Sewing Machine Mart • Healing Hands of St. Clair TC Customs Expansion • Ashville Renaissance • Seed + Sun Blooms
February & March 2024
Polar Plunge Braving the lake in winter
Beaver Creek Gristmills Cornbread and making memories
Discover The Essence of St. Clair February & March 2024
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Seed + Sun
Ashville Renaissance
Beaver Creek Gristmills
A flower business and much more
Business thriving in historic downtown
Cornbread and the making of memories
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Traveling the Backroads Remembering St. Clair’s historic healing hands
Springville’s Sewing Machine Mart
Everything you ever needed for sewing and quilting Page 32
Polar Plunge
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Braving Logan Martin in winter for a good cause
Page 40
About THE Cover
St. Clair Business TC Customs expansion at Town & Country Ford in Pell City
Final Focus These paths
Page 50 Page 74
There’s nothing like made from scratch cornbread fresh from the oven with a healthy heaping of butter melting on top. You can almost taste it. Thanks to Amy Heckman, who baked it the old-fashioned way for us at Heckman’s log cabin on Canoe Creek. She provided the perfect setting in their restored log cabin filled appropriately with antiques and plenty of memories. You can read more about the home in our sister publication, LakeLife 24/7 Magazine: lakelife247magazine.com/in-the-kitchen-november-2022 Photo by Mackenzie Free.
Writers AND Photographers Carol Pappas
Carol Pappas is editor and publisher of Discover St. Clair Magazine. A retired newspaper executive, she served as editor and publisher of several newspapers and magazines during her career. She won dozens of writing awards and was named Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist at Auburn University. She serves as president/CEO of Partners by Design, which publishes Discover and LakeLife 24/7 Magazine®.
Roxann Edsall Roxann Edsall is a freelance writer and former managing editor of Convene Magazine, a convention industry publication. She has a degree in (broadcast) journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, worked as a television news reporter in Biloxi and as a reporter and assignments editor in Birmingham.
David Smith David Smith aka BamaDave, is originally from Birmingham. He and his wife Renee made Logan Martin Lake their home 19 years ago. He is a freelance photographer, videographer and professional drone pilot. He has worked for ESPN’s College GameDay Show for the last 25 years as a cameraman and for the last 4 years as the drone pilot. He has won 12 Emmys with the show and was ESPN’s first drone pilot. David is also the owner of Spider Be Gone of Alabama.
Mackenzie Free Mackenzie Free is an experienced and nationally published photographer with a bachelor of fine arts degree. She is a Birmingham native now cultivating life on a farm in Steele with her husband & 4 daughters.
Richard (RT) Rybka Richard is a full-time professional photographer based in the Springville area and owner of Natural Light Photography LLC. His 50+ years of experience behind the lens of a camera includes working as a photojournalist for a global technology company. His credentials include many magazine cover shots, standing as a Canon Image Connect Photographer, and member of the Little River Arts Council.
Graham Hadley Graham Hadley is the managing editor and designer for Discover The Essence of St. Clair Magazine and also manages the magazine website. Along with Carol Pappas, he left The Daily Home as managing editor to become vice president of the Creative Division of Partners by Design multimedia company.
Toni Franklin Toni Franklin is graphic arts director for Partners by Design, Discover St. Clair Magazine and LakeLife 24/7 Magazine. She has 30 years in the printing industry as print production artist, manager and art director. She is a graduate of The Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale and studied at Penn State and University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Scottie Vickery Scottie Vickery is a writer with a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama and was a reporter for The Birmingham News. Her first assignment was covering St. Clair and Blount counties. She has more than 30 years of writing and editing experience and her work has appeared in a variety of publications. She also has worked in the nonprofit industry.
Elaine Hobson Miller
Elaine Hobson Miller is a freelance writer with a B.A. in journalism from Samford University. She was the first female to cover Birmingham City Hall for the Birmingham Post-Herald, where she worked as reporter, food editor and features writer. She is a former editor of Birmingham Home & Garden magazine and staff writer for Birmingham magazine.
Paul South Paul South, a native of Fairfield, is an Auburn graduate with a degree in journalism and a double minor in history. He also has a Juris Doctorate degree from the Birmingham School of Law. Although sports writing was always his first love, he had a versatile career as reporter, columnist and first full-time sports information director at Samford University.
From the Editor
In with the new, treasure the old
In the infancy of a new year, the mind tends to gravitate toward new starts. And while we have plenty of examples of new beginnings in this edition, we look back as well. Historian Joe Whitten takes us on a memory-laden journey of gristmills and cornbread in a tale of what once dominated the landscape of Beaver Creek Valley, transforming shucked corn into a Southern delight making its way into just about every kitchen – cornbread. You can almost catch a whiff of the aroma of freshly baked cornbread in a cast iron skillet with fresh-churned butter melting on top. It’s a stroll down memory lane that captures what life was like in early St. Clair County. The same holds true for archivist Robert Debter’s piece on “Healing Hands,” the pioneer doctors for the county’s early settlers. They tended to the sick and offered an ounce or two of prevention advice along the way. In this issue, we not only look back, we look forward as Ashville’s downtown resurgence could only be described as a renaissance for this historic district. What is old is new again. A rock-front storage building for a nearby mercantile store is now a restaurant, bookstore, reading room and gathering place all rolled into one. Called LaLa’s Beverages Bites Books, it is the latest example of downtown revitalization, and its early successes are an encouraging sign that a new day has dawned in Ashville. So is nearby Farm Wife and Company, a boutique gift store offering a little something for the entire family inspired by the farm couple who created it. The GNX Gun Exchange, growing in popularity, only adds to the excitement generated by these new businesses luring people back to the heart of the city once more. In the same vein of what’s old is new again, check out a “Barndominium” in Ashville, where an old barn is now
becoming a trendsetting home for the future. While Sewing Machine Mart has a 50-year history, it has a relatively new home in Springville, luring customers from around the state to what it has to offer in sewing machines, fabric, repair and a wide array of classes, including quilting. Town & Country Ford in Pell City is preparing for a new chapter, too. Following its multimillion-dollar investment in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility for its dealership a few years back, Town & Country is now readying for a multimillion-dollar expansion in its quickly growing TC Customs. It will mean another impressive development to showcase its cutting-edge vehicle customization operation. And at Lakeside Park, a new veterans group took their first ‘plunge’ as part of Project Absolution, a support organization for veterans to help with the transition after war by providing offroad adventures. Old and new are truly mingling in this issue of Discover. Turn the page and discover it all with us!
Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher
Discover The Essence of St. Clair
February & March 2024 • Vol. 76 • www.discoverstclair.com
Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Dale Halpin • Advertising Toni Franklin • Graphic Arts Director
A product of Partners by Design www.partnersmultimedia.com 1911 Cogswell Avenue Pell City, AL 35125 205-335-0281
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seed + sun “But let me live by the side of the road And be a friend to man.” Words by poet Sam Walter Foss take on new meaning with this roadside flower stand
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Mandy Baughn If you Google “poppies,” you’ll learn that poppies aren’t recommended for growing in this area (Zone 8), poppies don’t do well with root disruption, and poppies typically don’t bloom the first year they are planted. Mandy Baughn’s poppy experiment defied all the odds and confirmed her idea to develop a flower shop by the side of the road. That experiment began with a seed packet she picked up at a dollar store, planted in trays on her kitchen table, then transplanted into a garden bed. They survived transplantation, sent their roots deep during the winter of 2022-23, then bloomed beautifully their first season. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to grow poppies to sell for many reasons, but for me, that first brave, pink poppy bloom was a sign and a confirmation that this is what I’m meant to do,” she says. Seed + Sun Blooms, the name she gave her new flower business, involves growing a large variety of colorful flowers, arranging them into bouquets, placing them in Mason jars and selling them on the honor system in a
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Mandy’s daughter, Ellery, takes her pick of flowers
Mandy and son, Corbie, share a moment on a tractor 10
little stand next to her house on Mays Bend Road. She charges from $5 to $40 for a bouquet, and purchasers leave the money in a lock box. “They can take the flower jars home with them and keep or return them,” Baughn says. “Most folks return them, and some even bring me extra jars.” She presented the idea for a flower stand to her husband, Scott, this past April. They had been on their 10-acre homestead for two years and had been tossing around ways to have it make some money. “I’ve always loved growing things,” Baughn says. “I come from a long line of green thumbs.” She came up with this honor system, which, as she points out, isn’t the first in St. Clair County. “There are several in this area, including the Wadsworth Farm that sells blueberries and others who sell veggies. I’m a dreamer – it was my idea – my husband is the logical one. To my surprise, he said, ‘Let’s do it!’ ” They had no tiller, no tractor and no experience in flowering farming. Then a friend explained the no-till method, where you lay a tarp down, and it kills the vegetation underneath, decomposing it and putting the nutrients back into the soil. So that’s what they did. This growing season, the flower beds are covered with landscaping fabric, and she’s trying a gardening concept called the Cool Flower Method that a woman in Virginia
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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A workshop using pumpkins as vase
Beds on a foggy morning
The bulbs
named Lisa Mason Ziegler came up with. “You plant hardy annuals in the Fall, they over-winter, and do their thing in the Spring,” Baughn says. “Their roots are stronger because they survived the winter.” In addition to the poppies, she grew sunflowers, zinnias, celosia, gomphrena, strawflowers, cosmos, marigolds, lots of Black-eyed Susans, Bachelor Buttons and more – all easy to grow, according to Baughn. “We hope to add tulips and daffodils this year,” she says. “We have 1,000 tulip bulbs and almost 500 daffodils already in the ground. We planted them during the first week of December.” The “we” includes her husband and their two children. Son Corbie, 11, and daughter, Ellery, 9, help with the digging, planting and harvesting. “I have my own seed business, too,” Corbie says. They purchased a used tractor last November, which should help with developing the garden bed. The whole affair has been trial and error, but has turned out even better than they had expected. “I have always grown things, but never from seeds,” she says. “I have been very surprised. I pictured people coming here just to get flowers, a destination, so to speak. But to my surprise, people in the neighborhood and passersby stop, some on their way home.” Last year, after a late start, the stand opened in early July and closed in midDecember. Baughn estimates they sold 300-400 bouquets during that time. “Whew, that’s hard to think through and just a guess,” she says. They plan to open this year as soon as the bulbs start blooming, which could be as early as mid-February, weather permitting. “We’re hoping to have flowers at least through the end of October and maybe into November,” she says. Maybe we’ll establish a U-Pick patch
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Seasonal wreaths and planters
Learning all about flowers
The work area for arrangements
Trellis marks entrance
Dajialyn
Heart Transplant Survivor
The path to mending her heart began with sunflowers and zinnias this summer. Obviously, everything is based on the weather.” The family wants to make enough money off the flower stand this year to fence their property. Then they can get some horses, sheep and chickens. “We love horses,” she says. “For three years, I taught riding lessons two days a week at RaeAnn Ranch in Moody. The kids, who are homeschooled, would go with me and had a ball roaming the ranch and taking riding lessons.” She plans to set up a picnic table near the stand, a place for people to hang out, have a picnic, relax and enjoy the Spring and Summer breezes. “Our goal is to nurture community by building more of a community atmosphere so people can connect,” she says. “Young people are always on their phones, and older ones like to socialize. I want people to pass by and say, ‘How cute, let’s stop and sip our coffee at that picnic table.’ We may even offer coffee later. There’s a little bistro table out there now.” It thrills her when people message her and say, “Someone gave me your flowers, and they made me feel so good. They cheered me up.” That cheers Baughn up, too. “Flowers are a miracle of God, the way everything comes together to make them grow,” she says. “I go to the garden and know this is not a coincidence, and it strengthens my faith.” l
Dajialyn was born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and at 3 months old was placed on the waiting list for a heart transplant. When her foster parents got the call to care for her, they never hesitated – and in July 2021, they received the call with the news she would get her new heart. Within hours she was at Children’s of Alabama in surgery. Her transplant was a success, and Dajialyn is walking, talking and doing all the things that keep parents of any toddler on their toes.
ChildrensAL.org/heart 1600 7TH AVE. S.
|
BIRMINGHAM, AL 35233
Editor’s Note: Follow them on Facebook @ sunandseedblooms.
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Traveling the
BACKROADS
Healing hands of St. Clair County has a long history of medical excellence
Dr. William A. Beason
Story by Robert Debter Submitted Photos St. Clair County throughout its history had a thriving medical community with doctors practicing medicine in all parts of the region. Many of the names are familiar to this day, stemming from their descendants perhaps or a particular road or place in the county that bears their name. They were pioneers in the county’s history, and a sampling of the details of their lives gives a glimpse into who tended to the medical needs of St. Clair’s early settlers. DR. WILLIAM A. BEASON Dr. Beason was born in 1867 to Rufus and Carrie Ann (Staton) Beason in St. Clair County and was the eldest sibling of Flora (Beason) Montgomery, George D. Beason, Charles W. Beason, Martin V. Beason,
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Historic House - W.A. Beason-Prickett (1907)
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Lillie (Phillips) Beason
James Madison McLaughlin 18
