Cullman County Good Life Magazine - Spring 2014 by The Good Life Magazine

Cullman County

A historic house takes on a new life with the Wynns Stony Lonesomeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wild terrain offers hills, thrills and spills SPRiNG 2014 complimentary

Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Duck River property is a new park just waiting to happen

Always Committed To Serving Cullman Better

OK, Cullman,

Smith & Waldrop Pontiac 1956

d make eaper vehicle an ch a to in u yo ” lk e vehicle “sweet ta a top-of-the-lin r fo Don’t let anyone us y pa n take. what you ca e a $3000 mis ak m you pay them u yo w ho ns. That’s with all the optio tter service cle and get be hi ve e or m y Used Car u will bu C or Bill Smith M G I guarantee, yo k ic Bu ith at Bill Sm for your money Outlet. ey beg you d for it when th or w ’s an sm le want you to a slick sa on they don’t Just don’t take as re a is e er essionalith us. Th us, they get prof e se not to shop w e m co le cheaper hen peop times less than y check with us. W an m r fo es vehicl grade, high-end ores. st r he models at ot er service t we push custom bu e, pl eo sp le ck up and pushy sa We will come pi We don’t have e? ic rv se a d not some yone. Nee w one to drive, ne harder than an a u yo an lo doing it hicle and and we’ve been er deliver your ve ng lo re he cause we ve been Call us “butter,” . old scrub! We’ 56 19 e nc si ne else better than anyo l!” ol are on a “r

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Welcome

Well, at least I’m still alive after that incident A t least I didn’t get myself killed. If I had – you can read about it in this issue – I’d have missed talking to two very fine photographers. You may know Blake Britton. Our initial encounter came after I mistakenly credited someone else for a marvelous Oktoberfest photo of Blake’s that ran in our first issue of Good Life last August. In the course of apologizing via phone – he was in Hawaii, I think

– I learned Blake was moving from Cullman to the United Kingdom. Before we hung up he’d agreed to shoot some farewell photos for the Out ’n’ About feature in this issue. We tried to hook up once or twice when I was in Cullman but never could. One of my three resolutions this year is to buy him lunch before Britton packs off to Britain. I met the other photographer over the phone, too. John Dersham has a black-andwhite show on exhibit at the Evelyn

Burrow Museum at Wallace State. He lives in Fort Payne, and, after talking to him and drooling over the works on his website, my second resolution is to see his show before it comes down at the end of February. I hope to cross paths with John someday, too. All of which leads to my third resolution: try and not get myself killed this year. So far, so good. David Moore Publisher/editor

Contributors Surrounded at Deb’s Bookstore by tens of thousands of books, one of Deb Laslie’s hardest tasks is picking out only two to review for Good Life Magazine every three months. Chat with her at her store and, if you didn’t already know it, you will see she loves to read. You can read the two reviews she was limited to in this issue.

In his 37 years, photographer Blake Britton has visited 50 states and nine countries, but it’s a shot he took in Auburn in 2001 that you might ask him about. Better ask soon. He’s awaiting his visa and will be moving from Cullman in a month or two. He says farewell with some great photos and a short essay in this issue. If you’ve met Sheila McAnear, Good Life’s advertising and art director, you might think she smiles a lot. You’ve not seen anything yet. Her oldest son, with a Stanford law degree and waiting to take his bar exams, accepted a job in Washington, DC. His favorite place in the world. No one smiles more than a proud mom.

Steve Maze got something recently he’s not gotten in years, and did something he may never had done: “homework.” Given the assignment to research and write about the great Cullman fire of 1894, he tackled it with all the enthusiasm he used to put into his own publication, “Yesterday’s Memories.”

Cullman County Extension coordinator Tony Glover must be on top of things. His planner for 2014 is already full. Nice guy that he is, he’s inviting you to be a part of his plans for 2014. Read more about this in this issue but be warned: if he had his way about it, he’d keep you busy all year long. Complain to Auburn.

David Moore, publisher and editor of Good Life Magazine, readily admits he’s lost face before. This time, though, he’s lost his own face. (Maybe not a bad thing...) With surprised encouragement from his wife, he’s grown a goatee. Well, sorta. He’s still working on it. If you see him, pretend it looks good. The guy needs a break.

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Inside

Good Fun

Wear black, enjoy music and photos

14 Good People

Tommy Lang is still meeting needs

18 Good Reads

A Pawn and a Flagg

20 Good ’n’ Green

A year’s worth of landscaping ideas

22 Good Cooking

From the kitchen of Barbara Rigsby

28 Good Eats

Regulars talk about their country café

30 Making music

Cullman Community Band has a deep running musical bond

34 Their new old house

Wynns make a modern Tara out of the old Stiefelmeyer House

39 Stiefelmeyer House

Yes, it’s been around the block before

On the cover is the Cullman County Courthouse built in 1878. It was heavily damaged in the fire of 1893. On this page is a detail of a lamp in the home of Sunshine and Rod Wynn. Read more on both in this spring issue of Good Life.

David F. Moore Publisher/editor 256-293-0888 david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com Sheila T. McAnear Advertising/art Director 256-640-3973 sheila.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

46 Stony Lonesome

Writer gets all the fast thrills he wants... and some in slow-motion

52 A park waiting to happen A look at part of the future of the Duck River project

56 The Taylors’ park

Meet the family that was 35 years ahead of the times at Duck River

57 Out ‘n’ About

A fond, photographic farewell

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Alabama Cup Races

Whitewater brings competition, fun to Mulberry I

f you ever feel drawn to the rolling roar of white water, you might want to circle your calendar for Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2. Those are the dates of the Mulberry Fork Canoe and Kayak Races, where paddlers have tested their talent and strength against the fast flowing slalom course and each other since 1981. Over the years the Cullman County event has grown to include the Locust Fork Invitational and Locust Fork Classic at Kings Bend. Located in Blount County on Ala. 79/U.S. 231 south of Cleveland, those races are set for Feb. 1-2 and March 22-23, respectively. Since 1992, the trio of white water events has comprised the The Alabama Cup Races. Winners of the coveted glazed cups – fired by potter Jennifer Taylor – are determined in each category by combined scores of the three races. All three events are spectator friendly, says Tony Diliberto of the Alabama Cup Racing Association. 8

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“On the Mulberry section, you can see the entire course,” he says. Races are open to one- and twoperson canoes and open and closed single and double kayaks. Racing starts Saturday afternoon with a championship slalom, downriver and boater cross competitions. Cruising and novice slalom racing is held Sunday. On the Mulberry, the course is about 250 meters. It’s a little longer on the Locust Fork. Launching at about one-minute intervals, racers run a slalom course against the clock, working to paddle – some of them going upstream – between 18 and 25 gates created by suspended poles dangling near the rapidly flowing surface. Other hazards can include currents, eddies, rapids and rocks and involve navigating across the river.

n 1994, the Mulberry Fork Canoe and Kayak races hosted qualifying for the U.S. Olympics. Though perhaps not household names, the event has

drawn some famous racers in its day, including Eric Jackson, Rich Weiss, Davey Hearn and Phillip Foti. Weather affects attendance, but a on nice day the Mulberry race might draw 700 people, Tony says. Water flow directly affects the number of racers. Good water will bring in 65-100 racers to compete in some 135 starts. The race site can reached by turning off U.S. 31 in Garden City at Short Street, which becomes Cullman County 509. The site is a couple of miles from Garden City. It also can be reached via Ala. 91 traveling south from Hanceville, and turning onto 509 near New Hope Cemetery. There is a $3 charge for parking, and if you like chilly weather camping, the cost to stay on the grounds is $5 per head. Food will be sold Saturday and Sunday, and water and portable toilets are available starting Friday evening. For more information, on visiting or competing, visit: www. alabamacupraces.com; or call: Tony Diliberto, 205-223-7094. – David Moore

Good Fun

Parting clouds change the mood of Yosemite Valley in this photograph John Derham shot in 1984 on a 4x5 Linhof. Today, it’s part of “Changing Moods – Fifty Years in Black and White,” his exhibit hanging this month in the Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College. Now of Lookout Mountain, Dersham shot his first photo in 1960 as a youngster, going on to earn a master’s degree in photography during his 30-year career with Eastman Kodak. Packing cameras wherever he traveled, his works were displayed at Kodak facilities nationwide. Evelyn Burrow Museum director Donny Wilson calls Dersham’s exhibit one of the finest examples of black and white photography he’s ever seen. The museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. There is no admission.

See a film, enjoy music, wear black • Feb. 6 – Anthony Kearns Tenor Anthony Kearns will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday as part of the Cullman Community Concert Association’s 201314 series at the Betty Leeth Haynes Auditorium at Wallace State Community College. Considered Ireland’s foremost tenor, he is internationally recognized for his work as part of the PBS super-group The Irish Tenors, with whom he still tours. He also has as thriving solo concert career recording and on stage, performing a concert repertoire spanning from opera and music of his homeland to Broadway and popular classics.

Called a truly lyrical tenor, he sings with an agile and flexible voice that colors his notes gracefully and beautifully. As the Nashville Scene put it, “Anthony Kearns is a superb singer with a lyrical, virile, disciplined voice; he is a confident, compelling performer.” Tickets go on sale two weeks before show at: cullmancommunityconcertassociation. com. They’re also on sale the night of the concert at the door: $20 individuals; $10 students. • Feb. 13 – “Rollin’ in the Dough” The Cullman Chamber of

Commerce will hold its 71st Annual Meeting and Gala, celebrating 2013’s accomplishments under Melissa Cartee’s leadership and kicking off this year’s leadership Chairman Jim Weidner. The theme is “Rolling in the Dough,” so dig out some old Vegas dress if you want. But the real reason for the theme is featured speaker Patricia “Sister Schubert” Barnes of roll fame. Music will be by Gwen Hughes and The Retro Jazz Kats. You can participate in a drawdown for a chance to win $10,000. Drawdown tickets are $100. Gala tickets are $50 per person. FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Doors at Loft 212 open at 5:30, p.m. The program starts at 6, followed by a post-party from 8-10:30. For more information, contact the chamber: 256-734-0454; or info@ cullmanchamber.org • Feb. 13 – “David” Part of the Independent Film Series at Wallace State Community College, “David” tells the story of Daud, an 11-year-old religious Muslim boy growing up in Brooklyn. Concealing his Muslim identity, Daud inadvertently befriends a group of Jewish boys who through a haphazard sequence of events mistake him for being Jewish and accept him as one of their own. When a bond of friendship is formed between him and one of the Jewish boys, Daud experiences a sense of freedom, joy and camaraderie that he has never felt before, and – for a brief time – enjoys being a carefree kid. When his true identity is discovered, Daud’s world is shattered, leaving him alone to come to terms with his place in the world.

