2023 OCT 5, Trip to Mobile, Kathryn Tucker Winham Museum & the Clarke County Museum

 Day 1: Thursday

On our way to Mobile, we made several stops.

We stopped in Thomasville to tour the Kathryn Tucker Museum (Storyteller). The curator walked us through the museum telling us some of the history of Mrs. Windham.

Mrs. Windham was famous for her ghost stories about "Jeffery the ghost" who took up residence in Mrs. Windham's home.

Kathryn Tucker Windham T-shirt with Jeffrey's Ghost on the Front. 

The story about how Kathryn got her first camera!

A sculpture of Kathryn by her good friend
 "Charlie Lucas"

Kathryn's life story is told in a quilt.

Reserved for Ghost Jeffery 

We thanked our guide and she said if we liked the museum we should stop at Clarke County Museum Grover Hill, Al

Clarke County Historical Museum with Pioneer Village in back.

The museum was having some issues with the inside of the building so much of the displays were in disarray on the ground level. 

French Bed 

We walked upstairs to see a bedroom with a French Bed, this bed was made about 1825 and was constructed from French walnut. It came from the plantation of Samuel Barnes which was located in the once-thriving town of Suggsville in eastern Clarke County. The bed posts are hollow so that a canopy could be added. The bed was donated by Mrs, Donald Mills of Montgomery. Barne's great-granddaughter.

Josiah and Lucy Martin Matthew Cabin 
This structure was donated to the Clarke Co Historical Society to its present site. 
Restored in 2008.

We learned that Clarke County was home to 3 salt works during the Civil War.  These Springs were also used by the Native Americans. 

We also learned that during the Civil War prices of Salt escalated so high that the workers were paid in salt. Prices rose from $1.25 per bushel of 50 pounds in 1861 to $50 by the end of the Civil War. 

When the rumor circulated that Mobile was captured everyone scattered that ending the widespread use of the works.  

Salt-making kettle 

Pioneer Day for 2023 will be October 28, 9-3 at the Clarke County Museum. 

Pies, cakes, and other homemade baked goods will be available. The famous Gee's Bend quilters will be demonstrating quilting and will be selling some of their beautiful handiwork. Winky Hicks and friends will be playing bluegrass music and storyteller Deborah Rankins will be on hand to tell local tales.

We thanked our curator and began our final journey to Mobile. 

We will be staying at the Battle House Renaissance Hotel room 5242 another historic site. 

The hotel is connected to the completely new and impressive RSA Battle House Tower. The RSA Hotel is the tallest building in the state it is 40 stories tall. 

Original opened in 1852. The Franklin Hotel was on this site before burning down in 1829.

Andrew Jackson set up headquarters in 1812. The first Mardi Gras Ball was held in the Crystal Ballroom in 1852.

Elvis Presley stayed the night he was kicked off of the fairgrounds for doing the "Shake" in 1952.

It has a Whispering Arch, the Six Flags of Mobile.

1702-1763 French Flag

1763-1780 British Flag

1780-1813 Spanish Flag

1813 -1861 1st US Flag 

1851-1861- Antebellum Period 

1861-1864 - Alabama Confederate Flag 

1964-present 2nd US Flag 

In the whispering arch ceiling area you can see Louis XIV, George Washington, Ferdinand V, and George III.

Whispering Arches

The Grand Ballroom 

We walked up the street to Loda Bier Garten for dinner but were stopped by two men from Chanel 10 Fox News. One with a camera and the other with a microphone. He asked us if we were going on the Cruise ship out of Mobile and we said yes. So he interviewed us and we were on TV that night. 

I had several people on the Carnival Cruise Ship Spirit who said they saw me on TV. 

This was the first ship out of Mobile for over a year. The bay had to be drugged so bigger ships could dock.

We continued our journey to the Bier Garten where we enjoyed a hamburger, fries, and fried mushrooms. 

It had been a long day so we returned to the hotel took a hot shower and climbed into bed. 

We wanted to be rested before we began our journey on the Carnival Spirit Cruise Ship to the Bahamas. 

Fried Mushroom at Lola's Bier Garten in Mobile 

2021 Aug 10, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens Nashville, Tennessee

Hubby and I traveled the backroads to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville, TN via Natchez Trace getting off at the Leipers Fork exit. Hubby parked the car near the entrance and showed the girl at the ticket counter our online tickets.