and Sidney L. Beason. He was also the great grandson of St. Clair County pioneer Curtis Grubb Beason and the great-great grandson of American Revolutionary patriot Capt. Edward Beason. On Oct. 30, 1901, with Rev. Noah A. Hood officiating, Dr. Beason married Ms. Lillie Eugenia Phillips at her family home, known today as the Phillips-Cunningham House. The bride was the daughter of James Madison and Elizabeth (Yarbrough) Phillips and the granddaughter of Littleton Yarbrough. The couple lived for many years in the Byers-Prickett House with Mrs. Beason being noted as a gracious, Southern hostess. “Dr. Beason was loved and respected by all who knew him intimately and was a man of strong convictions and always outspoken for things he believed to be right.” He was known to never drive over 35 miles an hour. When asked why he didn’t drive faster, he would always reply, “At 35 miles per hour, a car is still cheaper to run than a horse.” Of his beloved wife it was said, “No man ever had a nobler and more helpful companion. She knew his work and helped him in its performance in many ways.” Mrs. Lillie Beason “was widely known over the state. She took great interest in educational affairs” and always remained active in supporting “many movements for the betterment of her people.” For several years she held the office of chairman of the St. Clair County Board of Education, earning her the noteworthy recognition of being the first woman elected to office in St. Clair County. “She was also president of the Baptist Missionary Union and a leading member of the Ashville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” and “was a brilliant woman... (with) many cultivated talents.” Both were laid to rest in Ashville City Cemetery. DR. JAMES MADISON McLAUGHLIN Dr. McLaughlin was born in Leeds in Jefferson County on March 22, 1838, to John and Margaret (Brinker) McLaughlin. The doctor’s father was an early settler of the State of Tennessee and was the son of Alexander Andrew McLaughlin, who had emigrated from Scotland to Tennessee. James attended public schools and later read medicine with Doctors Robertson and Freeman in Springville. He later attended Atlanta Medical College, now the Emory University School of Medicine. During this time, he enlisted in Company C of 18th Alabama Regiment, CSA and was soon afterwards promoted to Captain. In 1864, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and held that position until the close of the war. On Jan. 4, 1871, James married Isadora Forman, the daughter of James and Parthenia (Dean) Forman. The bride’s father was noted as taking a “... leading part in all matters and issues in which people were interested,” and being “... true and energetic in behalf of his friends...” The bride’s mother was the daughter of Nathaniel and Parthenia (Edmundson) Dean, and the granddaughter of Benjamin Edmundson, a Virginian patriot who fought for independence as a lieutenant in the American Revolution. In her obituary, Mrs. Forman was remembered as “... always cheerful...” and “... a faithful and affectionate wife and mother,” who was “... thoughtful of every interest of her children...” In 1875, the doctor opened a pharmacy and two years later welcomed his only child, Katherine, into the world on March 27, 1877. She would later marry Jacob Forney, a president of Jacksonville State University, who was the son of General John Horace Forney and nephew of Alabama U.S. Rep. William Henry Forney. It could never be said that Dr. McLaughlin did not live a full life. During his 70 years, he was a member and elder of the Presbyterian Church, a Mason and Knight of Pythias, Mayor of Springville three
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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times, examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, and for the Equitable Life Insurance Company; member of the board of pension examiners, county health officer, member and one of the organizers of the St. Clair Medical Society and counselor of the State Medical Society. After declining in health for two years, Dr. McLaughlin passed away and was memorialized as being “... closely associated with all movements for growth and prosperity of our county,” and giving “... freely of his time, energy and guidance for its welfare.” Furthermore, “(h)e was beloved by all with whom he came in contact and held the respect and admiration of all his business and political associates.” The magazine, Confederate Veteran, honored Dr. McLaughlin and observed that he was “... a loving husband and father, a good citizen, a brave soldier and a Christian Gentleman.” DR. FINIS E. PERKINS Dr. Perkins was born on March 2, 1859, near Trussville to William Washington Perkins (18291910) and Elizabeth (Praytor) Perkins (18321886). Dr. Perkins financed his dental training by selling Bibles and began practicing dentistry about 1880. He had offices in Birmingham, Springville, Odenville and in other small towns in St. Clair County. One of his main interests was to teach dental care and health care to public school children. For at least 50 years, he was a regular visitor at many schools and always emphasized that every bite should be chewed 32 times. A part of every lecture was a Biblical quotation from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” He cooked most of his own meals and used olive oil exclusively to cook with because he considered animal fats to be bad for the teeth, gums and the human body. Wherever he ate, private or public, he first asked God’s blessing on that meal. He was an active member and financial supporter of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Norwood in Birmingham. Dr. Perkins was attracted to St. Clair Springs because of the healing powers of the sulfur waters available and in 1896 built a cottage there. He also took annual trips to Pike’s Peak and maintained a summer home there for many years. Dr. Perkins never married and practiced dentistry up to his death on June 21, 1950, at the age of 91. As Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician known as the Father of Medicine, once said, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is a love of humanity.” The same could be said for St. Clair County’s early hands of healing. l
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Dr. Finis Perkins
Dr. Finis Perkins house
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Heather Warren at Lala’s 22
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Downtown Ashville
Renaissance Community bustling with economic growth
Farm Wife & Co.
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Richard Rybka The sign above the coffee pot reads, “Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.” That quote by author and playwright Victor Hugo is as much a part of the blueprint of Ashville’s newest business as is the smell of coffee that wafts through the cozy space. The story belongs to Holli Smith and Heather Warren, the sisters who own Lala’s. It’s a story of family, of love and loss, but it doesn’t end there. The sign outside the building reads “Lala’s,” and a hot cup of coffee is just the beginning of their offerings. This place, located in the Ashville Historic District on the city’s courthouse square, is a bookstore with a bar where one can order hot and cold beverages, including various beers and wines. They also offer hot food options, with their stone-hearth oven pizza being
a crowd favorite. They just opened in December, but the owners’ plans include trivia nights, wine and beer tastings and live music. Heather and Holli’s grandmother’s piano sits against the wall just waiting to be played. The promise of a song is echoed by a nearby guitar. The music stopped for the Smith and Warren families just over five years ago when Warren’s 19-year-old daughter, Haleigh, died from a pulmonary embolism. Haleigh’s nickname was Lala, a name given to her by her cousin, Smith’s son, Zander. “She loved reading, trivia, music and food, all the things we’ve decided to do here,” says Smith. “That quote over the bar is symbolic of our journey, coming out of that
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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darkness.” The bar itself is the handiwork of Smith’s husband, Merrell. It is crafted from red oak plywood and whiskey barrels. Tin tiles from the building’s former ceiling add character to the bar’s front wall. More of the building’s history is evident throughout the business. The restroom door, a remnant from the days the space was used during the 2014 renovation of the courthouse across the street, reads, “Office of the Tax Collector.” A large group table in the back is a refinished glass cutting table from the time when the space was used as storage for the adjacent Teague Mercantile business. “During the renovation, we kept as much of the original structure as we could,” adds Smith. It was important to them to preserve the historical integrity of the building as much as possible. Smith’s son, Zander, is currently researching the building’s history for his fourth-grade history fair project. The sisters both graduated from Ashville High School and now teach at that same school. Holli teaches Honors and AP English, while Heather teaches Honors and AP Science. Their love of travel is evidenced in the décor, maps, and pictures of many different countries hanging on the walls of Lala’s. “We’ve always talked about doing something like this,” says Smith. “We’d be traveling and visit a place like this and talk about how we could have our own coffee shop and bookstore.” Their biggest blessing so far, the sisters say, has been the support of community. “We have been overwhelmed by the support of business neighbors and city leaders as well,” says Smith. “The soft openings were crazy! We weren’t prepared for the number of people who came out to support us.”