Director Joel Fendelman will be at the Thursday showings in the Burrow Center Recital Hall at 7 p.m. for Q&A. Admission is free. For more information: 256-352-8118. • Feb. 22 – Little Black Dress The annual soiree is set for 6-11:30 Saturday at Top of the Town. It offers door prizes, raffles, fabulous food and celebrity waiters, live music and dancing, and is sponsored by the Wallace State Community College Alumni Association. Tickets are $65 each and proceeds support scholarships for women enrolled at WSCC. For more information: LaDonna Allen, 256-352-8071. • Feb. 27 – Piano recital The second Cullman Middle School piano recital is set for 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Wallace State Community College’s Burrow Center for the Arts. Presented by the Cullman City Schools Foundation, it raises money for the Tony Ray Brock Music Enhancement

Fund, which supports music education – including keyboards for students – at all of the city schools. A $5 donation is asked, and refreshments will be served. For more information: Dawn Klinger, 256- 5903159. • March 8 – KCBS grilling class So you’re pretty good at barbecuing and thinking of taking your skills to the competition level? Or you’re already competing in backyard or pro divisions and want to stoke it up to the next level? Saturday, March 8, is your opportunity to take a daylong class in Cullman with two Global Ambassadors from the BBQ cooking world’s preeminent Kansas City Barbecue Society. The class will be led by Jim and Becky Johnson, with a combined 35 years of experience on the KCBS and Memphis in May BBQ circuits. Among many winnings, Jim has captured 76 grand championships on the two circuits and cooked for President Bill Clinton

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and VP Al Gore. The Johnsons also have cooked for the governor of South Carolina and the NBC Today Show’s Al Roker, and Becky’s been featured on the Paula Deen Food Network. Busy teaching and judging internationally, they will freely give class participants their professional insights and secrets along with hands-on proven techniques to expand knowledge in all aspects of the art of barbecuing. Teams completing the Ambassador Weekend Workshop will receive a priority discounted registration for the Fourth Annual KCBS Cullman Oktoberfest BBQ Challenge. The classes will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Festhalle Market Platz. Cost is $150 per student. Deadline is Feb. 15. To register, call or text: Mike Howell, KCBS event coordinator, 256-348-9590. • March 11 – Depue Brothers The iconic Depue Brothers Band from Bowling Green, Ohio, will perform an ear-bending revelation at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Betty Leeth Haynes Auditorium in the student center at

Wallace State Community College. The show is part of the Cullman Community Concert Association’s 2013-14 series. The four violinist brothers – each a classical virtuoso in his own right – encompass a vividly diverse blend of bluegrass, classical and rock. As a family they have been making music together for over 25 years and were named “Musical Family of America” in 1989 by presidential decree. They were the subject in a 1993 PBS documentary, and brothers Jason and Zach were featured in the 2005 film documentary “Music From the Inside Out.” Their first album as brothers, “Classical Grass,” sold out of its first printing. Tickets go on sale two weeks before show at: cullmancommunityconcertassociation. com. They’re also on sale the night of the concert at the door: $20 individuals; $10 students. • March 14 – “Barzan” The Independent Film Series at Wallace State Community College

continues with “Barzan.” An Iraqi refugee, beloved father and model immigrant to his neighbors, Sam “Barzan” Malkandi was working toward his piece of the American Dream in a Seattle suburb until a footnote in the 9/11 Commission Report connected him to a high-level Al-Qaeda operative through his childhood nickname. This changes everything, and to investigators he is a cold-blooded terrorist, a potential link between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. To audiences, Barzan is a mercurial character whose story embodies the controversial issues of immigration, xenophobia, and the price of security in the 21st century. Shot in Iraq and Seattle with haunting sand animation sequences, the film takes viewers on the epic geopolitical journey of a family torn apart by suspicion, and examines the opaque government agencies charged with keeping us safe, even at the cost of freedom. Shown Friday at 7 p.m. in the Burrow Center Recital Hall, admission is free. For more information: 256-352-8118.

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At 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 11, the iconic Depue Brothers Band from Bowling Greem, Ohio, will perform an ear-bending

revelation at the Betty Leeth Haynes Auditorium in the student center at Wallace State Community College. The show is

part of the Cullman Community Concert Association’s 2013-14 season. The four violinist brothers – each a classical virtuoso in his own right on several stringed instruments – encompass a blend of bluegrass, classical and rock. They were named

“Musical Family of America” in 1989 by presidential decree and the subject of a 1993 PBS documentary. Tickets go on sale two weeks before show at: cullmancommunityconcert association.com. Tickets at the door are $20 individuals; $10 students.

• April 6 – New York Theatre Ballet As a finale to its season, the Cullman Community Concert Association presents the New York Theatre Ballet at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Betty Leeth Haynes Auditorium at Wallace State Community College. Founded in 1978 by artistic director Diana Byer, NYTB is the most widely seen chamber ballet company in the country and has earned national acclaim for its restoration and revival of small masterworks by great choreographers and for its innovative hour-long ballets based on children’s literature. Family and adult audiences nationally and abroad know the company for its theatrical expressiveness, high production quality and intimate accessibility. “New York Theatre ballet confirms its status as an invaluable company,” says Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times. 12

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

A special matinee for school children will be held April 7. Tickets go on sale two weeks before show at: cullmancommunityconcertassociation. com. They’re also on sale the night of the concert at the door: $20 individuals; $10 students. • March 1 – Mystery Trip This is the deadline to register for the annual mystery trip sponsored for seniors by Cullman City Parks & Recreation. The trip itself will be Thursday, April 10. “Every year the Mystery Trip is one of our fastest selling tours,” says Angie Jochum, director of senior programs for CPR. “We can’t tell you what we’re going to do, but it’s a one-day experience of fun, food and entertainment you don’t want to miss.” The cost is $100; a $25 deposit is due by the March 1 registration

deadline. For more information: Angie Jochum or Catherine Hasenbein, 256734-4803. • April 10 – “The Winding Stream” The Independent Film Series at Wallace State Community College ends Thursday with “The Winding Stream.” The movie delves into the source of country music – A.P. Carter, his wife Sara and his sister-in-law Maybelle. They didn’t just play the music emerging from their hill country upbringing. They helped invent it. The documentary captures them from their humble but determined beginnings to becoming country music’s earliest stars as the Original Carter Family. The Thursday showings is at 9:30 a.m. in the Burrow Center Recital Hall; plans for an evening showing are tentative. Admission is free. For more information: 256-352-8118.

Good People

5questions Story and photo by David Moore A social worker for Hospice of Cullman County, Lesa Lang Holland Hawkins set out four years ago on a mission to provide home care hospital equipment for people in need. After she died almost two years ago, her father, Tommy Lang – supported by his wife, Dena, and their Sunday school class – took up the torch for Lesa. It’s not exactly a snappy name – the First United Methodist Church Horizon Class Medical Equipment Ministry – but that’s not impeded their ability to provide items ranging from hospital beds and wheel chairs, to IV racks and walkers. To date, Tommy and company have assisted about 200 people across Cullman County whose medical woes are compounded by a lack of proper equipment at home. But he’s quick on the draw to insist he’s not winging this alone. “The thing I like about Cullman County,” he says, sitting on their deck overlooking the main channel of Smith Lake at Ryan Creek, “is that I have not met anyone who is not willing to help.”

Can you explain the inspiration behind the ministry? Lesa started the program about two years before she died. I helped her pick up and deliver medical equipment because she didn’t have a truck, and she knew I loved doing stuff like this. People at hospice will tell you 14

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Tommy Lang Helping meet medical needs... and keeping Lesa’s passion alive she went over and beyond what she had to do. Sometimes they wondered if she should take on some of the things she did, but she said, “The people need help. Why can’t I do this?” That’s something we always tried to instill in Lesa. When hospice moved to Cullman Regional Medical Center, because of liability issues with using used equipment, Lesa could no longer do the program on her own. It shook her. She told me, “Daddy, I hate to stop this because it’s doing so much for people.” I told her she chould talk to our Sunday school class because everyone in there loves to help people. They elected to take this on as a ministry if I would be the chairman – since I knew how it worked – and go before the ministers and the board and get it approved. So that’s what we did. Lesa spoke to our class in April 2010. About the last week in April she learned she had cancer and passed away May 29. It was fast. Right before she passed away, we were able to start working her idea through the Sunday school class. The class wanted to name it Lesa’s Ministry. I told them I appreciated it, but this was a class project. Plus there was already Lesa’s Food Pantry and several things hospice did to honor her.

How does the ministry obtain donations of medical equipment and referrals on people who need it? We loan the equipment out for free and ask people to call us when

they are through with it. We have had a lot of people pass away, and their relatives call us. If they have accumulated other equipment, lots of times they give us that, too. That’s how it really got started. Lesa worked with so many patients whose families said that she helped them, so they wanted to help her and give her what they had. It works because the word has gotten out to people. We’ve had articles in The Cullman Times and gotten donations through those. Also, I went to the nine hospice groups in the county. That’s where I get most of the referrals. I have spoken to the nine senior centers in the county and work with the Cullman County Commission on the Aging for donations and referrals. I write thank-you letters for donations if people want them so they can take them off their income taxes. Businesses help a lot, too. We do a lot with Kay Donnelly and the Visiting Angels. They have been good to accumulate medical equipment for us. Southern Medical Equipment sells us things we need at cost and us to refers people who have used equipment. Gold Star Storage has been wonderful about letting us have space for free. The church doesn’t have room, and we go in and out so much it would be really disruptive. We later had to get a second unit, and they only charge us half price, which is very reasonable. The class pays for that. The Visiting Angels, Cullman County Hospice and others have direct access to the stored

Snapshot: Tommy Lang Education: Albertville High School, 1960; Jacksonville State University, BA in physical education and MA in secondary administration. Career: Taught, coached and drove a bus 31 years for Piedmont City Schools; dealt in real estate, property management and insurance for Lang Enterprises. Family: Married Dena in 1963; in addition to Lesa, they have a son, Bryan, of Jacksonville; two grown grandchildren, Taylor and Bailey Holland, and a third one, Ryan Lang, 15. Cullman County: Bought a home on Ryan Creek in 1996 and moved after retirement in 1998. On Dena: “She is my biggest supporter, even though she stays busy with all of the clubs, circles, associations and societies she’s in. There’s about 14 of them. She’s active in the Cullman Historic Society. She loves that, being a former history teacher. When you find out about history, you find out about people.”

equipment. They can go in, sign a notebook and get what they need, which saves a lot of work. We have 28 members in our Sunday school class. About half are able to do heavy lifting if I call them, but a lot of them pitch in and help in other ways. Some of us built five or six ramps for people who needed them at home.

3. What are a few of the more

poignant and touching stories you’ve encountered, and what needs do you currently have?

I am amazed at the number of people below the age of Medicare who are really in dire need, who do not have health insurance but need hospital equipment at home. One lady, who is 57, we carried her a hospital bed. She was so thankful that she just started crying. I break down when I think of the situations that we run into. We have given out a lot of equipment recently, but what we really need are wheelchairs. We don’t get that many donations of them. We have plenty of bedside potties and about 100 different types of walkers. We also have people in waiting for lift reclining chairs. Those are so expensive. People who need them can’t afford them. I have seen ads for them selling for $500. As soon as we get them in, they are gone.

Need help? Want to help? Need medical equipment at home or have used equipment you’d like to donate to a good cause? You can do either by contacting Tommy Lang or any member of the First United Methodist Church Horizon Class Medical Equipment Ministry. All contributions are tax deductible. You can contact Lang at: 256708-3268 or 287-0273.

4. Were you and Dena

involved in helping people as former educators in Piedmont? I joined the Piedmont Jaycees because they helped people in the community – and it wasn’t just at Christmas, it was year round. Being teachers, we had knowledge of those students who were in dire need. So we got names from the school and gave them to our club, and that’s who we helped. Also, being a PE teacher, I worked with Special Olympics students for several years. Then some teachers asked if I would carry them to district meets for Calhoun County, and I loved that. An instructor at Jacksonville State University asked me to get

involved with the Special Olympics at the state level. Since I was a bus driver, I could carry them to Montgomery for state. Once we had two kids who made it to nationals, so I carried them to California for the National Special Olympics. Also, as a Mason and a Shriner in Piedmont, I tried to bring awareness of, and help to a segment of society in need, especially children needing burn care.

