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FromTheStaff...
Established October 2012
PUBLISHER James Phillips
EDITOR Jennifer Cohron
LAYOUT DESIGN Jennifer McCaskill
CONTRIBUTOR Ron Harris
ADVERTISING Jake Aaron, Brenda Anthony, Renee Holly, Liz Steffan
DISTRIBUTION Michael Keeton
Walker Magazine is a publication of and distributed seasonally by the Daily Mountain Eagle, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored for retrieval by any means without written consent from the publisher. Walker Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited materials and the publisher accepts no responsibility for the contents or accuracy of claims in any advertisement in any issue. Walker Magazine is not responsible for errors, omissions or changes in information. The opinions of contributing writers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the magazine and its publisher. Our mission is to promote Walker County and to showcase its many attributes as a quality place in which to live, to work and to play. We welcome ideas and suggestions for future editions of the magazine. Just send us a brief note via email. © 2021 Daily Mountain Eagle WALKER MAGAZINE P.O. Box 1469 Jasper, AL 35502 (205) 221-2840 email: walkermagazine@mountaineagle.com
Sometimes challenges are opportunities to try something new. Usually, our winter issue is published in January. However, after production delays caused chaos with our release schedule all year, we committed to publishing our first December issue in the magazine’s nineyear history. The new schedule inspired another first. We have always held back from including any Christmas content in the magazine since the holidays are over before readers get a look at it. With this issue, we’re embracing the season. First, we share the history of the Pilot Club of Jasper’s ornament series. It is a tradition at the newspaper to share which landmark has been selected for the new ornament each year. Now, in the 20th year of the series, we asked some Pilot Club members about how this annual fundraiser got started and what it takes for a landmark to make the list for consideration. We’ve also taken advantage of the extra space the magazine provides by including a picture of each ornament going back to 2002 as well as a little history about each landmark. Also in this issue, we sat down with Mark and Renae Wilson to get the history on their beautiful home on Sixth Avenue. Their home, notable for its gingerbread trim, has been recognized several times as the oldest in Jasper. Notably, it has also been consistently occupied for over 150 years. In keeping with our theme, the Wilsons were generous enough to share some photos of the home decorated for Christmas. Finally, we highlight the People’s Community Fridge Program in Parrish. This is more than a place where families in need can go to get fresh and frozen food as well as pantry staples. As Ryan Cagle explains, it is an ongoing opportunity for the people of Parrish to take care of their neighbors, which is important not only at Christmas but every day of the year. Santa, who made his magazine debut in our fall 2020 issue, returns as our first repeat We Are Walker County selection. This time, we got to meet Mrs. Claus as well. Thank you for your support of Walker Magazine. We wish all of our readers happy holidays and a happy New Year.
Jennifer Cohron, Editor
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What’sInside
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From the Vault
A free food pantry located in Parrish
Coal miners
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The People’s Pantry
Living in a Landmark
The home of Mark and Renae Wilson
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Golden Memories
Pilot Club Christmas ornaments
20 GetHooked! For your entertainment we have placed this fishing hook (actual size) wuthin the pages of Walker Magazine. This will be a permanent feature for our readers. We hope you enjoy searching for the fishing hook in each issue.
HINT:
INVERT THIS PAGE TO REVEAL THE PAGE NUMBER.
Find the hook hiding on Page 22. 6
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We Are Walker County Santa & Mrs. Claus
OnTheCover Jasper's oldest home decorated for Christmas. Photo courtesy of Mark and Renae Wilson
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Vau From The
Coal for Christmas It's a little known fact that Walker County coal miners have kept Santa Claus supplied with premium lumps of coal for years. - Photos taken from the archives of the Daily Mountain Eagle
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Scenes from the Past Compiled by Jennifer Cohron
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s ’ e l p o e P e Th
y r t n a P
Text and Photograhy by Jennifer Cohron
I
N RECENT YEARS, several standalone food pantries have popped up in communties around Walker County. Most, modeled after the Free Little Library movement, are filled with nonperishable items. Locals are encouraged to take what they need and give back when they can. In July, the Parrish Town Council went a step further by agreeing to a proposal from a new faith community, Jubilee House, to start the People's Community Fridge Program. Located outside at the back corner of Town Hall, the pilot project consists of a traditional pantry filled with staples as well as a refrigerator that can be stocked with produce and frozen dinners.