Holli Smith and Heather Warren
Piano and books at Lala’s
Reawakening ‘the square’
Just across the street, business neighbors Chad and Esther Smith agree that the community has been amazingly supportive of their clothing and gift store. They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary of business for Farm Wife and Company. Their hope is that more businesses will join them and create more foot traffic in the downtown square. Chad calls it a “wild dream,” that plan that he and his wife, Esther, began to talk about a few short years ago. The couple, steeped in the farming community in St. Clair County, had talked about one day opening a small retail shop of some sort in Ashville. They were already woven into the community as owners, with his brother and
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Comfortable reading area at Lala’s
Serving pizza at Lala’s
Lala’s stacked stone exterior
sister of nearby Smith Tomato LLC. The tomato farm, located in Steele, has a retail side where customers can visit the farm to purchase fresh produce and farm-branded products. The two were busy helping to run the farm and the retail side of that business, but Esther and Chad Smith kept dreaming of opening their own retail shop. “Chad said I have that special touch for fashion and design,” says Esther. “We wanted to open a shop, but we didn’t want it to be a boutique. We wanted to be able to offer something for all ages.” Their 1,800-square-foot storefront, Farm Wife and Company, is in court square in the heart of Ashville and is packed with a variety of unique giftware for all occasions and clothing for all ages. From wedding and baby gifts to special small-batch lotions made in Mooresville, Alabama, the inventory is unique and tasteful. There is even a men’s clothing and giftware section specifically designed by Chad. He and Esther bought the old storefront before Thanksgiving in 2021 and began renovating it themselves, while also working on the farm. It was a labor of love that spanned a full year, before the store opened in December of 2022, just a month after Ashville’s bicentennial celebration. The farm motif is interwoven throughout the store, from the farmer-specific quote behind the checkout desk to the barn façade that leads into the ice cream shop in the back of the store. “We see couples or people with kids come in and one person shops and the other comes to the back and sits down for ice cream or a cup of coffee,” says Chad. The name Farm Wife and Company tells the story of their lives. Even her license plate says, “farm wife.” “We’ve always been in farming,” explains Esther. “We met on the farmland we now live on. My mother and both of my grandmothers were
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Ice cream at Farm Wife & Co.
Plenty of gift ideas at Farm Wife & Co.
Farm Wife & Co. ice cream parlor
farmer’s wives, and Chad’s mother, too. “We could have gone to a larger city, but we didn’t want to,” adds Esther. “Ashville needed it, and we wanted to open our store here.” They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary as a business. After initially intending to rent the space, they had the opportunity to buy it and jumped on it. “I think it was just God’s plan for us,” Esther says. “Everything just kind of fell into place. We had wanted to be on the square because it’s so visible and because the courthouse is so beautiful!” Ashville Mayor Derrick Mostella is grateful for this small business and others who have brought the downtown area back to life. “It’s those family businesses, like Farm Wife and Company,
Inside Farm Wife & Co. DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Chad and Esther Smith at Farm Wife & Co.
Lala’s, GNX and Little Art Tree, that represent us so well,” says Mostella. “They are the ones that set the tone for shopping local and keeping people invested in our town.” Meanwhile, the city is doing its part, working on several projects to improve sidewalks, adding to the functionality of the downtown area. “We’ve got several projects in the works,” says Mostella. “We’re really sprucing up our park and recreation department and would love to be able to build a recreation center. We’re also looking at developing our land out near the interstate.” Mostella campaigned prior to his election in 2016 on a promise to promote a downtown renaissance. “Business in downtown had gotten pretty bleak for a while,” he admits. “We always had those anchor businesses like Kell Realty, Charlie Robinson Law Offices, Sew Nice and Teague Mercantile. Then Dr.
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Stocked shelves at Farm Wife & Co.
Clothing and more for sale
GNX Gun Exchange
Outdoor seating at Farm Wife and Co.
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Labbe with Ashville Dental Center renovated the old pharmacy and relocated his business to the downtown. He was the first to realize the value of these old buildings.” Others soon followed. GNX Gun Exchange opened in September of 2021 in an old bank building on the square. “It’s not your typical gun shop,” says co-owner Misty Thomas. “Since it was an old bank, we still have the vaults.” When she and her husband, Shane, went looking for a place to open their store, the bank building became available. “We love being downtown,” adds Thomas. “It’s not a huge town, but they’re amazingly supportive. Events downtown are great. We always have a great turnout.” Events are held in the square for July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas, which promote foot traffic around the square, which encourages shopping at local merchants. For Esther at Farm Wife and Company, being in the heart of downtown is part of the dream. She hopes that the growth of her store and others will help to make Ashville a place where people will want to come to spend time. “That would also allow us to do more and give back to the community,” she says. “We want to continue to serve others.” Keeping the family atmosphere of a small town while promoting business development is a tricky balance for city leaders. Mayor Mostella says Ashville is handling that growth by simply remembering who they are. “We are looking for growth, not for the sake of growth, but for growth that works with who we want to be,” he says. “We want to be able to offer different amenities, while still not outgrowing our small-town feel. It’s a balance.” l
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Come worship with us! SERVICES: 8:30AM & 10:30AM 1000 Bruce Etheredge Pkwy. Pell City, AL 35128
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For sewing, quilting, learning, all roads lead to Springville’s
Sewing Machine Mart
Tracey teaching while Grandma watches 32
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Richard Rybka Kathy Hymer drives up from McCalla to Springville for computer classes. Sheila Lankford drives down from Attalla for quilting classes. Both say it’s worth the miles for what they learn at the Sewing Machine Mart, a relatively recent addition to the Springville Station strip shopping mall. “I’ve taken jelly roll race-quilt classes (so-called because the quilts work up quickly), crazy-quilt classes and a threeyard quilt class there,” says Lankford. “I love the Sewing Machine Mart.” Hymer echoes the sentiment. “They’re great. I can’t say enough about them. I’ve taken (sewing machine) computer classes and quilting classes. Every machine I own has been purchased there.” The Sewing Machine Mart originated in Tarrant in 1950, then moved to Homewood, where it remained for almost 30 years. Shawn Jackson, who owns the store with his wife, Heidi, started there in 1994, while he was working as a Birmingham firefighter. “I went there as a technician,” Shawn says. “I knew nothing about working on sewing machines but had always been a Mr. FixIt.” When the original owners retired In 2002, he bought the store. About five years ago, the Jacksons moved to Gallant, and drove back and forth to their store in Homewood. “I pay attention to things and kept my eyes open for a place for the shop after we moved up here,” Jackson says. Then they got word that the building they rented had been sold and was to be torn down to make way for a restaurant. So, in January 2022, they moved their store to Springville. “My wife shopped at stores in this mall, and we ate in restaurants around here, and one day we spotted this place,” Shawn says. “It’s where the old ABC store used to be.” Rows and rows of liquor bottles have been replaced by rows and rows of sewing machines that do everything but talk. And some may soon do that. There are more than 40 on display, including a long-arm quilting machine and a couple of multi-needle embroidery machines. Prices for the four brands they carry — Pfaff, Husqvarna Viking, Baby Lock and Singer —- range from $180 to $24,000. At least one machine is wi-fi enabled, so you can buy a design online and download it to the machine. It also has a built-in electronic tablet on one side. “It’s amazing what technology is doing with sewing machines these days,” Shawn says. “I can remember when the first embroidery machine came out. It could do a 4 x 4-inch piece of fabric, and now we have machines that can do a 14 x14-inch piece. One of our Pfaffs has Artificial Intelligence. I’m not sure what that will mean, but I anticipate the customer being able to add new features to it, and AI will learn them. That machine also has a camera and built-in wifi.” He doesn’t wince at some of the high prices, comparing them to the cost of hobbies such as golf and fishing. Women sometimes come in and tell him, “My husband just spent $50,000 on a boat, I think I can spend $20,000 on a sewing machine.” He does, however, advise potential customers to have a budget in mind before they come in. “We’ll help you find the most for your money,” he says. “You may still wind up with more than you can use, but you will grow into it.” Most of the store’s customers are hobbyists that Jackson describes as “memory makers,” turning shirts, pants, ties