What do you think Lesa would have to say today to your Sunday school class and to the people who have donated medical equipment to this ministry? I know she would be so thrilled. I feel like she is looking... please, excuse me for being emotional. But I feel like she is looking down today and appreciates what we are doing to help people. It’s great just knowing that we are doing something to help ease the stress of people who are sick and make their lives a little easier. Knowing it would please Lesa. She’d think, “Well, that’s just wonderful.” Lesa believed that you should love each person as you find them, not as you want them to be. She walked the walk, and her light will continue to shine. To continue this unique medical equipment ministry after her death is inspirational and rewarding.

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Good Reads

Bowers tries to untangle life and a humdinger killer thriller

Fannie Flagg: The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion

ttention, readers: Are you looking for an actionpacked thriller without all the graphic violence, language and sex that permeate that genre? The Illusionist watched Look no more. Steven carefully as Patrick James has a marvelous series beginning with Bowers wandered “The Pawn.” around the top of the Protagonist Patrick Bowers is mountain with all those a criminologist… a other federal agents thinker. He is very and idiot cops. Morons! good at what he does: finding serial killers. They would never And he starts with a understand. None of humdinger. In addition to the case, he has them would. Not really. other demanding He knew all about concerns. Patrick Bowers, PhD. He’s a widower. In his grief he’s become He’d read both of his estranged from his books. For research. teenage daughter, Very helpful. A worthy leaving her with his parents while he puts opponent. all he has into the most difficult case of his life. You’ll stay up late with this one. – Deb Laslie

ystery, romance, techno thriller, historical, humor... Fannie Flagg’s latest book has it all. The story surrounds an Alabama secret that, The new big B-29 was once exposed, changes having problems with the lives of not only a family, but an entire engine fires, and a lot of town. the boys were afraid to fly Along the way we learn the little known the thing. Colonel Paul history of America’s Tibbetts secretly trained earliest women flyers. a few WASPs to fly it. He Fearless, flawed, funny and, oh, so familiar, painted “Lady Bird” on the these characters become side, and they toured it all real. Immigrants from Europe, “…and after I around the country to air become a citizen, I can bases. When they landed say anything I want, and the boys gathered and they can’t arrest me, and I can buy a around the plane and saw house, and they can’t two females step out of the take it ever away from cockpit, it shamed them me never.” From roller-skating into flying it... full-service filling station attendants to high-flying wing-walkers, you will love these ladies. – Deb Laslie

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Good ’n’ Green Here’s a full year’s worth of ideas you can do in the yard Story by Tony Glover Cullman County Extension Coordinator

The Living Landscape

Photos by Mike Rushing Jefferson County Master Gardener

e often think of landscapes as the place we spend our free time working instead of doing what we would prefer. With an increased interest of all things to do with nature, I hope this attitude is changing. Our goal this year at the Extension office and the North Alabama Agriplex Heritage Center is to help people take advantage of those opportunities right outside their door. So, we have developed a yearlong series of classes we call “The Living Landscape.” Monthly programs will meet at the North Alabama Agriplex Heritage Center, 1714 Talley Ho St. SW, Cullman. The first one, on Jan. 28, was on attracting bluebirds to your yard. It included making a bluebird house to take home and learning to maintain a bluebird trail. Fees for each class vary. All youth under 18 must be accompanied by a registered adult. To register, contact us at: 256-297-1044; or cullmanag@gmail.com. 20 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

The program on April 22 will show you how diverse flowering plants are not only attractive, but they attract pollinators to your yard.

ere’s the lineup, and you’re invited... • Feb. 25, 6 p.m. – Organic Vegetable Garden Basics Learn how to get started growing your own vegetables naturally. I will cover the basic organic growing techniques and prepare you to get a garden started – this spring. Ages 13 and up. • March 11, 6 p.m. – Cultivating Mushrooms Mushroom expert Rhonda Britton with Alabama A&M University will teach this class about growing shitake mushrooms. You can inoculate small pieces of logs to take home to grow your own mushrooms. Ages 13 and up. • April 22, 6 p.m. – Native Insect Pollinators Identify native insects and the benefits they provide to your garden. Find out what plants you should plant to attract butterflies to your yard. Learn how to build an insect hotel. This is a great way to celebrate Earth Day. Ages 10 and up. • May 13, 6 p.m. – Hooked on Hummingbirds Hummingbirds are a living natural wonder that you can attract to your yard to view up close. Learn which plants attract hummingbirds, which feeders work best and the best schedule for putting up feeders. Ages 8 and up. • June 24, 6 p.m. – Bats! Our native bats can eat 600 mosquitoes in one hour. Learn about these tiny bug catchers’ life history and how to attract them to your yard. Norm Haley, regional Extension wildlife specialist, will teach this informative and fun class. Ages 8 and up. • July 8, 5:30 p.m. – Raptors in Alabama Alabama Wildlife Center’s educator Jay Eubanks will bring birds of prey to see up close. Learn about the raptors that live around our community and how to attract them to your yards. All ages. • August 26, 6 p.m. – Rainwater Harvesting and Rain Gardening Rainwater is a free, natural resource that can be harvested to use for irrigation. See different types of rainwater harvesting techniques at the Agriplex Heritage Center and learn to set up a system in your own yard. Rhonda Britton from Alabama A&M University will be on hand with the “Water Wheel” trailer full of fun and interesting things to learn and do. Ages 13 and up. • Sept. 23, 6 p.m. – Using Herbs for Cooking and More Herbs are easy to grow, but how do you use them? Learn easy recipes incorporating fresh herbs, how to dry them and how to use them around the home. Ages 13 and up. • Oct. 7, 6 p.m. – Native Woody Plants Join me and learn about growing native trees and shrubs in your yard. Learn which plants grow the best and how to plant them. Ages 13 and up. • Nov. 4, 6 p.m. – Attracting Backyard Birds and Photography Bird watching is a great hobby you can do right in your

The program offers ideas to enhance your yard and life own yard. This exciting and informative lecture will teach basic techniques to attract a large number of bird species to your yard – and how to capture great photos right from your easy chair. Ages 10 and up. • Dec. 2, 6 p.m. – Grapevine Wreath Making Learn to make a wreath from grapevines and how to decorate your home with common landscape and native plants. Age 10 and up.

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FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Good Cooking

Old becomes new again with delicious recipes from Barbara Rigsby’s southern kitchen Don’t throw the past away You might need it some rainy day Dreams can come true again When everything old is new again – Peter Allen, songwriter and entertainer

Story and photos by David Moore

egions of local folks remember Barbara Rigsby from the 20-plus years she wrote her twice-weekly “Cook’s Corner” column for The Cullman Times. They also watched her on “Pot Luck,” the long-running Wednesday show that former Channel 52 broadcast from the kitchen of her 1880s house in Cullman. Barbara could be counted on for three things: • Her gracious southern charm; • Her delicious southern recipes; • And seasoning those recipes with bright dashes of her personal life and observations, even when life was not always kind to her. While her column was discontinued eight or nine years ago, her culinary skills are not forgotten. “I still have people calling for recipes,” Barbara says. Like old-fashion grits now proudly served in fine restaurants, so it is, she says, that “everything old is new again.” She and her family first came to Cullman about 1951 when her husband, Larry, was named administrator of Cullman Hospital. After about three years, good opportunities opened elsewhere, and his career took 22 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

For years, Barbara Rigsby’s cooking show was shot in her kitchen on Mondays and broadcast Wednesdays on the former Channel 52.

them to Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Huntsville and Montgomery. Wherever they lived, Barbara cooked – and cooked famously – for her family and friends. “Home and food... that’s what life is all about,” she insists. “Food is such a good way to show love.” About 25 years ago multiple sclerosis left Larry paralyzed. Stiffening her southern resolve, Barbara decided to sell their house in Montgomery and find another place to live where she could care for Larry. “I prayed about it one night and decided to come

back to Cullman,” she says. A friend in real estate took her to see an old, partly restored “country” house on Seventh Street NE. When they arrived, Barbara spotted a dove perched on the phone lines. She took it for a sign. “Where a dove is,” she says, “there is happiness.”

arbara completed the remodeling, and the house qualified for historical registration. The old home became their new one, and there she cared for her husband.

“I think I used his terrible, terrible illness and threw myself into all sorts of things,” she says of the time. She needed a job, but she also needed to stir the ingredients of her soul into the mix of life. So she spoke to former Times publisher Bob Bryan about writing a food column. “Law!” she laughs. “I wrote my first column about broccoli, of all things. It took off from there.” In addition to her column and TV show, she wrote a monthly piece for the former Hometown Press magazine in Huntsville and organized more cooking FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Here are some of Barbara Rigsby’s favorite recipes... CULLMAN CAVIAR 2 cans black-eyed peas (15 oz. cans, rinsed and drained) 6 green onions, thinly sliced 1/2 cup chopped cilantro 1 bell pepper, diced 2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 plum tomatoes, diced 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 teaspoon ground cumin Salt and freshly ground black pepper Rinse and drain well the black-eyed peas and stir in the onion, cilantro, jalapeno, bell pepper, tomatoes and garlic. In a bowl whisk the olive oil, lime juice, and cumin. Pour over the pea mixture. Lightly mix and add the salt and ground black pepper. Refrigerate to allow flavors to meld. Serve cold with tortilla chips or use as a side salad. COOK’S NOTE: Feel free to use chopped avocado, small can drained shoe peg corn or yellow hominy. If you do not have any tomatoes, use 1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained.

contests than you can shake a spatula at. Through it all, she cared for Larry until his death 22 years ago. Her newspaper column was dropped around 2005, about the time she published her most recent and biggest cookbook, “Taste a Memory.” Barbara’s children – Deborah Rigsby Horn of Huntsville and Dr. Larry Rigsby III of Chattanooga – are long grown, and she has three grand and five great-grand children. 24 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

TORTILLA CHIPS 12 (16-inch) corn tortillas 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt Pinch of cayenne Cut the tortillas into 6 wedges each. Toss them with the oil, chili powder, salt and cayenne. Working in batches, spread on two baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees until golden and crisp, 20-25 minutes.

TURNIP GREEN SOUP 16 ounces chicken broth (more as needed) 27 ounce can seasoned turnip greens 16 ounce can navy beans, rinsed and drained 16 ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained 16 ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained 10 ounce can Rotel tomatoes and chilies 1 pound smoked sausage, diced (I use Conecuh Original) 1 large onion, chopped 2 tablespoons oil 1 clove garlic Salt and pepper Tabasco sauce Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

Living alone, her cooking efforts have simmered considerably, but she makes a point of preparing herself at least one special meal a week, the rest of the week she has simple but healthy meals.