Pink LEGO Dog 

The first thing we saw as we entered the gardens was a big pink dog made out of Lego blocks. We walked down a long winding sidewalk down several sets of steps to the Train Exhibit, inspired by the Little Engine Who Could.

In front of us was a couple with a very independent little girl with a head full of curls, who was about the age of 2 or three years of age. What a magical place as you enter the land of trains and Fairy mushroom villages. The train exhibit was built of rough timbers and five train tracks totaling over 800 feet of track. As we walked through we saw trains going over bridges and through tunnels, we were in a magical land of trains.

We saw beautiful yellow lilies floating in the lily ponds. We saw pink, orange, white, and red roses busted with life in the Rose Study Garden.

Roses

We saw art pieces made of musical notes made of wire. We saw many Yellow and Black swallowtails on the butterfly bushes.

Yellow Swallowtail 

We saw a red lion, a zebra, a blue bear, colorful birds, a red turtle, a green lawnmower, and a man working in the garden, all made out of Legos. Also, LEGO rabbits were spotted throughout the Bradford Robertson Color Garden. We walked around the mansion, but not inside. Workers were repairing the pool in front of the Mansion in the Martain Boxwood Gardens.

Cheekwood Mansion 

There were waterfalls, ponds, and creeks running through the gardens. We did visit the Art Bark exhibit, which was crayon sculptures by Nashville artist Herb Williams. Inside the visitor center were restrooms, drink machines, and a beautiful rose LEGO sculpture. We took a break to cool off, drink a soda, and use the restrooms before beginning our journey home, We did not walk the entire gardens but had a wonderful time. We traveled home along the backroads this time taking a different route. We came out in Columbia, TN. We got a late lunch of fish at Long John Silvers and took it home.

2021 April 24, Touring the Antebellum Home of Presbyterian Minister Robert Donnell Athens, Alabama with Tour guide Alice Tiller

Pleasant Hill 

Home of Rev. Robert Donnell (1784-1855) 

Built abt. 1849 by Rev. Robert Donnell, a native of North Carolina, and his second wife Clara Lindley Donnell. 

He was greatly inspired by the Great Spiritual Revival of 1800 and became a Presbyterian circuit rider, one of the "flaming fires," so-called because of their spiritual intensity. Donnell held the first camp meeting in the settlement that became Huntsville, started new churches in North Alabama and Tennessee, and retired as minister of the Athens Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

For his service and dedication, the North Alabama Presbytery was named in his honor. After the death of Rev. Donnell in 1855, this house and surrounding acreage passed to his son James Webb Smith Donnell. J.W.S. Donnell and his family lived here during the Civil War, even though he was wanted by the Union Army for aiding the Confederacy. 

In 1862, during the sacking of Athens, Federal troops camped on the house grounds, looted, and damaged the house through bankruptcy after the war. 

It served as a boarding school for boys for a time and later as the home of Athens School Superintendent, Julian Newman, and his family. 

 In the 1970s, a campaign to save and restore the house was initiated by local historians and authors Christine W. Edwards and Faye A. Axford. Local citizens, businesses, and Donnell's descendants contributed to the restoration of this historical landmark.

Pleasant Hill Historic Marker

Pleasant Hill Historic Marker

Donnell House

The Donnell House is located at 601 South Clinton Street. 

It hosts events throughout the year, such as a Christmas tree presentation during the holiday season. Because it is located on the campus of the Athens Middle School, students have conducted school projects, including interpretive videos that are centered around the history of the house. 

April is the month to showcase the local history in counties in Alabama by featuring walking tours every Saturday in April. I chose the *Robert Donnell House & Museum to tour it was the only walking tour that I had not attended. 

 *Tour options were: *Beaty Historic District *Downtown Athens Historic District *Athens City Cemetery *Athens State University *Houston Historic District All the above are excellent tours and many tour guides dress in the period of the tour. 

 Unfortunately, the Governor George S. Houston Library and Museum were not offered this year. 

 The Donnell House and Museum were hoasting a wedding later that day and food was being prepared and finger foods placed on the table.

Wedding Buffett

What caught my eye was the Armadillo pink cake. Hanging in the parlor were pictures of Rev Donnell and his two wives. 

Two staircases were leading to the upper level which showcased the history of the home and its occupants. 

 Outside was an 1830s log cabin donated by Don and Ed Horton sons of Judge James Horton and nearby was an herb garden. 

 I had driven past the Donnell House Museum many times but never noticed it until the tour because it was located in the Athens School system.