Thread, cloth and more for sale at Sewing Machine Mart
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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and tees into quilts, for example. “Probably 20 to 25 percent of our customers, though, have some type of sewing or embroidery business, often in their homes.” He believes sewing is more than a hobby now. It’s an art form. “It’s not just about making clothes for your kids,” he says. “Your imagination is your only limitation. We have some Cosplay customers, people who dress up in costumes to play video games and do other role playing.They’ll sometimes buy clothes at the thrift store and go home, take them apart and remake them into a costume for Comicon.” The Sewing Mart had no space for fabric in Homewood but started carrying some when it moved to Springville. They also carry storage cabinets, sewing machine tables, cutting tables made by a local man and notions (scissors, thread, needles, etc.). “We service all makes and models of sewing machines, with a one or two-day turn-around on repair jobs,” Jackson says. “We sharpen scissors, too.” Some of their classes are machine or software specific, so a customer can get the most out of a new purchase. They offer several quilting and sewing classes that usually take four to seven hours on the same day, and cost from $25-$150. Some come with kits, others require a customer to bring her own materials. They offer summer classes for youth when there is a demand for them, although they didn’t materialize the summer of 2023 due to scheduling problems. While Shawn teaches the getto-know-your-machine classes, most others are taught by customers. Students make tote bags and cosmetic bags, learn how to bind quilts and how to do alterations. “We’re always looking for new teachers with new techniques,” Jackson says. Customers come from all over Alabama, including Prattville, Auburn, Wetumpka, north Alabama, and from the surrounding states of Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. “Some lived near Homewood, but moved away, while others heard by word
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Shawn and Heidi
Used sewing machines for sale
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Courtnay Snow sewing
of mouth that we work on machines,” he says. Kathy Hymer of Bessemer bought a 10-needle embroidery machine, a serger and a Pfaff Icon from the Sewing Machine Mart. The Pfaff Icon has a built-in computer and computer tablet. “I can send patterns over the Internet directly or through my laptop, or I can use a USB stick to transfer patterns to the machine,” Hymer says.” She uses a program called mySewnet that she purchased from Shawn and Heidi to turn designs into patterns for embroidery machines. “I’m in an RV club, and I’ve taken pictures of my friends’ RVs, put them into this program and turned them into embroidery designs that I put on garden flags for them,” Hymer says. The three-yard quilting class was especially fun for Hymer. “We picked out three yards of fabric we liked, and the Jacksons did the cutting beforehand,” she says. “You use the same pattern as the other people in the class, but depending upon the fabric, each quilt turns out completely different. We did a quilt top, we held them up and compared them when we finished. It’s a lot of fun to see what each person has done.” Hymer traded with The Sewing Machine Mart when it was in Homewood and doesn’t mind the drive to Springville. “I keep going because they’ve added fabric and because there’s so much more going on since they moved out there,” she says. Lankford has made at least 10 jelly roll race quilts since taking the same class as Hymer. “I call them comfort quilts because I make them for friends and relatives who are sick,” she says. “They are about the size of a twin-bed quilt. I’ve also taken binding classes to learn how to bind a quilt after I put it together. “ A crazy-quilt class resulted in Lankford making a table runner, which her granddaughter is now enjoying while studying at the University of Alabama. “I’ve taken what’s
Courtnay’s quilt top
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Shawn talking to the class
Showing off finished products 38
called a three-yard quilt class, and I’ve made three of those. I’ve made jelly roll quilts for all my grandchildren, and I’ve just finished one for a friend who is special to me because he’s awaiting heart surgery. He’s a veteran, so I made it in red, white and blue and embroidered on it, ‘God Bless America.’ He told his wife it was his Linus quilt. It will be with him in the hospital.” Also, She worked on one for a giveaway on Attalla Heritage Day to benefit the Museum of Attalla. She credits Shawn for taking care of her machines and Heidi for selling her beautiful fabric. “Sometimes Shawn tells me there’s nothing wrong with my machine, just with the ears of the operator.” l
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Polar Plunge Emerging after ‘the plunge’
Braving the lake in winter to help support veterans Story by Carol Pappas Photos by David Smith Whether it looked like a leap of faith or a deep dive, what clearly surfaced on Logan Martin Lake New Year’s Eve Day was a small, but enthusiastic group of Polar Plungers determined to raise awareness and support a good cause – helping veterans. The invitation went out on social media for what was billed as the First Annual Yeti Plunge. “The event is dedicated to the remembrance of military members we have lost to suicide and to bring suicide awareness to the local populace.” A couple of dozen brave souls navigated the icy cold waters in the first Polar Plunge while a group of onlookers – a bit too reluctant to even put a toe in the water – lent moral support, cheering them on. They splished. They splashed. And they seemed to emerge as one big, continuous smile stretching across all their faces.
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Chase Poland, who headed up the event gives ‘thumbs up’
‘On their mark’ at the beach
With the plunge, it brought on a sense of accomplishment. “It was a challenge,” said Terry Harrell of Cropwell. “I thought this was a pretty good cause.” Catrina Cedotal agreed. To her, it was a sense of understanding. “My husband is a Marine veteran. My son is medically retired from the Army.” Their cause? Project Absolution, a nonprofit effort to help veterans transition through returning home by taking the path less traveled – offroad. The project is a part of a group of veterans called Absolution Offroad, which is now 1,500-strong from multiple states. Chase Poland of Riverside, who founded the project, is an Iraq War veteran. “It took me years to get myself together” after the war, he said. A buddy got him interested in offroading, and he saw that experience as dealing with what came next in his life, “helping me get through stuff without medication.” They wanted to turn that experience into helping others just like them. It earned the name when Poland was reading Sun Tsu’s The Art of War. In it, he came across the word, “absolution.” Its meaning was a perfect fit – “a form of relief from one’s past, forgiveness.” He named his Jeep, a specially-rigged offroad vehicle, Absolution, and the offroad group that followed bears the same name.
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Taking the plunge
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Now comes another evolution for the name – Project Absolution – which seeks to get veterans out into the woods, experiencing the outdoors and new adventures. Under the umbrella of a its pending nonprofit, they hope to expand the adventures into hunting and camping and paramotor excursions. All expenses are paid for by the donor-supported organization. The veteran community who rides calls it “a breath of fresh air to have something like this in Alabama,” Poland said. It is an effort to reverse the suicide rate among veterans, which has become alarmingly high – nearly 17 veterans take their own lives every day. What Absolution Offroad finds is that getting them out of their homes and into these rides helps them deal with the aftermath of war. It’s as if they get home from service and retreat into themselves. “They build their own unit,” Poland said. Absolution Offroad provides a bridge leading out from inside the walls they build around them. Riders and members now come from all over, from places like Alabama, Florida and Georgia to join the camaraderie and the challenge of offroading on trails from Stony Lonesome to Top Trails Cheaha and the Talladega National Forest to Chief Ladiga Trail. Those who don’t have an offroad rig are equipped with one free of charge. The aim is to remove any obstacles en route to their offroad experience and along the way, the hurdles of life after war. “We want to curb veteran suicide,” Poland said. “We want to make a difference in this world.” l Editor’s Note: To donate to Project Absolution, you may do so through Cash App. The account is $projectabsolution.