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“
We really wanted to diversify what individuals or families can get their hands on.
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"We really wanted to diversify what individuals or families can get their hands on. There are little free food pantries, and I'm sure they have trou ble staying stocked. We wanted to amp up what we could offer to people," said Ryan Cagle, who pre sented the idea to the council. Cagle, brother of Parrish Mayor Bubba Cagle, and his family moved back to his hometown in June after a sixyear absence with a vision of a different future for Parrish. The Jubilee House website speaks of a collective struggle to bring about "a world free of the evils of racism, oppression, and alienation" and in which "the material and spiritual needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized are met through acts of mutual solidarity." The first need that Cagle and others associated with Jubilee House decided to address was food insecu rity. "I grew up in the projects with a
single mom working multiple jobs sur viving off of SNAP benefits and food stamps. I don't know if I would have ever eaten like I needed to as a kid if not for those things," Cagle said. Government benefits alone are not enough to feed a family, and many foodinsecure households do not qualify for assistance. Parrish is one of the most food in secure communities in one of the most food insecure states in the na tion. Close to a quarter of Parrish res idents, many of them women and children, meet the federal definition of food insecure, which is not having the financial resources to consistently provide enough food for the house hold to sustain a healthy life. "Based on the foods that go out of here, I would say we're getting a lot of families with kids. We put a lot of foods that can be used for snacks, lunches or to fill the gaps during the day when parents are still at work, and it goes really quickly," Cagle said.
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Based on the foods that go out of here, I would say we’re getting a lot of families with kids.
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In keeping with the goal to offer help through solidarity, not charity, the People's Community Fridge Program was initially funded and is still sus tained through a GoFundMe that had raised around $2,200 when the pantry was first installed in late August. The refrigerator was donated, as was the electrical work to put an out let outside Town Hall. Volunteers built the cabinet to hold the fridge and the shelves for the pantry. Cagle is careful not to paint himself or anyone else connected with the People's Community Fridge Program as a savior who offers an easy answer to generational and systemic prob lems. "Too often, we live in a world where 18
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we're so focused on charity that we don't realize there is still a power dy namic that is very topdown. Our whole approach at Jubilee House with this program is that it isn't just a way to feed people. It's a way to invite people who don't necessarily share our values, whether it be political or theological, to be good neighbors," Cagle said. Cagle makes regular trips to restock the fridge and pantry. Each time he arrives, he finds items that were dropped off by someone not associ ated with Jubilee House. "Someone has a garden. Sometimes I come here and there are carrots and zucchini that are big enough to feed a whole family with just one of them,"
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Cagle said. The only hiccup in the early days of the program has been donations of expired food, which present liability is sues. While the project was being dis cussed, some council members had concerns about the generosity of sup porters being abused by those who visit the pantry. "I said, 'What is the worst that happens if someone comes up here and empties it? They eat the food.' Then I got asked about vandals. All of these things are challenges but they're really opportunities for growth. As much as this is about feed ing people, it's also about cultivating neighborliness," Cagle said.