Hometimes Barbara worries

that many young women are too busy today to cook. But it’s a trend that might be turning. After all, “everything old is new again.” She finds it as appropriate as sausage on a biscuit that Cullman

Creole seasoning (I suggest Tony Chachere’s) Rinse and drain all the canned beans, chop the onions and the smoked sausage. Add the first six ingredients over medium heat. Saute the sausage and onion in the oil until meat is lightly browned and onion is tender. Add to soup pot on stove and season carefully; if you should put in too much seasoning, you can’t take it out, so get it correct for your taste. Simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes and add more chicken broth or tomato juice if needed for proper consistency. Serve this delicious southern soup in warm deep bowls with jalapeno cornbread. COOK’S NOTE: Don’t overlook the convenience of canned beans. They are terrific and when drained and rinsed have no canned flavor… a real time saver. Also here you are adding canned turnip greens and that is wonderful for ease in making this soup. If I were serving greens as a vegetable alone I am not sure I would use the canned greens, but in the soup this is a perfect time saver, and time is valuable to our cooks. This recipe finds its source from “pot likker,” the liquid left behind after boiling greens that have been seasoned with salt and pork. It contains vitamins, minerals and iron.

itself falls squarely into that “new again” category she so likes. Among those who grew up here and stayed or left and returned, a tangible energy has emerged, especially in the wake of the April 2011 tornado. “I am glad to see life here again,” Barbara says. “It put a little pep in me, too. I am trying to come back again, and at my age that’s not easy!” Then again, “everything old is new again.”

JALAPENO CORN MUFFINS 1-1/2 cups yellow cornmeal 1-1/2 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar 1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-2/3 cups buttermilk 2 large eggs 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1/4 cup sour cream 1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped 3 green onions, trimmed and finely chopped Lightly spray 12 (3 inch) muffin tins with cooking spray and set aside. Stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl. Mix together the buttermilk, eggs, butter and sour cream in a large bowl and blend well. Add cornmeal mixture to the egg mixture and stir just until ingredients are moist and blended. Do not over mix. Fold in cheese, corn, pepper and onions. Scoop batter into muffin pan and bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until tops spring back and are nicely browned. (“Taste a Memory” cookbook, page 32.) Makes 12 large muffins.

BLUE MOON CHEESE SPREAD 1/2 cup pecans 3/4 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup pimiento stuffed Spanish olives, chopped 1/3 cup bottled chili sauce 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 (10 oz.) block sharp Cheddar cheese, finely shredded This is a new twist on pimiento cheese, always popular in the South. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8-10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant. Cool 5 minutes and finely chop pecans. Stir together the mayonnaise and next three ingredients until well

Barbara Rigsby’s “Taste a Memory – A Collection of Southern Recipes”

can be purchased from Smith Farms, the Cullman County Museum or Deb’s

Bookstore for $20. You also can order one from her by calling: 256-734-0796. blended. Stir in the cheese and the pecans. Store in airtight container in refrigerator up to 4 days.

and superb service. It is long gone but not forgotten.

COOK’S NOTE: Garnish the dish with sliced Spanish olives and serve with vegetables and crackers. This is an old recipe from the Blue Moon Inn in Montgomery, a lovely place to hold parties or teas, an old home with lovely antique furniture, great food

2-1/3 cups whole milk 2 cups water Salt and pepper 1 cup quick cooking grits (not instant) 6 slices bacon, chopped 8 green onions, thinly sliced 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

SHRIMP AND GRITS

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

1 small red pepper, finely chopped 1 pound frozen shelled, de-veined raw shrimp, thawed 1/2 teaspoon Louisiana style hot sauce Heat 2 cups of the milk, water and salt to simmering on medium high heat. Whisk in the grits and cover. Reduce heat to medium low and cook 10 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and grits are tender, stirring often. Keep warm. In a skillet cook the bacon until brown and crisp. Remove bacon and drain on paper towel. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. In the same skillet add the green onions, garlic and freshly ground black pepper. Cook 2 minutes stirring. Add red pepper and cook 2 minutes stirring often. Stir in shrimp and remaining milk and cook 5 minutes or just until the shrimp turn opaque. Remove from heat and stir in bacon and hot sauce. Spoon grits into shallow bowls, top with the shrimp, then garnish with green onion and hot sauce, if desired. This is an easy recipe, and you will enjoy it. COOK’S NOTE: So you see our Southern grits have really gone up town and can be seen in some of our finest restaurants and in some really great recipes. What was our simple breakfast grain has found a new place in the food world.

SPINACH-CHEESE CASSEROLE 4 eggs 2/3 cup flour 2 (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed very dry 1 (24 oz.) container low-fat cottage cheese 3 cups grated white cheddar cheese Salt and freshly ground black pepper Spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl beat eggs and flour until smooth. Add spinach, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Spoon into the baking dish and smooth the top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until heated through. 26 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Barbara Rigsby sits at her kitchen table with some of her cookbooks and recipes.

COOK’S NOTE: This dish can be made a day ahead and kept in a fridge. It’s a good way to get your children to eat spinach.

MEATLOAF WITH A TWIST 2 pounds of very lean ground beef (I use Black Angus, if available) 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup bread crumbs (more if needed) 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper

1 small onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic (crushed) 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce Combine the beef, eggs, bread crumbs, green pepper, onion, garlic, soy, brown sugar, lemon and ground ginger. Mix well and form into a loaf or place in a loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in

a 350 degree oven for 1 hour until done. Baste loaf with the mixture of brown sugar and soy sauce. Heat remaining mixture and serve with sliced meat loaf. (“Taste a Memory” cookbook, page 126; variation of meatloaf teriyaki.) COOK’S NOTE: This is a good meat loaf, and if you are lucky to have any leftovers do make some wonderful meatloaf sandwiches. They are a real treat – like the Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches you crave after the holidays. Enjoy!

QUEEN’S BREAD PUDDING WITH BOURBON SAUCE Bread pudding: 1 loaf French bread, at least a day old, torn into bite-size pieces 1 qt. milk 3 eggs, lightly beaten 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons vanilla 1 cup raisins (soaked overnight in ¼ cup bourbon)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

BOURBON SAUCE 1 stick unsalted butter, melted 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 cup good bourbon whiskey In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter; add sugar and the lightly beaten egg. Whisk to blend and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Whisk in bourbon and remove from the heat. Whisk before serving. The sauce should be soft, smooth and creamy. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak the bread in the milk in a large bowl. Mix with hands and mix and press until all the milk is absorbed. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon together. Gently stir into the bread mixture and then carefully stir in raisins. Pour the butter into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Coat bottom and

sides well with the butter. Pour in the bread mixture and bake at 350 degrees, until set. The pudding is done when the edges pull away from the edge of the pan and are getting a bit brown. Serve with bourbon sauce on the side. This is delicious and best eaten the day it is baked, still a tad warm. COOK’S NOTE: This is certainly an old Southern recipe and used by many thrifty cooks in making a very simple dessert for their family while using up old bread. Several years ago it was rediscovered and has become a highly desired dessert. The recipe has been updated and made a bit elegant. This was one of my family’s favorite simple desserts, minus the bourbon. Their other favorites were rice pudding, tapioca, custards, puddings and a simple one-layer cake, the recipe found on the Bisquick box. It was quick and yummy.

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Good Eats

Owner Bridgett Gregory, foreground, in the kitchen with cook Linda Needham of Arab.

Baileyton’s Parkside Catfish Restaurant

Bridgett Gregory runs a country cafe, pure and simple

Story and photos by David Moore

arkside Catfish Restaurant on Ala. 69 in Baileyton puts on no airs. There’s no wine list and no one to park your pickup. Parkside’s a country cafe, pure and simple. “That’s it,” agrees owner Bridgett Gregory. And that’s apparently the way the locals like it. Take Gary Malone, Michael Krichner and Billy Lovins for instance. They work at nearby Walker Brothers and are about as regular as sunrise at Parkside. “I eat here every day, near about it,” Gary says. “It’s my home away 28 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

from home.” Like many Parkside patrons, he usually orders a catfish platter. A single piece will do him. “It’s hard to eat two of them,” Billy agrees. Sometimes Billy and Gary branch out with burgers and fries probably their second choice. The bacon burger with onion rings is Michael’s usual order, though he’s been able to polish off the big platter only once. “It’s still worth it,” he says, fondly admiring an onion ring. “Sometimes I eat breakfast here,” Gary offers. “I like the eggs, sausage and gravy. Best in the whole world.” Michael puts Parkside’s hushpuppies at the top of the menu.

“I’ve found they’re the best around except for maybe Catfish Cabin in Albertville,” he says, munching as he talks. The hushpuppies are consistently cooked to golden perfection, the onions inside of them perfect. Catfish, shrimp, oysters or chicken, fried foods rule the roost at Parkside. But there are options, such as barbecue, ribeyes and blackened or lemon pepper chicken breasts. Then there’s a chef salad, slaw, green beans, baked beans, baked potatoes and potato salad. Michael’s wife, Erika Turner, loves the grilled chicken salad. “She’ll have me call in one of those almost every night,” he says.

(except for Mondays, when the restaurant is closed) and 9 on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s grueling at the grill, but Bridgett says she enjoys it. She learned to cook from Teresa and, mostly, her grandmother, Betty Cherry of Holly Pond. She remembers the first thing she ever cooked: macaroni and cheese for her and her brother. “It came out pretty good,” she grins. Must have. She still cooks it the same way today for lunch specials at Parkside.

From left, Gary Malone, Michael Krichner and Billy Lovins chow down at Parkside... again

T he late Bobby Tidmore started Parkside in the 1990s, as best as

Bridgett recalls. The second owner, Otis Shedd, sold it in about 2000 to Teresa Solley, Bridgett’s mother. Teresa had previously worked at Williams Barbecue between Cullman and Hanceville, then opened her own restaurant, The Arabian, in Arab. Bridgett started restaurant work with her mom after leaving Fairview High School in 1999. She’s been at Parkside with her mom since the getgo and was the logical choice to run it when Teresa’s health hit a speed bump six years ago. “When mom got sick, I just took it over,” she says.

Mom’s better, thank you, but happy to leave Parkside’s kitchen and office to Bridgett. Running any restaurant would be a juggling act, even if Bridgett didn’t have four children – Michael, Mason, Zoe and Ava – to feed and care for at home in Baileyton. Husband Blake works at Rehau in Cullman. The restaurant opens at 6 a.m. for breakfast, but Bridgett spends her mornings getting Blake to work and Michael, Mason and Zoe, ages 9 to 5, to school. She takes Ava, 10 months old, to her mom, who watches her during the day. That usually gets Bridgett to Parkside about 11, just in time to dive into lunch. She works until 8 p.m. weeknights

p at the cash register, another regular, Monica Howard, waits to pick up lunch for her and her boss, Laura Purser. They work next door at Dollar General and order out from Parkside maybe three times a week, including Sunday breakfast. For lunch, Laura likes the chicken fingers. Monica is all about the burgers. “The hamburgers are the best around,” she insists. “They are real juicy. You’ve got to have them all the way. Ya’ gotta.” At their nearby table, Gary, Michael and Billy are finishing up lunch, satisfied customers yet again. “This is the best place around to eat,” Billy declares. “I’d eat here every day if I could afford it.” Venturing onto a domestically precarious culinary limb he adds, “The old lady’s cooking isn’t this good.” That said, Billy just might get his wish about eating at his favorite country cafe every day.

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“The musical heartbeat of the community.” That’s how Laura Doss describes Cullman Community Band. She and her husband, Morrow, performed with the band, shown here, at its December concert in the Betty Leeth Haynes Auditorium.