Poland addresses the crowd about the cause
Absolution Offroad vehicle equipped for offroad adventures
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
BobMize ST. CLAIR COUNTY COMMISSION
BOB MIZE HAS DEDICATED HIMSELF TO YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE WITHOUT HOLDING ELECTED OFFICE. HE SERVED IN THE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD AND WENT ON TO WORK AS AN INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICIAN AT AMERICAN CAST IRON PIPE CO. (ACIPCO) FOR NEARLY FOUR DECADES, WHERE HE WOULD RETIRE IN 2011.
BOB WAS ELECTED IN 2020 TO SERVE ON THE ST. CLAIR COUNTY COMMISSION AS THE COMMISSIONER REPRESENTING DISTRICT FOUR.
WHAT HAS BOB MIZE DONE
FOR ST. CLAIR COUNTY?
ADVOCATED FOR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS TO BE COMPLETED TO IMPROVE ROAD QUALITY AND TRAVEL SAFETY CONSTRUCTED A NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART CORRECTIONAL FACILITY UTILIZED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ACROSS MULTIPLE COUNTIES PROVIDED A SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER (SRO) FOR EVERY SCHOOL IN THE ST. CLAIR COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM PAID FOR BY BOB MIZE CAMPAIGN, PO BOX 1065, PELL CITY, AL 35125
Beaver Creek gristmills,
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cornbread and memories DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Gilchrist-Abernathy Grist Mill and pond
Story by Joe Whitten Photos by Mackenzie Free and submitted Photos Some of our readers are of an age to remember a family farmhouse with a wood-burning cookstove in the kitchen. As memory pulls them into distant reveries, the smell of cornbread browning in the oven is so real that mouths begin to water. On the table sits the fresh-churned butter that will crown a slice cut steaming from the cast iron skillet. Then, as memory fades into 2023 reality, they realize a skillet of cornbread baking in a gas or electric oven smells just as good. Two hundred years ago in St. Clair County, the meal for that “bread of memory” came from a local gristmill that had ground the farmer’s homegrown, dried and shelled corn. In the book, Anthology of People – Places – Events of St. Clair County, Mattie Lou Teague
Crow (1903-1999) in her article, “Mills in the Valley,” records that before the construction of local gristmills, “The man of the family often traveled all the way back to Georgia or Tennessee to have corn ground into meal. In time, each community had its own gristmill.” Later in the article she laments that “Today we buy … a box of corn muffin mix, which (Tennessee) Ernie Ford assures us is ‘pea-picking good.’ But it’s a sad thing that today’s generation will never know what real cornbread was like. Corn pone. Egg bread. Spoon bread. Johnny cake. Crackling bread. Corn dodgers. Hush puppies. Today’s variety is a pale imitation of the bread our grandparents made from that wonderful waterground meal.” YARBROUGH MILLS Manoah Yarbrough no doubt built the first gristmill on Beaver Creek c1823. He moved his family from North Carolina to St. Clair County
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Yarbrough dam foundation for bridge Fitzgerald and his boys built
Yarbrough millstone brought from North Carolina in 1822 48
in 1822. His original destination was Choccolocco Valley in Calhoun County, but after learning of the Indian unrest in that area, he settled in St. Clair County. According to an article written by Fitzgerald Yarbrough for The Heritage of St. Clair County, Manoah, having run corn and flour mills in North Carolina, had “brought his mill, including the mill rocks, with him,” and soon after getting “the family settled, he began constructing a dam across Beaver Creek to furnish power for his grist and flour mills. The dam is approximately 450 feet long and is built of mountain rock and dirt.” Fitzgerald was proud of the fact that “The original dam is still used today as a roadbed leading to a bridge which crosses Beaver Creek. … The bridge foundation is the original dam where the water gates were.” Fitzgerald and his two sons, Fitz and Burk, constructed the bridge in 1985. In the fall after the harvest and through the winter months, the family and farm workers added height to the dam “… to give a greater head of water so more machinery could be added.” Manoah died in 1840, and his son, Littleton, continued running the mill and making improvements. In addition to corn and flour mills, over time, the Yarbrough mills included a sawmill, a shingle mill and a wool carding mill. Fitzgerald wrote of Littleton’s son, “My grandfather, John Yarbrough, Sr., ran the wool carding mill to make wool yarn for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was only 13 years old when the war began.” John Yarbrough, Sr., added a cotton gin, which operated until about the time WWI began. The traditional waterwheel powered the mill until the 1880s. By then, Littleton had died and his son, John Yarbrough,
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Yarbrough Mill group photo late 19th Century
Yarbrough waterwheel attached to wooden frame, submerged in Beaver Creek
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mentioned above, operated the mills and continued making improvements to them. “The turbine water wheel (that John purchased) was known as Morris Wheel,” Fitzgerald wrote, “because it was constructed at Morrisville, Alabama, and sold to my grandfather by John and Elbert Morris.” When John and Elbert Morris came to Beaver Valley to install the Morris Wheel, romance blossomed between them and two of Fitzgerald’s aunts, for “A few years later, John Morris married my aunt Mae,” he wrote, “and Elbert Morris married Aunt Jennie.” At the location of the mill, Beaver Creek flows wide and sparkling in the sun. The mill dam allowed a large lake to form above it which became a place local folk enjoyed for fishing, camping, swimming, fish fries and picnics. With the passing decades, sediment built up behind the dam, thus reducing the volume of water in the lake. The Yarbroughs estimated that between the years 1823 and 1925, eight feet of sediment accumulated. Then in 1925, an exceptional flood washed out the water gate and swept the waterwheel downstream about 50 feet from its original location in the water house, which was also damaged by the flood waters and never rebuilt. The waterwheel, still attached to its wooden frame, lies today in the waters of Beaver Creek
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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and has not been removed for two reasons recorded by Fitzgerald: “(1) Its weight. It is very heavy, and (2) It is better preserved under water than if it was raised and exposed to the elements.” The Yarbrough mill functioned for more than 100 years. The corn and flour mill stones carted here from North Carolina remain in the family. And from the sawmill, several 19th century homes constructed by Littleton Yarbrough, with lumber sawn in his mill and dried in his kiln, remain in the Beaver Valley today. The kiln lay east of the dam and the outline of the rock foundation and sides remain visible today. In addition to these Beaver Valley homes, the Ashville Courthouse and the second Ashville Baptist Church building were constructed with lumber from the Yarbrough mill. ABERNATHY GRIST MILL In the previously mentioned book, Anthology of People – Places – Events of St. Clair County, Larry McCullough wrote the article, “History of the Abernathy Grist Mill,” from history he collected from L.E. Abernathy and V. Ray Thompson. Larry wrote, “The Abernathy Grist Mill once located in Beaver Valley was purchased in 1918 by M.R. Abernathy after the sawmill he operated in Ashville was destroyed by fire. The mill was previously known as the Gilchrist Mill, though it is unclear who actually built the mill or when it was built.” However, in the same Anthology, Lura Jean Cobb Smith, a Gilchrist descendant, has an article titled “Who Built the Mill?,” wherein she stated, “My Great-Grandfather, Truss Vann Gilchrist brought his family from Calhoun County to St. Clair County, bought farmland in the valley of Beaver Creek, on October 28, 1879. He and my grandfather, John Dudley Gilchrist, built the Mill now known as Abernathy Mill.” The rest of the article relates Gilchrist genealogy and family history. In a recent interview, Judith Ramsey Abernathy recalled information her husband, Bob Abernathy, had gleaned about his grandfather, Marion R. Abernathy, who bought and ran the mill. “The Abernathy family lived in Cherokee
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Marvin Abernathy in the foreground. Bob Abernathy’s dad. Probably Marion in the background.