2017 April 22, Saturday, Touring the Lairmore House Florence, Alabama Tour guide Billy Warren

One of the sites to tour during the Florence Walking tour was the Larimore House led by Billy Warren a retired school teacher.

The front side of Larimore and the tour group 

Home of T.B. and Esther Gresham Larimore
Mars Hill Academy, 1871-1887

Backside Larimore House

The Gothic-style house was built by Theiphilus Brown Larimore and his wife Esther Gresham Larimore located near the site of a foundry and arsenal of War between the states.
It served as a school from 1871-1887 to train ministers and Christian workers of the Church of Christ.
It was used in 1947-68 for classes at Mars Hill Bible School.

Theiphilus Brown Larimore was born July 10, 1843, and died March 18, 1929.
Brother Larimore began preaching soon after he was baptized and preached when an opportunity was given to him. He taught school at Mars Hill and preached three times sometimes on Sunday.
He preached all over the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba.
Larimore died & is buried in Orange County California at Fairhaven Memorial Park Cemetery.
His second wife Susan Emma Page Larimore is buried next to her husband Mr. Larimore.
Susan wrote a column for the Gospel Advocate, Children's Corner, and several books.

His first wife was Julia Esther Gresham Larimore July 11, 1845, died March 4, 1907

Inscribed on her tombstone 

Went home Mar 5, 1907

A dutiful daughter, a loyal helpful hopeful wife, a model mother, a sweet singer, a truly conscientious consistent Christian, always consecrated Christian, always consecrated, and true to Christ and his cause, she was perfectly prepared for that sweet home where sorrows and said separations are unknown "where life is eternal and a treasure sublime. Farewell, sweet wife-by grace divine. We'll meet you "over there." your lonely husband. 

They had six children:

Mary Delilah Larimore George 1869-1959

Grandville Lipscomb Larimore 1871-1925

Theiphilus Brown Larimore 1872-1903

William Herschell Larimore 1874-1928

Julia Esther Larimore White 1876-1960

Andrew Virgil Larimore 1879-1972

Article from the Gospel Advocate 1870 Advertising the Mars Hill Academy
For males and females
This Institution situated four miles Northeast of Florence, Alabama on the highway leading from Florence to the justly celebrated "Bailey Springs, " will be ready for the reception of pupils by the first of January 1871.
The location is free from all temptation to extravagance and health and convenience cannot be excelled.
Boarding, washing, lights, and fuel $75.00
Tuition $20
The contingent fee is $5.00

Piano from the family collection

Mantel inside the Larimore Home

Family photos line the wall along the staircase leading upstairs

Billy Warren gave a speech about the Larimore House & several Larimore family members were touring the house for the first time, there to learn more about the history of their families. 

I joined several for a meal in the basement.
We were served pork, green beans, and sweet potato casserole with iced tea. 

I walked outside and took pictures of the Rose bushes in full bloom. 

On July 20, 2018, the Larimore Home caught fire and was badly burned not sure if it is repairable.
Power to the house was previously cut due to another small fire about ten days before the one in July.

History of the Mound House in Lee County Fort Myers Fl

Mound House 

People and Plants

People and Plants

The story of people and plants provides a continuous thread from the Calusa to early Estero Island settlers, and to the present and future generations. With all the great advances in science and technology, people still rely on natural resources to provide food, medicine, rules, building materials, textiles, and dyes. 

 Plants Fuel a Society 

Fire is important to the development of cultures. The Calusa used fire to cook, and to help carve out logs to create canoes. Archaeologists who studied this shell mound gathered a sample of the soil to be tested for botanicals. The test yielded 19,340 botanical items - 90% of which were charred wood. The most common was mangroves (77%), followed by pine or oak (21%). In addition to wood, researchers identified nutshells and nutmeat, seeds, and grass stems. 

 Edible Plants 

The Calusa diet was centered on aquatic foods, yet research shows they also gathered seasonal nuts, seeds, and fruit. Nuts found during the excavation were primarily high-protein acorns and 91% of the seeds collected were saw palmetto seeds. Many of these seeds were found together indicating the Calusa gathered the seeds when seasonally available. 

 Frond Shelters 

Whether it was the Calusa, the Cuban fisherman who set up ranchos or coastal fishing camps, or the late 19th-century settlers-everyone needed shelter. They survived by using natural materials to create protective structures. Palm fronds and tree trunks could be assembled together with twine made from Spanish moss. Perhaps their “houses” were similar to this circa 1910 palm shack. Records indicate that the first homesteader, Robert Gilbert, built a thatched structure on the mound site.

