Loving a house

The Brindleys fell in love... then they fell in love with this house

The tornado of 1908 ripped off the front porch of the house. Prior to that, the front door entered into the room on the right, now a guest bedroom. Along with trees that canopied East Main, the tornado of 2010 took out a 120-year-old dogwood, two pecans in the front and another one in the backyard.

Story and photos In 1819, Mace, then 18, led an oxToday, it’s going stronger than ever with By David Moore drawn wagon that moved his mother eight employees, three pharmacists, and

Tand eight siblings to a new life in Blount plans in the works for a new location on heir love grew daily, heavy County, which then encompassed most Sand Mountain Drive. breathing and all. Seriously. Every of North Alabama. A sharp young man, “We still have that mom and pop feel,” morning they’d go out and run three miles he soon became chief clerk in the Blount Steven says. through Albertville. East Main was part of County Probate Judge’s Office and later And a little history, too. Some of his their route and took them past the singleprobate judge and the county’s first state older patients recall shopping back in the story Victorian with three front gables senator. day at Brindley Grocery, owned by his built in 1899. grandfather, Ed. And so Steven Brindley and Jessica Smith, in love Jessica, daughter of and engaged at the time, Michelle and Terry Harvey also fell in love with the old and William Smith grew house, even as they huffed up in the Snead community and puffed past it. just south of Marshall

“We bragged on the County, spending a lot of house every time we passed time on the 40-acre farm of it,” Jessica says. “We loved her grandparents, Wayne it.” and Joyce Noles.

At the time, the house Like Steven, Jessica got was owned by Mike and a pharmacy job at age 16, in Marie McCollum. Over the her case through her mom, years, Jessica and Steven a shift supervisor at CVS in had been inside separately: Albertville. She went on to he helped cater a few graduate from Susan Moore events; she visited during a in 2010, and continued girls’ night out with Marie. working in the field of

Mike – known as an pharmacy until 2017, Albertville “real estate when she pursued her true icon” and co-founder Jessica and Steven Brindley, pictured in the right side of the front passion. Jessica became a of ReMax – and Marie room, have fallen in love with their house. One of his adventures Scentsy consultant in 2011, had made a number of was reassembling the huge cabinet, at left, which was a direct sales company improvements over time shipped from an out-of-state antique store. out to fill the world with without detracting from fragrance. their home’s inherently Jessica continues her aged graces. Scentsy work today from

Jessica and Steven talked as they In addition to exploring much of the her home office. She’s made a huge splash jogged by about how completely cool it area, Mace settled in what is now the with her sales, ranking in the company’s would be to live there, but it was, they Simcoe community in Cullman County, top 100 out of 150,000 consultants were sure, a complete fantasy. Houses on built and operated two toll pikes, was worldwide and earning incentive trips East Main – many of them historic, like director of the State National Bank of both nationally and internationally. the McCollum’s – seldom sprouted for Decatur, and served as state tax collector. “I did find my calling – that was sale signs. Steven is the son of Mike and Angie helping other people become financially

But against all odds, their fantasy Brindley of Albertville; his brother, Paul, stable and debt free,” Jessica says. came true. lives with his family in Tennessee. At age “Having not been to college, that was the

And it happened far sooner than their 16, Steven got a job in a pharmacy and security that I wanted. “ wildest dreams might have conjured. knew that’s what he wanted to do before Scentsy notwithstanding, it was –

Hgraduating in 2004 from Albertville. perhaps not too surprisingly – through istory, it bears saying, runs deeply “I saw some of the impact pharmacy pharmacy that they met. in Steven’s family, as evidenced by the existence of the Brindley International could have on people’s lives,” he says. He also knew he wanted to return to In July 2012, after five years at Historical Foundation. His ancestors Albertville, which he did after earning CVS, Jessica and Steven started working were among the earliest settlers in the his doctor of pharmacy from Auburn together at Brindley’s Family Pharmacy. region, one of them being Mace Thomas University’s Harrison School of Pharmacy “He had a stereo in his little Maxima Payne Brindley, the namesake of Brindley in 2011. and thought he was cool,” she banters. Mountain in Marshall and Cullman That October, he started Brindley’s Steven snorts. counties. Family Pharmacy on Carlisle Street. As a certified pharmacy tech and

The house has about 4,200 square feet and features original oak floors in many rooms along with 12-f00t ceilings. The left side of the front room, above, has doors leading into a guest room, left, which they hope to convert this year into a den with a wet bar, and their formal dining room, below.

his only full time employee (other than his dad, who was a driver), Jessica did everything from cleaning toilets to compounding medications. “And counting to 30,” they laugh, referring to the fact that most prescriptions call for 30 doses.