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
Gilchrist-Abernathy Grist Mill
County where, as carpenters and millers, they designed mills, dams and raceways – flumes for carrying water. The family mills there included a gristmill, sawmill and cotton gin.” Marion was five years old when his father died. In those days, children in large families grew up learning how to work, and so did Marion. In the 1880 US Census, he is listed as a farm hand and living with his cousin in Cherokee County, Alabama. Then in later censuses, he is in St. Clair County. The Abernathy family were related to the St. Clair County Lindsey family who “… had a mill on Canoe Creek northeast of Ashville,” said Judith, “and we believe that is why Marion came to St. Clair County.” “The mill sat on a large lake created by dams on the creek,” she related. “Bob’s mother recalled seeing large trout in the lake. They built a big farmhouse on the Beaver Creek property. It had a dogtrot through the center and many large rooms.” Larry McCollough describes the remains of the mill. “The dam is still intact except for a 20-foot section on the south side of the creek. The dam stretches 80 feet from end to end, stands 15 feet tall and is 10
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Augusta Abernathy and children, Elizabeth, Jack and Billy at the mill c1930
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Abernathy Grist Mill stones
feet thick at the base. Some of the rocks making up the dam are half as large as automobiles.” According to Larry’s article, the millhouse was a wood frame structure that stood two stories high and sat “…atop the dam on the northside of the creek. …A cotton gin occupied the top floor, though the gin machinery was never used by Mr. Abernathy.” The Abernathy mill never had the traditional waterwheel, so when time came to grind corn, the miller raised a sluice gate in the dam to release the water. “The water was directed through a water turbine. …The turbine converted the rushing water into power that turned various gears and shafts, finally setting into motion one of the 800-pound millstones. One stone turned in a circular motion (this one had to be balanced) while the other remained stationary during the grinding.” The ground corn meal fell into a hopper under which the miller had placed a sack into which he released the meal. Margaret Franklin Berry, who grew up in Slasham Valley, remembers this process from the mid-to-late-1940s. “When we needed corn meal, my parents would send my brother and me out there to shell corn. I remember we shelled gallon buckets of corn. My daddy would take it to the mill to have it ground, and I’d go with him. I just thought that was fascinating to watch that man pour that corn into that hopper, and it come out cornmeal.” She couldn’t remember the name of the mill, but her description seems to indicate the Abernathy Gristmill. Larry also pointed out that the millstones’ grooves would wear down from the grinding and required regrooving periodically. The miller used a hammer and chisel for this job. This chiseling left grit in the grooves for several days afterward, and during those days, the miller ground only chicken feed until
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the grit was gone. Just as at the Yarbrough mill, the Abernathy millpond was a social gathering place where people could swim and fish in the cool water and then picnic on the bank. In the early 1940s, unusually heavy spring rains caused Beaver Creek flooding, which swept the Abernathy millhouse off its foundations. At the time Larry wrote the article in 1985, “Boards, rafters and heart pine logs can still be seen beneath the clear waters, looking like the wreckage of a Spanish galleon.” Time no doubt has taken its toll on those timbers the passing years. The millstones were retrieved by Larry and remain preserved at his home today. According to Judith Abernathy, after the storm washed the Beaver Creek mill away, “Marion purchased land in Ashville and built a new home. He also began operating a heading mill, making wooden barrelheads. This mill was located at the corner of Highway 23 and 7th Avenue in Ashville. Every day at noon, a steam whistle would blow at the mill.” THE COX MILL In an article on file at the Ashville Museum and Archives, Margaret Coker wrote of the Cox Gristmill in a paper titled, “Childhood Memories of an Old Gristmill.” Henry Cox operated this mill in Beaver Valley. According to Mr. Cox’s obituary in The Southern Aegis, Nov. 8, 1928, he became blind at the age of 12, and in spite of his blindness, as an adult he delivered mail in Beaver Valley for 15 years. The Cox gristmill had the traditional waterwheel, and the dam across the creek formed a millpond. When the miller opened the water gate, the rushing water turned the waterwheel to power the mill.
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Cornbread fresh from Amy Heckman’s oven – appropriately a stove reminiscent of years gone by
“I remember helping my father by turning the handle of the corn sheller while he fed the ears into it,” Mrs. Coker wrote. “Then the corn was sacked and taken to the Cox Gristmill.” Folk could have their corn ground fine, medium or coarse. “I remember as a small child going to the mill with my father in a wagon,” she wrote, “and then later in an early model Ford car. Some customers came bringing their sacks of corn across the backs of the horses or mules they were riding. Others came in buggies or wagons.” She drew a word picture with this recollection from the past. “One of the pleasant memories of my childhood was walking into my mother’s kitchen and smelling the enticing aroma of hot cornbread just out of the oven of the wood burning stove. Even better was the taste of the bread when a slice of it was filled with home churned butter.” The wonderful thing is a wood burning stove is not required for making family memories of your own. So, go to the store and purchase some self-rising corn meal – and a pound of real butter. For dinner tonight, open a jar of the vegetable soup you canned this past summer. Turn your oven – gas or electric – to 425 degrees and put the oiled iron skillet in the oven while it heats. A sizzling hot skillet gives a good crust to the cornbread. If you don’t have a recipe, there will be one on the
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bag of cornmeal you bought, or you can call your mother, your grandmother, an aunt, or a friend for their recipe. Over the past 100 years, sugar has crept into cornbread recipes in the South, but for true, old-timey Southern cornbread, cooks don’t add sugar to the batter. Beloved storyteller, Sean of the South, addressed this in his Nov. 2, 2022, online blog titled, “For the Love of Cornbread,” when he wrote: “Only a few days ago, I visited a restaurant in Franklin, Tennessee. It was one of those fancy joints where waiters and waitresses walk like they’re in need of fiber supplementation. The waitress brought me a hot basket of sweet cornbread. “ ‘Excuse me, ma’am,’ I said to the waitress. ‘There’s something wrong with my cornbread.’ “‘What’s wrong?’ she said. “ ‘Well, I think the chef spilled a box of Duncan Hines into the batter.’ “No, sir, we put sugar in our cornbread.” “ ‘Why would you do such a thing?’ “Because our chef is from Chicago.” And cornbread lovers all over the South murmured commiserations along with Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Well bless his pea-picking heart!” l
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Business Review
Architectural rendering of the new Town & Country expansion 60 • DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • Business Review • February & March 2024
Story by Paul South Photos by David Smith and submitted
Innovation comes home Town and Country Ford’s massive Pell City expansion means jobs, improved service and cutting-edge technology “Businesses that grow by development and improvement do not die.” — Henry Ford Henry Ford, the innovator who brought us the assembly line process that produced automobiles in large numbers, knew a thing or two about development and improvement. Over the years, the company that bears his name brought America the Model A, the Mustang and the wildly popular pickup truck. That spirit of innovation is now at work close to home at Pell City’s Town & Country Ford. A new customization facility, electric vehicle charging stations and an expanded service presence of 48 service bays mean a multimillion-dollar investment in the local economy, with more growth on the way. In short, Town & Country – with locations in Pell City and Bessemer – has the pedal to the metal, with a new 36,000-square-foot building soon to be online. Town & Country Dealer Principal and CEO Steve Watts calls the new facility, a customization operation and two EV charging stations, “the verification of our dream.” He and his partner, Bill Sain, brought Pell City Ford Lincoln Mercury in December 2009. It was something of a risk. The American economy was in the tank. But Watts saw something in the dealership, then in a 9,150-square-foot building. “It was my vision that it one day could
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • Business Review • February & March 2024 • 61
Business Review Town & Country Ford
Suspension work
really become something. It had a lot of potential being off the interstate (I-20),” Watts said. “You know, back in 2009, the economy was going to hell in a handbasket, and we were glad that we could step in and purchase the business.” The dealership had 19 employees back then and rented its property. Today, Town & Country has a staff of 71 in its state-of-the art headquarters and now owns 13 acres on the blossoming Interstate 20/59 corridor. “We’re planning to double our size and capacity and the number of people employed there in the coming weeks and months, once this new building comes online,” Watts said. Customer demand fueled the new building, Watts said. “Right now, we can’t get the work out,” Watts said. “Currently, we’ve got 22 service bays for our customers. When we get this thing completed by November, 2024, we’ll have 48 service bays … more than double the capacity of service.” The customization facility will serve both electric, gasolinepowered and hybrid vehicles. “This building is going to be a (Ford) Bronco building. It’s going to be an accessory and customization shop showroom, and it’s going to do everything commercial for emergency vehicles. It’s going to be for (internal combustion) vehicles and electric vehicles. “I really believe Ford’s strategy for EV is appropriate because we’re not giving up on internal combustion vehicles.
