery, organized by Decatur Morgan County Tourism and Morgan County Historic Society.

Our guide talks about James & Ellen Hildreth

The cemetery is located at Highway 20 west Decatur. Coordinates: 34.61690, -87.00110

The first burial was recorded in 1855. The cemetery is divided into 7 sections, the Original, Brown Circle, Cantwell, Cowan, Decatur Land Company, Humes, and Sterrs. 

Two famous people are buried here 

Christopher Columbus Harris US Congressman also served as Lieutenant in the Civil War.  He is buried in the Cantwell Section of the cemetery.

Seybourn Harris Lynne Jurist, a civil Rights Figure who served as US Federal District Judge from 1946 to 1973.

Marker and Civil War Graves 

Known buried within this cemetery
Isaac L. Beard 6th Ark Co B Dod April 1, 1862
John R. Hopkins Sgf. 12th LA. Inf. Co. A. KIA Oct. 28, 1864
Jacob Hubbard PVT 12th LA. INF. CO. H. KIA Oct. 28, 1864
John R. Palmer DOD Feb. 16, 1862
James E. Patrick CPL 12 LA. INF. CO. G. KIA Oct. 28, 1864

Beneath this hallowed ground lay the remains of fifty-five Confederate soldiers. They gave their lives to establish southern independence, protect their homes, and preserve state rights. These original headstones were placed in May 1903 by the Joe Wheeler Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. On June 3, 1903, a dedication service was held by the Daughters of the Confederacy and veterans of the Horace King Camp, United Confederate Veterans. This site was rededicated on April 26, 2005, by the Joe Wheeler Chapter No. 291, United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Liberty Camp 580, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Decatur, Alabama.

Confederate States of America
1861-1865

2017 April 15, Church History Walking Tour Decatur, Alabama ⛪⛪⛪⛪ with guide Phil Wirey

Today I strolled along with several others to listen to Phil Wirey tell the Church history of Decatur.
We meet in the Flower and Butterfly Garden at the Old State Building.

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Rosalynn  Carter Butterfly Trail
This garden provides host plants, nectar sources, and shelter for butterflies. The mission of the trail is to promote the full life cycle of butterflies common in this area with a special emphasis on the monarch. The trail begins at the home of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter in Plains, Ga
Join us on the trail!
www.jimmycarter.info

Butterfly Garden

We were introduced to people like Jesse Winston Garth, one of Decatur's founding fathers Decatur.
(2)We saw the Dancy Polk House, the site of (3)Colonel Lawrence Banks's Home that was torn down during the Civil War.
We saw the site of the (4)First Methodist Church and the first City Cemetery also torn down during the Civil War.
(5)The site of the First Presbyterian Church, Owl Drug Store, Tennessee Valley State Bank, and many Jewish storefronts.
(6) We stopped at the Lafayette Street Cemetery to take a few pictures.

 Lafayette Street Cemetery
there are brochures placed outside the cemetery for the taking
1. Cyrus Aiken Banks
2. George Baylor Banks
3. Col Lawrence Slaughter Banks
4. Margaret Jarret Noble Banks
5. Mildred Ann Banks
6. Elizabeth Boyce
7. Elizabethan Brown
8. Sarah Evaline Rhodes Dancy'
9. Thomas G. Marphy
10. Mary Mason Nelson
11. Mary Ann Banks Nichols
12. Eliza Rhodes
13. Francis Alexander Rhodes
14. Lavinia Mason Rhodes
15. Patience Rhodes
16. Sarah Louisa Turner Dancy Sykes Rhodes
17. Alexander Ross
18. Daughter Rutledge
19. Phineas Thomas Scruggs
20. Eliza Lavinia Sykes
21. Sarah Winfield Dancy Sykes

(7) We stopped to visit the Notorious Simp McGee saloons and Dead Man's Alley

Simp McHGee
Simp, a Master Pilot, was as skillful and competent as the best. But in the Spring of 1917, Federal Agents lifted his license for "the reckless shooting of the rapids" near Chattanooga. No longer allowed to pilot his riverboats, he returned to Decatur and died at Miss Kate's house, on June 16, 1917, at the age of 58...

William Simpson McGhee was buried on the bank of the Tennessee River near Guntersville.

(8)We visited the Nungester Drug Store and (9) The United Methodist Church.
(10) We stopped outside the First Baptist Church its third location.
(11) We visited the Carnegie Library and ended our tour at the Decatur Daikin Amphitheater.

Carnegie Library 

Decatur Daikin Amphitheater.

I walked back to the parking lot near the Old State Bank and took pictures of several historic markers.

The Rising Sun Lodge No 29 Ancient Free & Accepted Masons

Dr. Henry Rhodes, for whom Rhodes Ferry Landing was Named, was Decatur's first Postmaster and one of the organizers of the Lodge (Nov. 22, 1826). Chartered in 1827, its first Worshipful Master was Colonel Francis Danny, builder of the Fancy-Polk House. It is the oldest Lodge in Morgan County and the first fraternal organization in Decatur. Early members were the pioneer settlers of Morgan County. Two of Decatur's founders, Isaac Lane and General Jesse Winston Garth., were Masons and Directors of the Decatur Land Company which laid out the city streets. A lodge was built in 1834 with the lower floor used for school and church purposes. Rising Sun Lodge was destroyed by the enemy during the War Between the States (Nov. 25, 1864). In 1873 a Lodge was built on the NW corner of Bank and Pond Streets, across from the Old State Bank, W.W. Littlejohn a Colonel C.C. Harris were Masons and founders of the Decatur Land Improvement & Furnace Company which planned the city of New Decatur (1887). Three members, all doctors in the faithful discharge of their Hippocratic Oath, were lost to the 1888 Yellow Fever epidemic, James McGinnis Brundidge, PM, is the only Mason in the history of the Alabama Grand Lodge to bestowed the title of

'Honorable Past Grand Master'(1899). In 1934, the Lodge moved into the Masonic Temple on Johnston Street, formerly the Cotaco Opera House.

Decatur has pieces of art dotted throughout the historic area.  

Children holding hands in the Decatur Daikin Amphitheater Park 

A pair of Hands 

A rooster in the Gardens at the Carnegie Library 

Blooming Azaleas  

I ate lunch at Jacks in Decatur, rode home, and took a long nap.