Plants and Progress

Plants and Progress

It is hard to imagine now, but when the earliest settlers arrived on the Mound the surrounding habitat was very different. Native plants dominated the landscape. Years would pass before the Estero Island settlers could profit from agricultural pursuits. 

 A Case of Fruit From the Case Grove 

By the early 1900s, settlers were raising tropical fruit crops with some success. The coastal hammock or hardwood tree grove, west of the mound was converted into orchards and fields. This is where William and Milia Case raised figs, bananas, grapefruits, mangos, papayas, tomatoes, and limes. They likely sold their fruits to local markets. 

 Fort Myers Cash Crop 

Farming was a predominant industry on the island as well as on the mainland. Many farmers experimented by growing a wide variety of products including grapes, oranges, avocados, grapefruits, pineapples, sapodillas, coconuts, and peaches. Eventually, grapefruit emerged as the leading cash crop in the Fort Myers area. By 1915, statewide citrus production reached 10 million boxes a year. 

 Walk Through the Garden of History 

You walk along the paths of the Mound House site and look for a variety of tropical fruit trees. While the Case family planted similar botanicals, these are newly planted to show the diversity of the crops grown on the setter’s properties over the past 100 years.

1996 ~ Sept 16 & Oct 14 Trying out my new (film) Canon Camera in Huntsville, AL

I had just received a new Canon Camera and I wanted to try it out so here are some of the places where I took pictures.

House across street from Constitution Village 

Constitution Village

The Village rests on the actual site where the Alabama Constitutional Convention was held in 1819.

Alabama became the 22nd state admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819. This living history museum features costumed guides who lead visitors on a tour of a working village. A cabinetmaker's shop, print shop, confectionary shop, library and post office are all featured. More than eight carefully reconstructed buildings of the 1800s depict early lifestyles in Alabama, including that of African-American settlers. It also commemorates the place where the 1819 Constitutional Convention was held. 

Constitution Village 

Weeden House

Built in 1819, the house at 300 Gates Avenue is now open to the public as the Weeden House Museum and Garden.  Dr. William Weeden bought the house in 1845 and his descendants owned it until 1956.  Now owned by the City of Huntsville, it is leased by the Twickenham Historic Preservation District Association and maintained as a 19 century house museum.
Earlier residents included John McKinley who lived in the house

Ditto Landing 

Huntsville Railway Company Huntsville, Al

Huntsville Railway Company Huntsville, Al

Huntsville Railway Company Huntsville, Al

Huntsville Railway Company Huntsville, Al

Huntsville Railway Company Huntsville, Al

A Three story Museum with miniature train set on the first floor, second floor has a large model train  set to look like the depot did in 1862 and on the third floor is Civil War history 

Huntsville Railway Company Huntsville, Al

Burritt Museum

Burritt on the Mountain is a public 167-acre, scenic site overlooking Huntsville, Alabama, featuring a 19th century living history (interpretive) park, an eclectic ...

Burritt Museum

In 1955 physician and Huntsville native William Henry Burritt willed his estate and mansion known as Round Top Mountain to the city of Huntsville to create their first museum. 

Huntsville Botanical Gardens taking a Hay ride thru the garden 

Huntsville Botanical Gardens  Rose Garden
Huntsville Botanical is more than a garden, from May thru Sept the garden comes alive with butterflies, in the butterflies house, the Scarecrow Trail is filled with goblins from Sept through October and the Garden is bubbling over with Christmas lights during their Galaxy of Light. There is always something to do at the garden.

2009 ~ Monday & Tuesday, August 3, 4, Historical Markers of Athens, Alabama

Gen. N.B. Forrest, C.S.A.
North Alabama Raid
— September 23-30, 1864 —Hemmed in by superior forces Forrest's fast-moving cavalry raided and destroyed Union supply lines and strong points, captured 2,360 men, valuable Stores.
By swift action, surprise, and bluff Forrest disrupted Union military plans from Decatur to Columbia.