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Living in a
Landmark Text by Jennifer Cohron | Photos courtesy of Mark & Renae Wilson
I
N 1854, roughly 40 years after Jasper had been settled but 30 years before it would be incorporated, Col. James O'Rear received a land grant from the federal govern ment and built a fourroom dogtrot in a rather remote, wooded area. Today, the area is Sixth Avenue, and the home is a local land mark, the oldest house in the city and the only one that has been occupied for nearly 170 years. Less than a decade after O'Rear built the home, the South went to war and he became a colonel in the Confederate Army. When Wilson's Raiders marched through in 1865, their jour ney took them past O'Rear's home on the old Houston Road. Union troops found him eating lunch on his front porch. Con flicting stories have him either being shot and killed on the porch or being shot on Birmingham Avenue after attempting to flee. Mark Wilson, who has lived in the home since 1980, is in clined to believe the latter. "Nearly every board in this house is the same as it was origi nally, and there are no bullet marks on the porch," Wilson said. Photo by Jerrod Brown WINTER 2022 A PUBLICATION OF THE DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE
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After O'Rear, the house had a handful of owners, including longtime local photographer William Massey, who added the kitchen. (The original kitchen was in the yard to protect the house from fires.) Ed Brown, the owner before Wilson, made several improvements, including sealing up the dogtrot. Wilson bought it for his young family in 1979 and spent a year working with contractors Charlie and Harvey Morris to restore it. (Several years later, the Morrises also built a miniature version of the house in the backyard as a playhouse for Wilson's daughter, Katie.) "What attracted me to the house was that it was so solid. It's still solid," Wilson said. "If you go outside and try to drive a nail in my house, you can't do it. It bends it. It's that's hard. The floor joists, which would nor mally be a 12"X2" are 13"X3" with every fifth joist being a 10"X10". Every board is heart pine and if you
cut it, it still has that rich pine smell," Wilson said. Trees in Manchester were cut and turned into boards of heart pine that were used to construct the house. While the lumber was local, the gin gerbread trim likely came from Eu rope. "It wasn't being made in this coun try in 1854," Wilson said. Wilson and his first wife, Kay, who passed away in 2010, worked hard during the restoration process 40 years ago to achieve authenticity while also making it a more modern, functional space. The windows were taken out, cleaned, repaired and reinstalled. The floors, all original, were sanded and stained. The house itself as well as the spindlework trim received fresh coats of paint while layers of paint were removed from the double front doors (one original, the other a rep lica) and glass panels.
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What attracted me to the house was that it is solid... If you go outside and try to drive a nail in my house, you can’t do it.
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The Wilson home was recognized by the Jasper City Council in 1986 as being the oldest house in the Jasper area. The mantels of each of the home's four fireplaces were restored. The fireplace in the dining room still had its original ceramic tile. Several rooms were repurposed — the dining room became a den, the back porch became a powder room and the attic was turned into livable space. In the process of replacing the roof, contractors found the original wood shingles on laths. "I think if you had laid them out in the sun, they would have almost burst into flames. That's how dry they
were. They probably would have never leaked, but the weight up there was incredible," Wilson said. The Wilsons also added stairs to the back porch, under which sits a 27foot handdug well that served as a primary water source for the com munity of North Highlands when it was first established. The 21st century has brought more changes. Renae Wilson, who married Mark in 2014, renovated the kitchen several years ago and found several porcelain door handles under the house, where they had been stored
after a previous restoration project. They are now back in their rightful place in the kitchen. While the Wilson home is not on the state or national registers of his toric places, it was recognized by the Jasper City Council in 1986 as being the oldest house in the Jasper area. Also in the 1980s, the Live in a Landmark Council of Alabama pre sented the Wilsons with a bronze emblem that is still on display on the front porch.
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Walker County Courthouse (2002) The current courthouse was built in 1932-1933 after the previous courthouse burned. It is the fifth courthouse to serve the county since the first was built in 1865.
s e i r o m e M
n e d l o G
“
... we were looking for something new and exciting and big.
”
Text and Photograhy by Jennifer Cohron
I
N 2002, the Pilot Club of Jasper introduced a new holi day tradition for local history lovers. The club was in search of new fundraising ideas when members Gina Nichols and Beckie Martin attended the international club’s annual convention and leadership confer ence that summer. “We had the Tour of Homes and Miss Walker County and some smaller ones, but we were looking for something new and exciting and big,” past president Leigh Ann Rotter re called. Nichols and Martin came back from the convention with the idea of selling ornaments of local landmarks. Several WINTER 2022 A PUBLICATION OF THE DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE
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First United Methodist Church (2003) The church, dedicated in 1921 and known for its white Georgia marble exterior and stained glass dome, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
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Boshell Mill (2004) Located on the banks of Lost Creek near Townley, the original sawmill was brought to the area in 1885. After the sawmill closed in 1961, followed shortly by the closure of a gristmill in 1963, the site became a favorite for painters and photographers.
months later, the club placed an order for 500 orna ments of the Walker County Courthouse with Custom Collectibles in Winterville, North Carolina. The community embraced the new holiday fundraiser right away. The first ornament sold out, prompting the club to order 750 of the next ornament in the series, First United Methodist Church. “That was the beginning of something wonderful,” Rotter said. The club has put out a new ornament every year since 2002. In the early years, those who wanted to have a complete set learned to pick up their ornament early or they would miss their chance. Several years ago, an opportunity came about to place a bulk order of some of the most popular ornaments.