Story and photos by David Moore

usic has a way of bringing people together, whether whooping it up wildly at Rock the South or worshiping at church. Cullman Community Band falls comfortably between the extremes, its 50-odd members lured together by a desire to create music for themselves, their fans and those who happen to catch a concert. They swing into the second 30 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

half of their ninth season riding the momentum of their annual Christmas program, played this year at Wallace State Community College as part of the 2013-2014 performing arts season presented by the Cullman Community Concert Association. It was the band’s biggest concert yet. “It was a great honor, a great opportunity,” says band director Garry Taylor. Kathy Scruggs agrees. She played clarinet for the band five years or so before joining the concert association

– she serves as president – about four years ago. “Some people in the band come and go, but we have a good core group of musicians,” she says. “And, yes, the Christmas concert should give us momentum going into the new season. We always encourage people to join us, and this may get us a few more participants.” Scheduling details for this year’s season were incomplete as of this writing, but the band performs a series of regular gigs.

In January the musicians began Monday night practices at Cullman Middle School in preparation for their spring performances. These include a concert in April at the Cullman Civic Center followed in May by their annual Strawberry Festival performance at the Festhalle Market Platz. “And sometimes we play a concert in the park,” Garry adds. They take off for the summer before resuming practice for their 10th season, which starts back at the

Festhalle with Oktoberfest followed by a winter/Christmas concert, typically at the civic center. “We have a regular audience that comes to all of our performances, about 150 relatives and friends,” Garry says. Newbies, occasional attendees and, in the case of the festivals, passers-by also show up, but playing the Christmas concert in December at the student center auditorium to a crowd of about 450 – with very little publicity – marked a new high for the band.

here is a saying that you get what you pay for. That’s not always true, Garry laughs. The community band never charges admission, but you get a great concert. Performing for free was the plan from the start. With no clue he’s being puny, Garry says Robert Bean was “instrumental” in forming the band in 2005. Former head of the Wallace State music program, Robert was an instructor there when he approached FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Meet the members of Cullman Community Band Flute: Jordan Black Patti Hancock Paige Thurman Sara Tyree Kathy York Bass clarinet: JoAnn Hesterly

Linda Schgier Kathy Scruggs Jackie Thrasher Emily Wallace Alto saxophone: Monica Black Melinda Smith

Bassoon: Julia Bright

Tenor saxophone: Barbara Johns Aaron Pipes

Oboe: Kelli Laursen

Bari saxophone: Aaron Pipes

Clarinet: June Brooks Pam Bryant Courtney Ferguson Patricia Maze Robert A. Orr Kendall Peterson Beverly Poston

Trumpet: Matthew Cornelius Don Hirsbrunner Mary Jo Lakin Rich Larkin Terry Todd Rick Whitmire Rick Williams

Garry with the idea of starting an amateur band to provide local musicians a stage from which to bring musical enjoyment to the community. A trombonist at heart, Garry had just retired after 21 years as director of the Cullman High School Marching Band. Strongly connected to the band world in Cullman and serving as president of the Alabama Bandmasters Association at the time, he readily agreed to join Robert as associate director. “It was a good time to start a band,” he says. “For me it was a great time.” Bylaws were written and a board was formed, headed today by Lavell Thrasher. Don Green, the board’s only non-band member, was mayor in 2005 and very supportive of the effort. The city agreed to help fund the band, though allocations vary with budgetary 32 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

The Cullman Community Band performs under the direction of conductor Garry Taylor Russell Wood French horn: Holly Hirsbrunner Carolyn Meredith Kelly Vance Leisa Whitlow Trombone: Brittney Davis

Craig Holmes M.R. Megginson Bryan Patrick Edward Terry Tuba: Kenneth Roberts Lavell Thrasher Percussion: Jay Fuller

fortunes. This year, the band is getting $5,000, down from $6,000 last year. “It’s enough to pay for music and some of our expenses,” says Garry, who became director three years ago. “We appreciate whatever it is.”

A life immersed in music is a

common thread throughout the band. About 10 members are former students of Garry’s from CHS. Some played in Cullman County high school bands, a few are transplants glad to discover an outlet for their talents. Some band members teach music, others are retired musicians. One occasional participant is an active band director. Kathy Scruggs, a retired teacher, was thrilled when Robert and Garry started the band and quickly signed up. Music has been part of her life forever.

Mary Jo Lakin Coleton Phillips Josh Vandiver Euphonium: Angela Adcock David Bjornstad Bass guitar: M.R. Megginson

Her parents sang to her. So did her babysitter. As a tot, her preacher at Macedonia Church of Christ between Fairview and Eva would hold her up to the microphone so she could sing for the congregation. She was too young to remember. She began piano lessons at 7. At 10, she joined the beginner band at East Elementary under director Bonnie James. “There were maybe 25 of us,” Kathy recalls. “I took a music aptitude test and was encouraged to join.” At The University of Alabama Kathy took some music but ended up with an education degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Clarinet took a back seat to a teaching career in the Cullman city and county schools. “But I have always loved music,”

Robert Orr, left center, plays the clarinet his parents bought for him in 1941. At right is a part of the horn and percussion sections warming up prior to the December concert. she says. “It had been several years since I had played, but when they decided to form the band I was very excited to pull my clarinet out again.”

ullman Community Band member Robert Orr has been playing clarinet much longer than Kathy – longer than most anybody, really. It was in 1940, at age 13, when he first picked up the instrument. “I may be the oldest one in the band, but I’m not sure,” the 85-yearold Crane Hill resident laughs. He started with a metal clarinet in the fifth grade in North Carolina. The following year his parents bought him a student model Buffet clarinet. He still plays the same instrument today. In high school he played in two dance bands, then in a small symphony and the band at Wake Forest. Along the

way, Robert earned several seminary degrees and was later a minister of music. He studied some piano and violin, but singing was – and still is – his main musical outlet. On and off, though, he continued to play his Buffet. In 2005, after he’d moved to Smith Lake, Robert joined the new community band as well as an orchestra that was started at Cullman First Baptist Church. “I got to rejuvenate the old instrument,” he says. “It’s been a major part of my life all these years. It keeps my mind active, and my fingers, too. “The band is a good opportunity for people who have played an instrument and put it away for a while. You can get it out and clean it up and see if it will still play,” he laughs. “That way you won’t lose touch with your talent.”

embers enjoy the social aspects and camaraderie of the band. “We are all ages and come from all walks of life,” Robert Orr says. “We have great times together.” They could find other social outlets, Garry says, other places to work as part of a team. But producing music is the common beat that courses through the fabric of the Cullman Community Band. “There is a special quality to making music, especially when you are making good music,” Garry explains. “It’s a feeling you are accomplishing something that takes everybody thinking and working together. “When people who have enjoyed music all their lives come together to create music, it’s a feeling you don’t get anywhere else.” FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

A new look

a new day

Historic Stiefelmeyer House builds new admirers in its newest owners, the Wynns

Story and photos by David Moore

he most recent incarnation of the historic Stiefelmeyer House in Cullman started pretty much as an investment whim hidden somewhere in a major fixer-up project. It’s turned out to be a dream home for owners Sunshine and Rod Wynn, a Tara that Scarlett O’Hara could perhaps relate to, while offering the modern-day amenities that make a perfect fit for the Wynns and their sons Houston and Hayden. The Wynns moved into the house in the Cullman Historic District in December 2013 after investing 15 months extensively remodeling it. Along with the physical changes to the house, their feeling about it underwent a seismic shift. A few years ago the Wynns were looking to build at Lake Catoma, but Sunshine put a hold on those plans. A cosmetologist for 20 years, she had recently sold her former beauty shop. Her mother’s cancer had returned. Too much going on, so she told Rod. She didn’t even want to think about building or moving. Rod did get the message, didn’t he? “I had heard that,” he laughs. About six months after the April 27, 2011, tornado tore through Cullman 34 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

County leaving a swath of destruction in downtown, Rod happened to be in the historic district when he noticed Russell Wood erecting a for sale sign in the front yard of the storm-damaged Stiefelmeyer House. Rod asked him what he wanted for the property. “He told me the price and I said that sounds pretty good,” Rod recalls. “I asked to go inside, but he told me I needed an appointment.” So Rod came home with a bit of news for Sunshine – they had an appointment to see a house. An old house. An old tornado-damaged house.

Rod was not only the messenger

of bad news but the instigator of it. You picture how that scene played out. “If I don’t want to build a new house, why do I want to renovate an old one?” she had responded. “That’s even more work. If you want to do it, do it, but do it for an investment to sell.” When she finally saw the house, her first impression was hardly rosy. “It was a train wreck,” Sunshine says. “‘What are we going to do with this?’ I asked him.” The upstairs floor wass so out of kilter it affected her equilibrium, making her physically sick. Before anything else was done, she insisted, the floor had to be leveled. “It needed a lot of work, that’s for

sure,” Rod says. At least he was in familiar territory. For three years he’s been general manager at Bill Smith Buick-GMC, but he’s also a licensed general contractor, an interest inherited from his father. His first step – besides leveling floors to keep Sunshine from getting sick – was roof, window and facade work to protect the house from the elements. After the old lattice work was removed, a signature change was made to the front – the addition of four, 26-foot, unfluted Doric columns. Mark Powell and Powell Construction did most of the work.

Sunset washes the white columns

and facade of the Stiefelmeyer-Wynn House on Fourth Avenue in gold.

The Wynns also used Cullman interior decorator Barbara Bentley, an interior decorator who’s also been around construction for years. “She was always our person from the get-go,” Rod says. “We have used her several times on decorating over the years.” Inside, the old house was essentially gutted. Sunshine says the more they tore out, the more they found that needed redoing: wiring, plumbing, new studs in the walls. Despite – or because of – mounting expenses, as the house began to transform, so did Sunshine’s perception. Working closely with Barbara, she began seeing the old

home’s new potential. “The more we tore out,” Sunshine says, “the more I loved it and wanted to live here. Rod and I fell in love with it. We decided it was going to be home.” They changed the upstairs layout for livability, added onto the back of the house and a free-standing, two-story garage. The decision to live there changed everything. “If you are a contractor, you have to worry about making money,” Rod says. “But if it’s yours, you get what you want. We spent a lot more time on the details we wanted, making it ours.”

At the end of Christmas Day

2012, Rod dropped another surprise – or two – on Sunshine. “I didn’t want her to stress during Christmas about moving, so I told her that night, ‘Oh, by the way, the moving company is coming Thursday, but don’t worry, the guys will stay with you until you get it all moved Friday.” And Rod? “Me and the kids are going on a hunting trip,” he said. Rod and boys moved in when they got home, four days after Dec. 27 when Sunshine officially made the whitecolumned house the StiefelmeyerFEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Sunshine went for a modern flair to contrast with the historic house. For further contrast, she mixed bold and subtle colors, such as bright reds and dove gray in the living room, which features a baby grand piano. The front dinning room flows into a modern kitchen with classic accents.

36 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

In creating what she calls a modern Tara, Sunshine continues the mix of historic and contemporary in the master bedroom, located upstairs on what used to be rather unlevel flooring. A chandelier hangs over a modern tub in the master bath. Below left, the family sits together in the living room of the house they made their own.