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62 • DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • Business Review • February & March 2024
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Business Review Town & Country Ford We’re going to continue to produce those, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.” However, Watts is also sold on EVs. He drives a Lightning F-150, which he calls, ‘the best driving vehicle I’ve ever ridden in.” The dealership is investing “seven figures” in dollars to construct two Level 3 EV charging stations, with more to come in order to accommodate the growing fleet of electric and hybrid cars and trucks on the nation’s highways. These stations – with 24-hour, seven-day access – will be the first such facilities in Pell City and St. Clair County, Watts said. The state and federal governments are providing funding to grow the number of charging stations around the country. In November 2023, for example, the state provided funding for the construction of three stations near Coosa Landing in Gadsden. Bipartisan infrastructure legislation passed by Congress provided $7.5 billion to construct more charging stations. The new Pell City stations are expected to provide an additional economic boost to restaurants and other businesses eager to serve travelers and locals alike. The two stations were expected to go online this month (February), with plans to expand to as many as eight stations. “If (motorists) stop to buy electricity, or stop to eat or spend the night, it drives more tax dollars. That’s a thing we’re really excited about,” Watts said. “It’s an opportunity, not only for my business and our associates, but also for the city and the county.” And just as Ford’s founder was an innovation pioneer at a global level, Town & Country is innovating locally, in the spirit of Henry Ford. “We have a choice to invest in EV or not,” Watts said. “I think the strategy is going to include
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64 • DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • Business Review • February & March 2024
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024
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Business Review Town & Country Ford Town & Country Ford building
TC Customs Ford Bronco
those as well as ICE (internal combustion engines), and I think you’re going to see a lot more hybrid.” But even with the growth of EVs, Watts says they’re not for everybody. “The more infrastructure we get – because people don’t have ‘range anxiety,’ they have ‘charging anxiety’ – the better it is. But you’d be surprised at the number of local people who’ve bought electric vehicles and love them.” At the end of the day, even with the land, the sparkling new facility and its amenities, that’s not what’s most important, Watts said. He reflected on those early days in 2009. “The most important thing is not the land. It’s not the building. It’s the people,” Watts said. “I’m just so honored that we’ve been able to go from 19 people to 71 and being able to double that by November of 2024,” Watts says. “That just creates a lot of opportunity for the people. We’re desperately looking for people in all areas.”
70 • DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • Business Review • February & March 2024
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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024 LakeLife™ is a division of Partners By Design, Inc. LakeLife™ & LakeLife 24/7® are registered trademarks 2018.
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Aerial view of Town & Country’s campus
The dealership has an Asset Training Program to grow the number of automotive repair technicians. Four local high school graduates are currently enrolled in the program at Lawson State Community College. A fully trained, experienced certified technician can earn up to $45 an hour. “It’s really a great career path,” Watts said. “You have to work and you have to have the desire to get you there.” He should know. The Alabama native began his automotive career as a high school student working on the assembly line at the Ford plant in Wayne, Mich., installing heater cords on Ford Granadas and moved on to auto finance and then to ownership. Two uncles owned dealerships in Talladega and Pensacola, Fla. But Watts emphasized, it’s not about dollars or buildings or charging stations. “My biggest and best investment is the people,” he said. “Every day, we’ve got 180 people in Bessemer and 71 in Pell City that clock out and go home. And I’m praying that they come back the next day, because without good people, we have nothing.”
Custom engine work
Editor’s Note: For more information about Town & Country Ford, its Asset Training Program, inventory, service and employment opportunities, visit alabamaford.com and also visit tccustoms.com on YouTube.
72 • DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • Business Review • February & March 2024
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Final F cus
Life through the lens of Mackenzie Free
These paths ... Did you know it was once rumored that the streets of Boston were nothing more than paved cow paths? This was proved a myth, of course, but it’s still an interesting thought. And, giving consideration to the trajectories of our earliest transportation system, it does seem almost plausible. Because that’s the thing about cow paths … they always lead somewhere beneficial to the cow ...To shelter. To safety. To water. To greener grass … or the farmers feed lot. They aren’t just mindlessly meandering. There is a means and method to these wayfaring passages. The “cow path theory” in the modern business world has given these well-beaten paths a bad wrap by associating them with a mindless “follow the leader” approach to managing employees. But despite the negative connotations associated with these paths, they are actually inherently intelligent “maps.” These “paths of least resistance” aren’t aimless … they are instinctual. They follow the natural slope of the land to help the animal conserve energy. Through woods and tall grass these well-beaten paths offer an unobstructed view of what lies ahead to keep them safe. They also give insight into their interdependent nature. They trust the path the way we trust a map. They inherently trust that the trail carved out for them by generations before is good … so they follow it. However, if the map or path no longer agree with the ground, they adjust, and a new path is formed. Personally, I think we can find a deeper understanding to the overall design for our lives, too, through these cow paths. Generally speaking, we can and should trust the rudimentary path our parents and future generations have charted out for us. Our lives are all different, but the same. They may look different, but they should be pointed in the same direction with the same eternal objective in the end. Their life journey will never be our journey, but they have left behind guides and signposts for us to follow to keep us from wandering too far off
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course. They have carved out a preliminary path to keep us on solid ground and keep us pointed in the right direction. But as times change and the earth evolves, if we should ever find the map no longer agrees with the ground we’re on … don’t rewrite it entirely or abandon the map completely … just adjust it a bit and carry on so the next generation will know the way and can follow our path down the “narrow road.” (Which, in my mind, looks a lot like a cow path)
- Mackenzie Free -
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2024