Those too went quickly. Of the 19 ornaments released between 2002 and 2019, only five are still available and those are limited in quantity. The Pilot Club’s ornament series has featured many places that locals love and can never revisit such as Bo shell Mill and Sherer’s Drivein, as well as others that are still familiar landmarks like Duncan Bridge. A few times, the ornament series has helped residents hold onto a piece of the past that has recently been lost. In 2011, Nichols, a Cordova native, suggested an or nament to pay homage to the history that had been lost in the deadly tornado outbreak that April. In 2018, the club released an ornament for Gorgas Steam Plant, a few months before its closure was offi cially announced. The plant where generations of Walker
Bankhead Home "Sunset" (2005) Located on 7th Avenue in Jasper, the home was built in 1898 by John Harvey "Capt. Jack" Cranford and was later home to many members of the Bankhead family.
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“
We’re not necessarily trying to do a whole series of schools or churches. We’re trying to select landmarks.
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Countians worked was demolished earlier this year. The club holds a series of meet ings each year to determine which ornament to release next. “Usually, we come up with three or four ideas and the club takes a vote. The next year, some of those ideas may come up again,” said club president Lisa Killingsworth. Community members are quick to throw out their own ideas, and some suggestions have been turned into ornaments, such as the 2019 tribute to mining featuring Ol’ Tobe. The qualifications for a landmark to be considered are fairly straight forward. It must have mass appeal, and club members must be able to obtain quality photos that can be used to design the ornament. “For the ones that were no longer in existence, we would scour the internet. You want something that can be clear and crisp enough for the artists to use,” Rotter said. Club members are also careful to avoid the pitfall of narrowing the focus of the series. After an ornament of Walker County High School was released in 2006, for example, some collectors
wanted to know if their alma mater would be next to be featured. “We’re not necessarily trying to do a whole series of schools or churches. We’re trying to select landmarks,” Rotter said. In order to get the ornaments back in time, all photos must be submitted to the company by Au gust. Over time, the designs have gotten more intricate and colorful. The first to include a splash of color was Sherer’s DriveIn, released in 2007. This year’s ornament of Smith Lake Dam is the most color ful yet. Most ornaments are a 3D com posite of several related landmarks, such as the Cordova ornament, which features Long Memorial United Methodist Church, the Long house and Indian Head Mills, or the one for Walker County Library, which features the library as well as a bookmobile. Ornaments cost $22 and are available from any Pilot Club member. In recent years, Synovus Bank has become a centralized pickup location for many collectors. To order, call Killingsworth at the bank at 3848236.
Walker County High School (2006) Walker County High School was built in 1917 and was part of the Walker County School System until 1971.
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Sherer's Drive-In (2007) Sherer’s, which opened in Jasper in 1959 and closed in September 1976, was a popular restaurant and hangout for local teenagers in the ’60s and ’70s. The upstairs housed an auxiliary studio for radio station WWWB.
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BSCC/Walker College (2008) Classes convened for the first time in September 1938 with 45 students. The first president was Carl Jesse, who served until his death in 1955. He was succeeded by David Rowland, who oversaw the glory years of Walker College. It became Bevill State Community College in 1998.
Bankhead House and Heritage Center (2009) Built in 1924, the former home of Speaker of the House William Bankhead was purchased by the Walker Area Community Foundation, restored and opened as a local heritage center in 2010.
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Woolworth’s/ V.J. Elmore’s (2010) This homage to the downtown department stores popular in the post-World War II years was released a few years before the effort to revitalize downtown Jasper got underway.