“It was just the two of us,” he says. “We wore all of the hats. I cleaned toilets, too.”

Their first date was six months in coming and was unplanned. Well, maybe.

Steven said he needed to do some specialty Christmas shopping at the mall in Leeds and suggested that Jessica tag along.

“I told him no, and he said we could take his new convertible,” she laughs. “I fell for it.”

“No,” Steven insists. “It was my charm!”

“He thought he was something and a bag of chips,” Jessica retorts. “But his parents are precious, and I wanted to buy them a Christmas gift.”

So they packed into the BMW.

“We had a blast,” Jessica says. “He cracked me up. We laughed more than I had ever laughed and ate Chinese food, my guilty pleasure.” “From that day forward,” she confesses, “we didn’t spend many days apart.”

In June 2016, Jessica invited Steven to join her and two of their friends on a Scentsy trip she’d earned to Disney World. He conspired with their friends – Trey and Holley Christian – to make the most of it.

Steven rented a boat for them all to take out one night to watch the grand finale fireworks. In the midst of the pyrotechnics, he planned to take a knee, propose, and offer Jessica a ring.

“He was nervous all night,” she snickers.

By the time Trey suggested they both stand in front of the boat for a photo, Jessica had an inkling of what was about to happen … and it came true as fireworks exploded over Cinderella’s Castle behind them.

Turns out they were not done with castles. Jessica and Steven married April 22, 2017 at Cook Castle in Fort Payne.

While not a castle, they’d been running every morning before work since 2015 past the McCollum House – their dream house – on East Main.

When the McCollums decided to

The previous owners remodeled the kitchen and built a wing with a garage and a second-floor master bedroom suite, top right. Jessica converted a part of the suite into her Scentsy workshop. The old part of the house includes a study and the “blue room,” left, one of their favorites.

downsize in early 2017, knowing how much Jessica and Steven admired their house, Marie called and told them it was for sale.

A few days later, she and Mike gave them the grand tour.

“During the three-hour tour, we learned the history of the home and all the characteristics of it,” Steven says. Not that it was necessary, but “Mike did a heck of a sales job.”

Beyond all of the charm and character of the grand old house, a key selling point was the renovations Mike and Marie had made, including an upscale bathroom in the right side of the house and a two-story addition to the left side that created a garage with a master bedroom suite above it, walk-in closets and a work and storage room for Jessica’s lucrative Scentsy business.

The house was all they could have hoped for.

“We did not need to buy a project,” Steven says, not with them working full time.

“I needed it move-in ready,” Jessica adds.

So they moved in March.

Sadly, Mike McCollum died July 26, 2017, at Shephard’s Cove, where Marie was a former president of the hospice board of directors. He was 68.

“She is like a young grandmother to me,” Jessica says of Marie. “I love her.”

Past that sadness, the Brindleys have found much happiness and joy in their old home.

Their graciously large deck and patio overlook an immense backyard and beg for entertaining, which they enjoy. So they share their home with friends from a variety of backgrounds they’ve met over time.

Two blowouts have already become annual events. The Friday before Christmas brings together a crowd of 50- 60 revelers for holiday joy.

Their egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter attracts some 70 folks. The men hide tons of eggs, 35 kids hunt them for hours and the women laugh and catch up on life on the back deck.

It’s become part of the Brindleys’ home, and they a part of the community – and, perhaps especially with Steven,

it’s a part of his roots. He feels a tie to neighboring Brindley Mountain along with the family’s historic association.

It’s also special, he says, to come home and start a business in Albertville, where he grew up.

“I knew I loved the town and people in the surrounding communities.” With a grin toward Jessica, Steven adds, “And I wish I had known her sooner.”

“Ahhh …” she says.

“There is, sense of community. There are people who helped raise me,” he says. “And to be able to give back to them is important. We couldn’t do what she does or what I do without the support of our community. We couldn’t do any of it without the support of our community.”

That includes living in a house that’s been a part of Albertville for 121 years.

“And we have not had to add anything to it yet,” Jessica says.

“That makes me nervous,” Steven injects,” using the word ‘yet.’”

Most of the 1.5-acre lot stretches into a huge – especially by downtown standards – backyard. A terraced patio is great for entertaining. The back of the house shows the two-story garage with an upstairs master suite, on the right, which the McCollums added in 1996. It’s accessed by stairs in the large windowed “Christmas tree room.”