From pork chops and fried okra to shrimp and grits, you'll find food you'll fall in love with!

Food is creativity for rural  southerners. The raw ingredients are there at hand. There is instant gratification for both the cook and the recipients of her bounty. Food is the language everybody speaks and understands.

Discovering the hidden culinary gems of Rural Southwest Alabama is an adventure in itself.  This is a sampler of the delicacies we offer on the culinary tour. Other sites and dishes can be developed to meet your personal requirements.

ATMORE:

Viking Cooking School with chef at the Windcreek Casino and Spa. Participants will stay in the Casino Hotel resort for this leg of the journey. Coffee tasting with local importer and blender. There is a small coffee blending café and art gallery in the downtown area of Atmore. The Barista will prepare a variety of coffees for your sampling pleasure and discuss the attributes and merits of each with you. Small package of the blend of your choice to take with you.

MONROEVILLE:

Luncheon on the Veranda at the Woodlands. Owner of this 1830s antebellum home will serve a luncheon to you either on the Veranda or in the formal dining room of the house. Menu options will be offered for you to choose prior to arrival what you like from among the options available.

Tequila Mockingbird Reception – experience a reception with hors d’ourves of local specialties including the famous Tequila Mockingbird cocktail. Served up with live music in a historic bank building and a walking tour of the downtown Monroeville area.

To Kill a Mockingbird Dinner in an authentic 1930s setting using local recipes for foods mentioned in the book. In the hometown of Harper Lee’s immortal “TO Kill a Mockingbird” you will experience an immersion in the local culture of 1930s Maycomb there the story takes place. There will be a dinner in the unique 1930s Hybart House, a property of the Monroe County Heritage Museum.

BEATRICE

Spend the night in 3 period Bed and Breakfast houses. These houses are authentic to the period of the 1930s. Some are older, but all seem as though you are stepping back in time. These are comfortable, but not luxurious. This is a culture immersion experience.

Breakfast with locally made Monroe sausage made form a local family recipe. Other breakfast dishes will be complimentary of the sausage as a centerpiece. Sausage can be ordered and sent to you from the plant.

CAMDEN/GEES BEND

Black Belt Treasures – Visit a local art and handmade product gallery with a midmorning coffee break featuring locally made cookies served with your choice of tea or coffee. Local artisans will exhibit their craft with demonstrations, Q and A sessions or with a painting lesson for you. Dinner in the Middle of the Day at Gaines Ridge, one of the Alabama 100 Places to Eat Before You Die. You will be served a menu designed for you when you plan the trip. Be sure to ask for the Black Bottom Pie and the homemade rolls.

Gees Bend Ferry  and Quilt Collective – ride the Gees Bend Ferry across the Alabama River to visit the world famous Gees Bend Quilters. See their quilts that have been exhibited in museums all over the world. Hear them tell their poignant stories of hardships and their art. Ask them to do a mini concert of their songs.

SELMA

St James Hotel – stay at the historic St James hotel. It is on the Alabama Ghost Trail because room 301 is haunted by Jesse James who was held prisoner there.

Breakfast at the Pancake House This is watering hole of the local take tellers. Serving Breakfast for over 50 years.

Tour of Selma’s Museum – Tour Customized from among the 5 local museums according to your interests

Luncheon at White Force Cottage of Dinner with a candlelight tour of Sturdivant Hall. White Force Cottage was the home of the sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of the President. The owner was a spy for the Confederacy, smuggling medicines through enemy lines in her petticoats. Her house is on the grounds of Sturdivant Hall. It is on the Alabama Ghost Trail. Hear its ghost story and tour the mansion with its period furniture. Your meal will be tailored to you wishes from menu choices planned by you before the trip.

MARION

Overnight in one of four B&BS with breakfast included. There are different priced options to meet your personalized needs. Marion is a historic sleepy little Black Belt town with 2 universities – Marion Military Institute for men and Judson College for Women.

Holmestead Farms – the oldest working farm in Alabama since 1832. There is a grist mill and mini museum in the old country store. There is a large collection of antique farm equipment to see. There is a guided walking tour of the farm available. There will be a meal with their organic beef as the centerpiece.

GREENSBORO

Pie Lab – a tasting dinner of savory and sweet pies made from scratch in the kitchen here. The project was designed to put locals to working doing something they love – cooking. Located in a repurposed historic building. Overnight in antebellum B&B owned by the Cobb Family. Relax with cocktails on the porch.