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

One of Sunshine’s “toys” is a crystal train her grandfather gave her that is displayed in the living room. The boys don’t get to play with it. All three of them, however, do get to play in the man cave above the garage, where Houston holds an autographed Alabama football. Hayden shows off the deer each of the guys bagged that are mounted in the stairwell to the game room. Wynn House. She describes it as a “Gone with the Wind” Tara with a distinctively modern flair. “I don’t really like old houses,” Sunshine says. “But now I love this house. I don’t know that we would ever sell it. You can’t put a price on a home you love. This is my dream house.” Does that mean Rod’s off the hook for popping a few surprises on her? Sunshine can answer that with a quote from the late author Napoleon Hill that she says applies to Rod in all he does: Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

hey enjoy the historic district, and Rod says he’s developed an appreciation for homes with a history. “Somewhere in the process we got attached to this old house,” he says. “A lot of time with new houses you don’t have that attachment. You might think it’s nice and new, but having age and history make you appreciate it more.” Last fall, the Wynns hosted the dean of The University of Alabama for a 38 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

recruitment event, but Sunshine has yet to act on several requests for home tours. Her mom is fighting cancer again and several projects remain to be done on the house, including installing plantation shutters and a pool.

When life settles down, however, she wants to have more people over. She understands that the curiosity level is pretty high due to the changes made to a home that’s been part of Cullman for 135 years.

The Stiefelemeyer House, pictured here about 1900, shows a man standing on the porch to the right. It could be Mr. Humphrey, whose family was the second to own the house. The photo is from two binders of information on the house, historic district and other things that have been handed down by owners in past years.

‘This Old House’

From a medical clinic and school to a dynamite blast, freak shooting and tornado, the historic Stiefelmeyer House has been around the block more than a few times

Story by David Moore

The Stiefelmeyer-Wynn House has

seen it’s share of physical changes in the course of some 135 years. Likewise, it has sheltered its share of lives over time as 10 families have lived under its gables. Cullman was a young 6 years old when the two-story, clapboard house was built on Fourth Avenue about 1879. Attractive, with Eastlake trim and Tuscan columns, it became the home of Dr. John Ulrich Stiefelmeyer and family. Born in Germany in 1824, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1852, marrying

a woman he met onboard during the crossing. They settled in Rochester, N.Y., and eventually had four sons and four daughters. Licensed as an “eclectic physician” John Ulrich also practiced surgery and obstetrics. He was in his mid-50s when the family moved to Cullman with their four youngest children, a son and three daughters. History grows fuzzy. Some accounts have Col. John Cullman recruiting him because the growing town needed a doctor, others say he was retired and came because of ill health. One account says John Ulrich bought property and built the

Dr. J.U. Stiefelmeyer FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Great Shopping in Cullman? You bet! Just ask anyone who lives here or has visited lately. We have some of the best, one-of-a-kind stores and the national retailers you need to fit any lifestyle.

As we continue to grow and recruit new businesses to Cullman, we want to help our exisitng businesses to flourish. We encourage them to utilize our services and allow us to help in any way possible. We are looking toward our great future as we remember what made Cullman so special in the first place.

For more information, please contact:

Susie Hood Ashley Retail Development Coordinator susieh@cullmaneda.org 256.739.1891 www.cullmaneda.org “Like” us on Facebook!

40 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Though not blown away like the trees around it, the house took damage in the tornado of 2011, above. At right, the house is pictured during the time the Vlasses lived there. house, while another has him staying with his youngest son. At any rate, he opened a practice and became the town’s first health officer when the medical society was formed in 1886. He had an office in one of the outbuildings on his property. He also went into the cotton business. But John Ulrich’s health again declined, and he couldn’t tolerate the Alabama heat and humidity. So in 1889 he advertised the sale of his Cullman property, including four lots, a “new” eight-room house with a kitchen, cellar and outbuildings and a second, two-room dwelling that included a kitchen and bathing room. There also was a barn, good well, smoke house, vineyard, yard and choice fruit trees. He moved back to Rochester, N.Y. in 1890 and died there in 1896. An obituary in a paper there offered this glimpse of him: “The doctor had a very large practice here and we can still remember quite well how he drove his white horse and single seater buggy racing in response to an urgent call. In his manner he was affable and had all the love and respect of all who had the privilege to know him. He did not avoid an effort to bring help when help was still possible and went about it quite energetically and with great dexterity.”

ohn Ulrich’s daughters and son remained in Cullman. Charles A. – known as Mister Charlie – became a merchant, working for a while in Hanceville before opening Stiefelmeyer Department Store in 1888, the place to shop in Cullman well into the next century. Meanwhile, the house had new occupants in the form

of Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey and a new use. She opened a school, initially in the house and later in an outbuilding on the property, and operated it in the 1890s and probably into the early 1900s. From 1910 to about 1951 the Davis “D.O.” McKoy family called the Stiefelmeyer House home. An insurance salesman, he and his wife, Mammie, raised three children there. Their grandson, David “D.O.” McKoy, recalls chickens squawking around the yard in the late 1940s, which offers an interesting perspective on what is now the city’s historic district. Well before his time, David says, Mammie was shot. It was Nov. 11, 1918. World War One had just ended. “There was a lot of gunfire and celebration,” he says. “She was standing on the second floor porch, and someone one shot her in the leg. The bullet was still in there when she died. They never did find out who did it.” The perpetrators of another incident, however, were identified. And punished. David’s father, also David “D.O.” McKoy, and a neighbor,

Herbert Wagner, had gotten hold of a stick of dynamite, probably intended for clearing a field, and set it off in the backyard of the house. Davis administered a memorial whipping for that little stunt, David laughs. The McKoy family moved out after Mammie became ill, and the only known renters, school teacher Tom Nixon and his wife, moved in for a year or two.

he Nixons were followed about 1953 by the John and Francis Clisby family. His wife continued a “teacherage” in the old house that Mammie had started, offering rooms – and reportedly exceptional meals – to Cullman teachers. After they died, other Clisby family members lived in the house into the 1970s. Hugh and Melba Allred, then owners of Warehouse Discount Groceries, next bought the house, returning it to a single-family dwelling. Known then known as the Stiefelmeyer-Allred House, it was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1978.

The Allreds were followed by a Mrs. Steele. As a co-owner of Antiquities downtown, her attraction to historic house was natural. Over the years, a second floor was added to the north side of the house along with a balcony over the south side of the front. Marcus and Claire Vlasse, now of Manheim, Pa., bought the house from Steele about 1995 and lived there for 10 years. “It was not in very good shape when I bought it,” he says. “I worked nonstop on it it It was a beautiful house when I got done with it.” The Vlasses sold the house Russell Wood. A local nurse, he and his family were living there when the tornado of April 2011 roared through Cullman County and downtown historic district. Though the old house was not flattened, repairs would be costly, and it was put up for sale. Rod Wynn happened by even as Russell was erecting the for sale sign. And new page turned in the history of one of Cullman’s oldest house. FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

The great fire of 1894 Starting in livery, inferno spread to 10 buildings

When powder blew, it was felt in Joppa & Vinemont

G.O. Dinckelberg, former JP, bartender, bank founder, died from injuries 3 days later Story by Steve Maze

ecause the memories are still fresh and raw, most of us vividly recall the devastating tornado that struck Cullman on April 27, 2011. But only ardent history buffs are familiar with another tragic event, the Cullman Fire of March 5, 1894, which also left Cullman’s citizens with broken hearts and unimaginable damage. In fact, one of the few remaining sources about the tragedy is an article published in the People’s Protest, one of perhaps three Cullman newspapers in existence at the time. According to the article, the fire was discovered in the upper and central part of A.J. York’s livery stable around 10 p.m. on that historically sensational Monday night. The stable was located in the McMinn, Koopman-Gerdes block (now 1st Ave. and 4th St. S.W.), southwest of the old opera house (currently the parking lot for Wells Fargo Bank). The large amount of dry hay, corn and oats in the livery stable storeroom above the animals stoked the fire to such fury that 19 horses and mules died in the blaze. Two city blocks north of the stable were consumed as the fire advanced to neighboring buildings. 42 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Unfortunately, the fire was so advanced by the time it was discovered that the flames were out of control. Some sources through the years indicate that the wind was coming out of the south, blowing northward. That would have made it very difficult, if not impossible, to extinguish the flames of the wooden structures. The newspaper did note that a brisk wind fanned the flames to renewed madness and 10 more buildings were lapped up, including Kinney Bros., Mr. Johnson’s business, the T.M. Wilhite home, the Methodist Church and the city dungeon. No purpose was listed for the dungeon, but it may have been used to house city inmates.

steel vault containing powder and dynamite, probably used by farmers to clear land, was stored in one of the warehouses owned by the Koopman-Gerdes mercantile store. A massive explosion occurred when the flames eventually licked their way to the vault. The newspaper’s description of the blast painted a picture of horror for those who witnessed it: A powder magazine, the explosion of which loosed the very hinges of Hades, sowed the heavens with fire and firebrands in every direction. Everyone was shocked as by an earthquake. The force of the explosion was so violent that no piece of the vault was ever found, and the tremor was felt as far away as Joppa and Vinemont. Windows were shattered for blocks,

and some people were badly injured and killed not only by the fire, but by flying debris as well. The courthouse, located where Cullman Savings Bank now stands, was also on fire and partially destroyed. (It was totally destroyed by another fire around 1910 and rebuilt in 1912 at the same location. In 1965, a new courthouse would be constructed on a different site where it was hit and damaged in the 2011 tornado disaster.)

he total loss in property from the fire was estimated between $25,000 and $50,000 – upwards of $1.3 million adjusted for inflation. According to the Vernon Courier newspaper in Lamar County, three lawsuits totaling $12,000 were filed against Koopman-Gerdes 10 days after the disastrous explosion and fire. Kinney Bros. sued for $10,000, while Josephine and Samuel Riddle sued for $1,000 each. No reasons for the lawsuits were mentioned. C.J. Mitchell, a clerk for Koopman-Gerdes, was killed instantly in the explosion that night. He was described by the newspaper “as one of those noble and enthusiastic natures who yield themselves to the temptation of excitement and danger and he had therefore exposed himself.” P.M. Alliason and Alvin Aldrich each suffered a broken leg. The young daughter of the Rev. George Lee suffered ghastly flesh wounds, while Dr. Hinkle and Frank Arndt had their faces badly burned. G.O. Dinckleberg perished from his injuries three days after the fire.

John Riley III, president and CEO of Cullman Savings Bank, says he was told that Dinckleberg was a volunteer firefighter and was injured while responding to the disaster, but he’s yet to find any documentation of that. David Green of the Cullman County Museum says he’d never heard that before about Dinckleberg, but he doesn’t find it surprising. Fireman or not, Dinckleberg was one of Cullman’s early settlers and well respected at the time of his death. He had served the community as a justice of the peace, worked as a bartender at Kullman Hall and was the founder of Cullman Building & Loan Association, a predecessor to Cullman Savings Bank.

Dinckleberg was buried in the

Cullman City Cemetery, about 20 feet from where city founder Col. Johann Gottfried Cullmann would be interred a year later. A charcoal rendering of him was discovered in the basement of Cullman Savings Bank a few years ago while employees were researching the bank’s history. Unfortunately, the inscription underneath the portrait was written in German and no one at the bank could initially decipher the verbiage. “We could make out ‘funder’ or ‘founder,’ but that was all,” says John Riley. “We had the inscription translated and it read: ‘G.O. Dinckleberg – Founder of Cullman Building & Loan Association.’” Drawn to this real-life character from the past, John did a historical portrayal of Dinckleberg at the

Working for Cullman County Families since 1887 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

This old photo shows Amelia Dinckleberg’s store, center right. Also in the photo is the concert hall. Out front are members of the fire department and the Hauk’s Family Band. An orchestra of family members, they played on board the ship that brought them to America in the late 19th century. They later became the core of the popular Cullman Concert Band, a predecessor of the Cullman Community Band featured on Page 30.