Harris-Pryor House
(Flower Hill Farm)Build abt. 1858 by Schuyler Harris on land once owned by Henry Augustine Washington, a distant relative of the first president. Through purchases, marriages, and inheritance between the Washington, Harris, and Pryor families, all from Virginia, a large plantation of over 3,000 acres was established. Long after the demise of slavery, approx. 60 tenant families lived on the land.
Schuyler Harris gave this house to his daughter, Ida Maria, and her husband Wm. Richard Pryor, son of Sen. Luke Pryor II and Isabella Virginia (Harris) Pryor. It is through this descent that this historic house and farm known as “Flower Hill” is owned and held in trust for future generations by Luke Pryor IV and his wife Betty (Lamb) Pryor. It is managed through a family corporation and is not open to the public.
(Continued on the other side) 

Harris Pryor House 

Across the highway is a large spring known since early times as “English's Spring.” It produced enough water for a town, and the little settlement, that formed around it, was a contender for the site of the county seat. It was not chosen however and the settlement ceased to exist.
This area for several miles around was known as “Quid Nunc” (Latin for “what next”)Beat and Post Office until about 1910 when it was changed to Harris Station, a community which had formed along the RR tracks to the SW. Time and “progress” have brought about the demise of that community, named for the prominent Harris Family. The Harris Cemetery is among the trees across the Hwy.

Harris Pryor House 

Oakland United Methodist Church

Oakland United Methodist Church
Generations of African-American families have worshiped here, beginning with services held under a brush arbor before the Civil War. In August of 1879, the land for the Oakland Methodist church was deeded to parishioners. In a wooden one-room building, they worshiped and operated their own private school, serving the surrounding communities and producing several ministers and educators. The Limestone County Board of Education took charge of the school in 1929 until it closed at the end of the 1952 school year. After the original structure was destroyed by a tornado, the Oakland Methodist Episcopal church - which became the Oakland United Methodist Church in 1972~was rebuilt. Renovations to the structure were completed in 1990.

Oakland United Methodist Church Pastor J. Larry Eddie SR 

We had business in Huntsville we took Hwy 31 south, and we saw the above historical markers dotted along hwy 31, the Oakland United Methodist Church, Harris Pryor House, & Gen. N.B. Forrest, C.S.A.

Athens Sacked and Plundered
On May 2, 1862, Union troops of the 19th and 24th Illinois and the 37th Indiana Regiments commanded by Col. John Basil Turchin went on a rampage through the town. They looted and plundered stores and homes, stealing clothing, jewelry, and anything of value, destroying what they didn't want. For months afterward, the soldiers stabled their horses in some of the town's churches, burned the pews for firewood, and destroyed the interiors. Col. Turchin, born Ivan Vasillevitch Turchinoff in Russia, was court-martialed in Huntsville for encouraging these actions, but his wife appealed to Abraham Lincoln for clemency on his behalf. Turchin was promoted to Brig. Gen. one day before the court-martial.

A County Older Than the State
Limestone County
created Feb. 6, 1818, by the Alabama Territorial Legislature from lands ceded by the Cherokee Nation in 1806 and by the Chickasaw Nation in 1816. Named for the creek (and its limestone bed), which runs through the county. Few settlers were here until the Indian treaties. Athens became a county seat in 1818. Limestone was the first Alabama county to be occupied by Federal troops during the Civil War.

In Honor of our Fallen Comrades 

1861-1865 Confederate Soldiers of Limestone County 

Athens College
a liberal arts college
— 1822 —
Athens Female Academy 
founded by patriotic citizens 
1843
Raised to college level 
under Methodist patronage 
First college building,
Founders Hall (1842-3), 
still used for classes 
Unbroken service since 1822 

Athens State College

Athens State College

Athens State College Alabama's Oldest Institution of higher learning in continuous Service since 1822 National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century project of the Alabama State Society marked by Colonel Walter Aston Chapter on June 22, 1996

Athens State College

Athens State College Alabama's Oldest Institution of higher learning in continuous Service
since 1822
National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century project of the Alabama State Society marked by Colonel Walter Aston Chapter on June 22, 1996

Old Town Cemetery
This is the earliest known cemetery in the town of Athens, and the final resting place for many of its first citizens. The earliest burials date from the 1820s and continue through the mid-1800s, with an occasional burial past 1900. Though the markers are now sunken below ground, others have been destroyed or removed.
Trustees for the town purchased this entire block in 1827 for ten dollars from Robert Beaty and John Carriel. It was originally designated school property and a school did occupy another part of the property for some years.

Old Town Cemetery 

I had a camera class at Wolf Camera so on our way to Huntsville we stopped in Athens to take pictures of Historical markers around the courthouse, old cemetery, and Athens College.

We will spend the next few months in search of Historical markers within a 100 + miles radius.