Posey's (2011) Posey’s was founded in 1924 by G.W. Posey and his son Andrew. The building was constructed mostly by local laborers who were paid with merchandise from the store. Andrew’s son, Hershel, ran the family business from 1946 until 2006. Hershel’s son, Randy, and his wife, Janice, operated the store before selling the business in 2021.
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Cordova (2012) The Cordova ornament, released after the devastating 2011 tornadoes, marked the first time in the history of the series that the Pilot Club selected a community rather than a specific landmark. The landmarks depicted are Long Memorial United Methodist Church, the Long house and the iconic smokestack of Indian Head Textile Mills.
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Walker County Library (2013) The Walker County Library opened in 1931 in the former home of John Bankhead Sr. Several years later, it moved to a location downtown that was later heavily damaged in the April 1974 tornado outbreak. The regional library system, named for former Congressman Carl Elliott, was formed in 1958. Elliott sponsored legislation in 1956 that brought bookmobiles to millions of rural residents.
At the Movies (2014) The Jasper Theatre opened in 1950 in the present-day location of Synovus Bank. The 78 Drive-In, located near Old Birmingham Highway, was open from the late 1940s to the 1980s.
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Son's (2015) From humble roots as a rolling store, Son Humphries Grocery was founded in 1936. Son's Supermarket is now a staple on 9th Avenue.
Duncan Bridge (2016) James "Jim" Duncan gave the land for the original bridge, which was built in 1900 across the Sipsey River at the Walker and Winston County lines. The old bridge was closed and a new one built up-river in 1961 during the time that Lewis Smith Dam was also under construction.
Musgrove Country Club (2017) The club is the namesake of Colonel Lycurgus Breckinridge “L.B.” Musgrove, who had it built in 1924 as a place to entertain his friends and business associates. In 1932, 45 local citizens paid $100 each for a share in the newlyformed Walker County Holding Company. They became the charter members of Musgrove Country Club.
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Gorgas Steam Plant (2018) The Warrior Reserve Steam Plant, Alabama Power Company's first fossil generating steam plant, was built in 1916. The first unit went into service in 1917. In 1924, the plant was renamed for Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, whose work preventing the spread of yellow fever and malaria were key to construction of the Panama Canal.
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Mining—Ol’ Tobe (2019) The Drummond Co.'s Ol’ Tobe dragline operated at the company's Cedrum surface mine in Townley. Ol' Tobe II, a Bucyrus-Erie 2570 with a bucket capacity of 115 cubic yards, was one of the largest draglines in the state.
Rotary Clock (2020) The Rotary Club of Jasper raised funds to purchase a four-sided clock to be placed on the corner of the Courthouse Square. The clock was dedicated in 2001. The clock project itself was born from an idea of Dr. Jerald Sherer, a longtime Rotarian who saw a similar downtown clock in his travels through Indiana.
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Smith Lake Dam (2021) The dam is one of the largest earth- and rock-filled dams in the eastern United States. It is named for Lewis Martin Smith, who was president of Alabama Power from 1952 to 1957.
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WeAreWalkerCounty with Santa
& Mrs. Claus (David & Heather Hood)
Photo courtesy of David Hood
Photo courtesy of Ron Harris
David Hood (Santa Claus) was born in Jasper and is a 1988 graduate of Walker High School. He is a Navy veteran and has been married to Heather Hood (Mrs. Claus) for 29 years. He was given the mantel of Santa in 1994 and brings joy to hundreds of children each year as Santa Claus in Walker County and surrounding areas.
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Remember the real JOY during this season is seeing those that you love and those that love you.
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- SANTA CLAUS
A PUBLICATION OF THE DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE WINTER 2022
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P E A C E
|
H O P E
|
P R O S P E R I T Y
|
L O V E
Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a prosperous new year. We count it a privilege to have so many valued relationships in our community. Thank you for putting your trust in us as we look forward together.
Synovus Bank, Member FDIC.
Tidings of Comfort and Joy May the peace and harmony of Christmas accompany you today and all year.
Come Home to Jasper! Thank you for sharing our journey. We appreciate your support and wish you all a Bright & Merry Christmas!
City of Jasper Incorporated in 1887
(205) 221-2100 400 19th St. W. Jasper, AL 35501 www.jaspercity.com
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