Cullman 2012 Oktoberfest. It was while at the Cullman City Cemetery that he realized Dinckleberg did not have a headstone at his gravesite. “His widow, Amelia, probably could not afford to have a headstone put up at the time of his death,” John says. “So the bank purchased a headstone for his grave.” If not already erected, it was expected to be in place by February 2014.

A fter its discovery,

Dinckleberg’s portrait initially hung in the lobby of Cullman Savings Bank, but today is proudly displayed in the entryway to the fourth floor of the bank. His picture serves not only as a reminder of the huge impact that the early settlers had on the rest of us, but also to the strength and fortitude that communities have to rebuild

after a tragedy like the Cullman fire of 1894 – or the tornado of 2011 for that matter. NOTE: A special thanks to the following for their assistance with this article: John Riley III, Cullman Savings Bank; David Green, Cullman County Museum; Virgil B. Fowler, Fowler Insurance; and Delton Blalock of The Cullman Tribune.

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1690 County Road 437 256-739-4666

Holly Pond Joppa

14660 Alabama Highway 91 256-352-4757

10840 Alabama Highway 278/91 256-796-5450 1438 Midfield Road 256-586-1733

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2253 County Road 437 256-739-2591

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They call it Stony Lonesome... Me? I call it a thrill One moment I’m climbing the steep hill astride the dark green Honda 250cc Recon revving between my legs. The next moment I’m thrown off backward, landing flat on my back on the dirt trail, watching in slow-motion lucidity as the all-terrain vehicle launches into the clear blue sky over my head, climbing, climbing. It stops, hangs in midair for a brief eternity, then starts falling back to earth – on top of me. Oh-oh, I think. Story and photos by David Moore

ool wind in my face. The high whine of an engine and transmission. Tires spinning as the ATV fishtails in slick mud. This is why I went riding in the first place to get a story on Stony Lonesome OHV Park. I welcomed talking to the people at the park about the 1,456-acre expanse of rugged terrain, the growing attention it’s attracting among off-highway vehicle enthusiasts across the country. But I wanted to experience the thrill for myself. In the end, played out in vivid slow-mo, I got a little more thrill than I bargained for. But, hey, it was well worth it. As editor of The Arab Tribune, I had followed the development of Stony Lonesome over the years in At left, Bryan Grimmett scoots up a mountain at Stony Lonesome. The Cullman County park is a big place. It encompasses more than 1,400 acres off Ala. 69 southwest of Dodge City.

The Cullman Times. When I left the non-stop job of maintaining the 80 Trib last June to start magazines in miles of rugged trails throughout the Cullman and Marshall counties, I park, which is located on Ala. 69 in knew, sooner or later, I would write a story on Stony Lonesome. So it is that I ended up on a glorious December morning sitting in the park office drinking coffee and talking to Doug Davenport, Mary Paden, Bryan Grimmett and Haley Russell. Doug heads the parks and recreation department for Cullman County. Mary manages Stony Lonesome, Bryan is the operations coordinator, I found it tricky shooting pictures while driving and Haley’s the office manager. the Recon. It was bumpy, and the throttle and The park, I learned, shutter are both designed for right-hand use. is named for Stony Lonesome, one of two main Breman, about seven miles southwest creeks winding through the valley of I-65. The trails zig, zag, twist, here. The other is Dorsey Creek, plummet, climb and contort across a which works just fine as the name varied terrain from permanent mud for a nearby church. But Stony flats around creeks, to Cullman-scale Lonesome? That’s far too rich a mountains that offer expansive views name to not use for a rugged OHV park. of the surrounding countryside 250 Bryan and his crew are the feet below. hands-on guys when it comes to the The park has 300 acres designated FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

for horseback riding, hiking and dirt biking, but, hands down, the OHV trails are the big attraction. Several main OHV “roads” course through the park, open to two-lane traffic. Scores of tighter, one-way trails veer off, shooting up dizzy slopes or meandering into soggy bottom land – irresistible terrain to someone on a dirt bike, ATV, UTV (utility task vehicle), ROV (recreational off highway) or good ol’ Jeep. “Just another fun day in the park,” as Bryan likes to say.

ll talk and no action makes Jack a dull boy. After coffee and note-taking, we headed outside. Though eager to hit the woods, my experience on an ATV was admittedly limited. A few years ago I manhandled a heavy-duty ATV into the Uncompahgre Peak area of the Colorado Rockies, but that was a one-time ride. The James Bond side of my Walter Mitty life hoped driving an ATV quickly came back to me, but I was forced to break down and get Bryan’s help on choking the cold engine and operating the Recon’s five-speed foot-shifter. Finally I was off with a roar. For the most part, I follow Bryan and Doug, my guides in the park’s UTV. Sometimes I let them get up the trail a ways then goosed the Recon, playing catch-up with the wind in my goggles. The little ATV handled great with plenty of zip. It was fun riding up the banked curves and gunning it in the mud. The main roads are wellkept and relatively smooth, but on the rutted side trails I wrestled with the steering – all part of the fun, especially when I won. At one point I lost Bryan and Doug and took a side trail up and back down a steep hill, the scooting Recon bringing a grin to my face with every bump I hit. But when they pointed out some of the serious climbs, I knew better than to even 48 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Bryan does donuts for lunch, so to speak, at one of his favorite mud holes on the ATV I used. Stony Lonesome doesn’t rent vehicles, so I procured the Honda Recon and a helmet from Jay Turner and Cody Hurt, who started nearby OffRoad Rentals in July to capitalize on the OHV park. Need an ATV? Give ’em a call: 256-338-7684 or 256-636-5542. think about taking them on. Three Kings, Vendetta and Who’s Your Daddy are backward flips down ridiculously steep inclines just waiting to happen. I was amazed when they told me that some drivers are so good they climb Who’s Your Daddy backward just for a change of scenery. That’s insane. And, no doubt, a rush. Just another fun day in the park.

oug had to leave later that morning for a meeting, so Mary took his place in the UTV with Bryan. I followed them back out with the idea of swapping seats and shooting some action photos of Bryan on the Honda. First stop was a boggy area where he meticulously covered every inch of the ATV I had missed with mud.

Then I climbed back on the Recon, following them to some switchbacks on a particularly steep mountainside, where Bryan and I would swap places again for more pictures. On the way he and Mary made a steep climb broken up halfway by an abrupt shoot-up over the lip of a berm. I’d gotten pretty frisky feeling on the Recon and wanted to gun it the rest of the way up the hill. So I paused below the berm until they disappeared beyond the edge above. Waiting until they were safely out of the way, I hit the Recon throttle. On the steep grade, the ATV was slower than usual taking off. But abruptly, the torque kicked in just as the nose of the Recon angled up sharply, throwing me – and my weight – back.

In 2009, its first year, Stony Lonesome attracted 4,340 day users. In 2011 that jumped to 8,369. It nearly doubled in 2012 to 16,247, and last year there were 17,738 day users. That doesn’t count participants and crowds at special events, such as fivemile hare scrambles, above, and Jeep jamborees, right. Dirt Therapy Day last July drew 527 people for mud races – with and without vehicles – below. One jamboree drew 32 Jeep teams from as far as California. “People say they are coming back and planning their vacation around it,” Doug Davenport said. “The more extreme it is, the more they like it.” Extreme? Grueling UTV rally raids run a nine-mile course. Assuming racers last the full four hours – half of it after sunset – they’ll complete 15-16 laps. Top time for a single lap is a scary 42 miles per hour. Just another fun day in the park. (Photos provided by Stony Lonesome.)

Acting far more instinctively than academically, I shifted physics into emergency mode. Raising my right leg, I caught the seat of the free-falling ATV on my boot. A partial brake, a better fulcrum. Deflecting momentum, I leveraged the machine sideways, helping with my hands. It crashed to earth missing most of my body. Momentum rolled me over with the ATV. For the first flip, machine and I were one. As we untangled, the ATV rolled on downhill. Flipping over once. Over again. And again. Scrambling to my feet, I gave brief chase but suddenly realized I had no clue if the engine was still running or not. Either way, I was pretty sure I didn’t want to tackle a tumbling Recon. Finally it came to rest upside down. Motor dead. I wobbled up to it and rocked it back and forth until I righted it. Bryan and Mary would know I wrecked, but for inexplicable reasons I didn’t want them to see the Recon lying ingloriously in the red dirt like a turtle stuck on its back. When they motored back to the edge of the hill wondering what was talking me so long, Bryan looked down at me, standing beside the upright Honda, and gave me a thumb up. But as clear as day I could see a question mark lingering over his thumb. I replied with two thumbs down. The steep road down one of the mountains features several hairpin curves. I paused part way down to take in the scene – and maybe gather my wits. The next thing I knew I was flat on my back in rough, red dirt and chert. I felt utterly strange staring up at the 432-pound machine climbing into the December blue sky. At some level I was aware of bearing witness to certain inevitable laws of physics occurring before my eyes with slow-motion clarity. Velocity, torque, balance, point of no 50 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

return, thrust, gravity. Does embarrassment figure in somewhere? It should.

he climbing Recon, looking so out of its element, reached its apogee, paused, then began to topple backward. Still in slow-mo. But now upside down. Falling back toward earth. Back toward me.

The incident on the hill curtailed

any more pictures for the day. But with apologies to Jay and Cody for the Honda – which survived better than expected – all was well that ended well. I was able to drive the ATV back to the park office, where we had a good laugh or two at my well-earned expense. “Just another fun day in the park,” Bryan said yet again. I grinned in spite of myself. No argument here. Wreck and all, it was a real thrill riding Stony Lonesome.

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THE FUTURE OF CULLMAN COUNTY

Duck River Reservoir Ensuring plentiful water for generations to come!

WATER IS AN ASSET, VITAL FOR OUR FUTURE!

DUCK RIVER WILL PROVIDE ENOUGH WATER FOR 75+ YEARS!

ADEQUATE & AFFORDABLE WATER NEEDED TO PROSPER & FLOURISH!

Vision Becoming a Reality!

City of Cullman A City of Character

204 2nd Avenue NE (P.O. Box 278, 35056) Cullman, AL 35055

Phone: (256) 775-7109 Fax: (256) 775-7132 Email: cityhall@cullmancity.org Web: www.cullmancity.org Social Media: www.facebook.com/CullmanCity or www.twitter.com/CullmanUSA

Max A. Townson, Mayor City Council: Garlan E. Gudger, Jr. (President), Andy Page, John W. Cook. Jenny Folsom, Clint Hollingsworth

Learn more at www.duckriver.org! FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Duck River land is a park just waiting to happen I

Story and photos by David Moore

t’s not so much that the city of Cullman will eventually have a new park offering water activities, camping, hiking and biking when the Duck River dam and lake are finally completed. Essentially, the park already exists, it’s just not open yet or ramped up to the level envisioned for it, which will include a 21-mile hiking and mountain bike trail around the lake and opportunities for environmental education. The park proper – perhaps two and half years from opening – will entail at least 35 acres of land immediately downstream from the dam construction site. It is accessed by a drive just off U.S. 278 west of the river bridge. A visitor expecting to find raw dirt and mud exposed by heavy construction equipment would be taken aback by the long, seasoned asphalt driveway rolling back into a very large, park-like yard strewn with well-spaced trees. It’s beautiful even with the crepe myrtles barren and the grass still winter white. If it feels like a yard, well, that’s because it is. Or was. The Duck River project necessitated the purchase of 1,200 acres of land, including 35 acres formerly owned by William “Ed” and Ruby Taylor, which backs up to where the 2,000-foot concrete and earthen dam is being built. Under the permit for this project, the Army Corps of Engineers required that project provide public recreational space as mitigation for the environmental impact. Cullman Park and Recreation will manage that space. The Taylor land is perfect for a park, according to Cullman’s expert on such matters, Park and Rec director John Hunt. Cullman already boasts a nationally recognized park and recreation program, and facilities at Duck River will add 52 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

another dimension to what the department already offers the public. John couldn’t be much happier if he were in a Geico commercial. “This is just great,” John says, driving a Gator across the property. “I could live here.”

ohn would love to take credit for the idea to develop an outdoor recreation area at Duck River, but he says he can’t. A lot of minds fed the idea. Tim Scott was one of the first struck by the potential of the Taylor property. “It’s too pretty a piece of property not to use it,” he says. Tim works at the Duck River project, supervising compliance with the Clean Water Act for the Cullman

The driveway into the property feels much more like

entering a park than part of a major construction site.