DEMOPOLIS

Gaineswood and Bluff Hall tours – there are two famous antebellum homes in Demopolis of two entirely different types. Gaineswood is a small palace with many unique architectural features and includes a harmonium instrument designed by the original owner. Bluff Hall is a typical planter’s home of the antebellum area. It houses many interesting collections of the Marengo County Historical Society including a collection of antique textiles.

Three Lunch Options

Lunch at Foscue House – This is a Carolina Farmhouse antebellum property. It is rustic and unpainted. It serves local delicacies. You may preplan your meal of order form the menu.

Kora’s Place – Soul food at its most authentic. Featured in Alabama’s 100 Places to Eat before You Die

Taste of Home – Mennonite Bakery in Livingston – a further drive, but worth it. Homemade bread, rolls, cakes and pies (crust is homemade). You can choose from soups, salads, sandwiches and a daily plate lunch special.

THOMASTON

Pepper Jelly Delights- visit the Alabama Rural Heritage Center and be treated to a unique culinary experience with dishes made with their signature Mama Nems Pepper Jelly. When you sit down you will be immediately offered a hors d’ourve of pepper jelly over doctored cream cheese and a glass of wine. You will then go into the kitchen and see the chef prepare unusual dishes featuring pepper jelly. Some you may sample are Pepper Jelly Omelet, Black Belt Eggs Benedict with barbeque and pepper jelly. You may even have a salad with Pepper Jelly Dressing. The Center is housed in a building renovated by the Auburn University Rural Studio under the direction of Sambo Mockbee, who received a MacArthur Genius Award for his work.

THOMASVILLE

Storytellers Tour – Walking tour of Downtown Thomasville with stories previously told by Kathryn Tucker Windham known as Alabama’s Storyteller.  She is the centerpiece of the National Tale Tellin’ Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee and a National Public Radio Commentator. You will be given an autographed copy of her Treasured Alabama Recipes. You will have dinner as guests in a private home with wine on the porch. You will tour the owner’s art collection including many Black Belt pieces. After dinner you will visit the Kathryn Tucker Museum to view the movie “The Story of a Teller”.

JACKSON

You will overnight at the newly opened Hampton Inn here. You will breakfast at the Kimball House owned by City of Jackson with local delicacies prepared by a famous local caterer.

ST STEPHENS

Dinner on the Ground at St Stephens. St Stephens was the first Territorial Capitol of Alabama. Visit the Old Town Archeological Dig and see the artifacts retrieved. Do a walking tour of the town area. See the Indian Bathtubs in the creek. Stroll around the rim of the lake. Note the prehistoric fossils in the lime rock. Enjoy lunch at the Old Courthouse Museum prepared by the museum staff and volunteers. You will experience a traditional meal such as one served at the famous Dinner on the Ground Homecomings with a few modern twists

This is a sampler of the delicacies we offer on the culinary tour. Other sites and dishes can be developed to meet your personal requirements.

VISIT INTERESTING PLACES AND BE WELL FED AT THE SAME TIME!

Please contact either Melissa Hamilton at (334) 636-2996 or Linda Vice (334) 636-5506

Ghost Stories in Alabama

I have lived in the same house for 38 years. It has been my haven for all this time. The moment I walked in it said to me “Where have you been all this time?” It was love at first sight. I never hesitated to buy the house even though my wasband (husband at the time) was out of town. I knew I was first in line to see the house and there were others waiting. I knew that the house and I belonged together. WE still are. The Wasband came and went, the children left to go to school and then to start their own lives. I left for a time to go to the city to work, but I kept the house. I always knew that other things and people might come and go, but the house and I belonged together forever.

I am not the only one who felt that way. Mr. George Dunning, the original owner of the house, never left either. He is the resident ghost. I met him early on. I was never afraid. While I was gone to Birmingham, for almost 4 years, he protected the house. Nobody ever broke it even though the whole town knew it was vacant.

George shows himself to me and others in various ways. The first I knew of him was through the sound of a radio. At the time, my son was a teenager. He had a television in his room upstairs. When I would come in the back door to the kitchen, I would hear the sound of muffled broadcasts from somewhere in the house. I would mutter about Jeremy leaving the television on again and would walk through the dining room into the hall and start up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, the sound would cease. I would go on up just to check and make sure the television was off. It always was. This went on for years.  At various times, I would catch a glimpse of George, usually thorough his sticking his head into a room quickly when I had company. Sometimes other people would see him, too. I never had the experience of meeting him face on and having a conversation. I just heard the radio and caught brief glimpses of him. I did get a good enough look at him to know what he looked like. He was a very handsome man. He was tall, with dark hair and that kind of rosy cheeks under the olive skin that some dark men have.