Utilities Board. A farmer himself with a background in the RC&D (Resource Conservation and Development Council) and the Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District, he feels driven to ensure that entities involved with the Duck River project are good stewards of the land and water. He’s already lined up several events there for the likes of the Future Farmers of America and continuing forestry education. During property acquisition about two and a half years ago, he took Susan Eller out to see the Taylor land. Eller is the Duck River project coordinator for the Cullman Economic Development Agency. “This is wonderful!” Susan recalls saying. “This is a park.”

Last summer, she, Tim and Bill St. John of St. John and Associates in Cullman, met with John Hunt and CPR’s program and events director Christy Turner to discuss park plans. The project’s permit requires restrictive covenants on all of the property, including recreational space. “So, before we set those restrictions, we all set down and said here are things we might someday like to see in the park,” Susan says. “It’s all still a dream really, but there is a lot of potential for the area.”

he list of tentative plans for the new park is rather broad. The existing house, a somewhat dated rancher, will be converted for office space downstairs. The living space FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

upstairs, John says, will be remodeled and made available for rent as an event site for weddings, reunions and the like. A $2,500 grant from Alabama Mountains, Rivers and Valleys RC&D was used to develop an observation site near the driveway. Incorporating an existing set of wooden steps down a 20-foot embankment to the river, city crews poured a concrete deck with a stone-lined fire pit and wood railings. Below, flat tabletop boulders jut out into the river. Across the water, rugged rock bluffs are visible through the winter foliage. The river level through the park will 54 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

be strictly regulated and should remain constant, John explains. That will go a long ways toward ensuring the beauty of the park. At some point, he’d like to tie the banks together with a swinging bridge across the river, which is maybe 60 feet wide at this point. Primitive campgrounds – which would add to the park’s acreage, are planned for the other side of the river. “We’re still two and a half years out, but we had to put in a preliminary plan to the Corps of Engineers,” John says.

ork is well underway on the hiking/biking trail. Under the

direction of Rodney Boyles of St. John and Associates, nine miles of the circumference trail are already built. The reservoir will have a 100-foot buffer around it managed for natural areas. No development inside the buffer area will be allowed with the exception of the trail, which will not be open to motorized vehicles. The pathway will be accessible from two trailheads with restrooms. John and Rodney happened to meet up near one of these places. John says he and his son rode bikes on the existing stretch of trail in December. “It is unbelievable,” he says. “It kicked my butt. I had to push the bike out the last mile.” “It’s got some ups and downs to it,” Rodney says of the trail. “We are making really good headway on it.” Outside of the trail, much of what remains to do on the park is cleaning up brush, such as a wild privet area near the river There will be no charge to visit the recreation area. “Sometimes you just need free recreation that allows people to experience the beauty of nature,” John says. Any revenues will come from rentals of, say, paddle boats, fishing boats and equipment or, perhaps, minimal camping fees. Until money begins coming in, the new park will not be on an official, allocated budget. “We are working the property with the resources we have,” John says. “We’re not letting it get out of control.”

he park, essentially, is icing on a much bigger cake. The goal of the Duck River project is to provide Cullman County residents, farmers and industry another source of drinking water other than the 24 million gallons available daily from 536-acre Lake Catoma. The 640-acre Duck River reservoir will increase the county’s daily capacity by 32 million gallons. It’s a goal that’s not come quickly – it’s been in the works since the mid1990s – or free of controversy. After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Steps from an observation platform, originally built by Ed Tayor, take John Hunt down to the banks of the Duck River issued a permit for the project more than a decade ago, it was challenged twice in court on environmental grounds that dragged out for years. Unforeseen issues popped up last year – geological concerns for the dam, higher-than-expected flood standards. Those issues were resolved but not without upping the project price from $68 million to a pre-bid estimate of

$110 million, which is expected to raise water rates. Mayor Max Townson hates the increase but strongly believes in the need for the Duck River project. He well remembers the scare during the drought of 2007. “Everyone does,” he says. Water use was restricted as Catoma’s level fell to within 60 days of slurping dry.

As he steers the Gator across the future parkland at Duck River, John Hunt steers the conversation from controversy. At this point, that should be in the past anyway. “First and foremost,” he says, “we will have the water. That’s the real blessing. We’re just happy to be part of the project and provide a new and different park for everyone to enjoy.”

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FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

A family photo shows the Taylors on a little outing at the Duck River, which ran through the property. Their former home, in a 2005 photo, is now being converted into an event center and office.

After working for 35 years on their ‘park,’ Taylors are curious to see the new one Story by David Moore

It was early spring of 1973 when William “Ed” Taylor

first saw the property. It was rough land. Pine beetles were laying waste to the trees. But from the 47-foot bluff overlooking the Duck River he could see the woods beginning to bloom. Water gurgled invitingly beside the big, flat rocks. Ed readily saw the potential. “I bought it with the idea of building a house there and raising a family,” he says. He and his wife, Ruby, built the first stage of their house there and, in 1977, moved from Cullman to the land just off U.S. 278. He spent 35 years turning their property into an unofficial park. Cullman Utilities Board is now building a dam on the Duck River, and, immediately below the site, Cullman Park and Recreation is turning the Taylors’ former property into an official park. When they moved from the property to Vinemont, Ed and Ruby took with them not only half a lifetime’s accumulation of stuff, but 35 years of memories. They had watched deer graze in the front yard, red foxes scurry across the property. Several generations of raccoons grew up there. At night, walking by the river, they’d hear beavers tail-slapping the water. A former Boeing engineer who worked with NASA to put men on the moon, Ed was later employed at Bendix56 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

Westinghouse in Cullman, finally retiring from 3M in Decatur. His property was his hobby, and he poured untold gallons of sweat-equity into it. He cleared dead and dying trees. Put in a driveway. Fought the shade of some 300 trees in the “yard” trying to get grass and other ground cover to grow. He planted crepe myrtles, muscadines and a garden. Added onto the house. Constructed outbuildings and steps down the bluffs to the river. There were runoff issues with which to deal. He installed underground drains. As for the river, Ed has seen it as a trickle and a raging torrent 150 feet wide. He and Ruby watched their children, Juanita and Shawn, grow up there. Later, their grandchildren tossed rocks in the river. Many was the time Ed simply strolled around his property, feeling lucky just to be there. “But life moves on,” he says literally and philosophically. And so did he and Ruby.

hen the Duck River Dam project finally began to happen, they were basically sitting on ground zero. In 2011, they sold their 35 acres. “If I had my choice, I would not have moved,” Ed says. “But the city dealt with us in a fair manner.” Along with Nina Deaton, Ed’s mother, who had lived on the property in a mobile home, the Taylors moved to Vinemont. The idea was to get a smaller place with less grass to cut. They got a smaller place, Ed laughs, but he ended up with more yard to mow. It’s a consolation, he says, that their former homesite will become a park that others are sure to enjoy. And, yes, he’s interested in returning once the dam is completed and the park is open. “I’ll be curious,” says the man who first saw a “park” there, “to see what they do with it.”

Out ’n’ About

Blake Britton photographed the golden steeple crosses at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown Cullman using his quadcopter. The drone-like unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is radio-controlled and carries aloft a video camera. Blake pulled this late afternoon picture from a video.

Farewell; thanks for the Cullman treatment “Y

Blake has enjoyed shooting pictures since using his dad’s camera

as a kid on a cross-country family vacation. Even with an affinity for travel, the Route 66 sign at Rumor’s Deli is only part of the

reason he likes this photograph so much. It also captures a bit of his personal philosophy. Plus, well, he just loves Rumor’s.

Story and photos by Blake Btitton

ou never know if you will like it until you try it.” Anyone ever asked you that? This could have been asked of me about Cullman prior to my arrival in 2008. Sure, I had visited here a couple of times before, but only for a few hours. You most definitely do not get the full Cullman treatment in just a few hours. It can take days, months, even years. After moving from Cullman twice since 2008, I realized it was home to me and have come back again. Probably sooner than later you realize that Cullman really does have a lot to offer. I didn’t really understand how much Cullman really has to offer when I arrived. I was dragged to church against my will. What’s funny is that I loved it so much that I joined the choir. I know it sounds like the punch line of a bad joke, but it isn’t. I found a true family at Grace Episcopal Church and that was something I had never really experienced before. It was after I shot a photograph of a church that FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

It was the snowy shot at right that he took of Grace Episcopal Church in March 2009 that first brought Blake Britton’s photography skills to the attention of local residents. Blake shot the award-winning photo, below left, capturing Heather Brackman Byers having fun dancing with Larry Rowlette – aka Col. Cullman – at the 2011 Oktoberfest. It’s hard for a photographer to pass up a nice waterfall. That Larkwood Falls, below right, is so close to Cullman makes it even more attractive for Blake, shown here in a self-portrait. I had people tell me that I should start to develop my talents in photography, so I decided to start my own business as a photographer. I think I learned the most with Cullman Oktoberfest. I entered the photo contest twice, with something to prove. I wanted to be noticed on a larger scale. Little did I realize how many people I would connect with. You see, Cullman, despite its size, is really like a small community filled with many small businesses. One of my favorites has to be Rumor’s Deli. Not only does it have great food and friendly service, but Annette Harris has made the place into a most interesting place just to look at. Go inside. You’ll see what I mean. I 58 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL

could easily spend hours in that place because it is unique, which makes it a good representative of Cullman. What’s intriguing about Cullman is sometimes what you don’t see is right in front of you. Depending on the amount of rainfall, you can visit what I call Larkwood Falls. Simply gorgeous. Go right outside of town, and you find darkness. So dark in fact that you can look up into the sky and see millions of stars. But what I love most are the people here. As a photographer, I’ve had the fortune of meeting many, but there are many others I haven’t met. I still have many places to visit, too. That’s why saying goodbye really is hard to do. I feel like I’m leaving

Cullman unfinished in many ways. An opportunity has come up in the United Kingdom, however, that I cannot turn down. I am moving there soon to start the next phase of my life and to expand my horizons and business farther than I have ever imagined. I am even going to new heights by branching into aerial photography and videography. I’ve seen and experienced many people, places and cultures around the world, but none quite like Cullman. Cullman, whether you realize it or not, is a truly unique gem. One that will forever be in my heart. You will definitely be missed. At least I have photographs to take with me.

256-734-6430