Two mysteries about George were cleared up for me one day when two men rung my doorbell. I looked out the door and they didn’t have to tell me who they were because one of them looked just like George. He was shorter, but there was no doubt of the family resemblance. They were two of George’s grandsons. Their family had lived in the house with their grandfather for a time after World War II until their father had re-enlisted in the Army. They told me that their grandfather always sat in the dining room to listen to the radio. This was why I heard the sound in the kitchen, dining room and in the hall next to it.

George has not gone anywhere. I am sure of that because he has certain sign that let me know his presence. One of them is that sometimes when I am gone away for a couple of days, I will come back and find the house exactly as I left it, only the front door, still locked, will be slightly opened. It can’t be detected except right at the door because it appears fastened until you get right up to it. No one has ever come into the house. Nothing is disturbed. The last time this happened was last weekend. I went on a trip and came home on Saturday afternoon. I came in the back door and went straight to my bedroom for a nap. I never unlocked the front door. After I lay down, I heard a friend calling me. She had stepped inside the front door and was calling. I have verified with the men renovating my house that they locked all the doors and they always do. George was at it again.

Some people are frightened of the thought of a ghost, as I have shared with you before. There are friends and relatives who will not stay with me because of George. I think of him as a kind of guardian angel, but I don’t try to convince other people because they are entitled to the reality they have created for themselves. I prefer to think as my friend, the late Kathryn Tucker Windham always said “I have heard of many, many ghosts in my time and only two of them were bad. That’s much better than the odds with living people.”  George is benevolent presence. I really believe he was communicating with me telepathically when I came here the first time. I believe the “Where have you been all this time?” that I heard from the house was him speaking to me. He knew I would love the house as he did and I do. A fact I learned later, some time into the residency in the house, was that my great grandfather Spinks was the contractor that built the house for George Dunning. Some might say the voice I heard that first day was of my ancestors calling me to the house. I don’t think so because George still lives here.

If you are a science fiction fan or a student of quantum physics, you might say that since all time/space is simultaneous, that we are both living our lives in parallel realities. That’s okay with me, too. That would explain the door incidents; he is just leaving the house to go do whatever he did when he lived here. Anyway, it’s been a good house sharing for many years. The renovations don’t seem to bother him. Maybe they’re only being done in 2011 reality and his world remains the same. These are more things for the Front Porch Philosopher to ponder on the new upstairs front porch.

The Washington County State Public Lake (or Emmet Wood Lake) is a 84 acre lake located 2 miles west of Millry.

The Washington County State Public Lake (or Emmet Wood Lake) is a 84 acre lake located 2 miles west of Millry, Alabama. Clean public restrooms and concessions are available, including a wide variety of fishing tackle, live and artificial baits, and other fishing supplies, as well as drinks and refreshments. An accessible fishing pier makes it easy to reach deeper water without using a boat. Fish attractors have been added around the lake. Boats are also available for rent; a launching ramp is available for anglers with their own boats. Boats may have an outboard motor attached, but anglers may not use the outboard motor, only the trolling motor. Picnic pavilions are available; contact the lake manager.

Washington County State Public Lake has both primitive camping and RV spaces available. These spaces can be reserved at the concession building. This lake is a popular camping location. It is advised to call ahead, especially if you are interested in a holiday weekend.

Bass fishing is good year-round, with the biggest usually caught from the middle of January through the middle of March when they are near the bank. Bluegill and shellcracker (redear sunfish) are caught by bank and boat anglers from spring through summer. Catfish are caught year-round, but the summer and fall months are best.

For additional information, call (251) 846-2512

Healing Springs is located in north Washington County near Millry. It has been rumored to have healing powers since an Indian Chief discovered them three hundred years ago.

Healing Springs was once a thriving resort in the early part of the 20th Century. People came by train to stay at the hotel and drink the water. There were originally 33 springs which dwindled to 17. There are now three that overflow and are operational. They are designated as being for different conditions.

People come at all hours to collect the water to drink. The gates are open to the public during all the daylight hours. There is a man who lives on the site of the ruins of the old hotel and springs who leaves the gate open when he goes to work, then closes it at night.

Virginia Radley, the owner of the Healing Springs property has a house on the property that she visits frequently. She tells of the man who came by just a few nights ago about ten o’clock. The gates were locked and he blew his car horn to get somebody’s attention. He had driven from Quitman, Mississippi to get water. When told that the springs were open only in daylight hours, he said “You don’t understand. I just got off from work and came straight here. My whole family drinks this water for their heath, including my elderly mother. She depends on this water.” He was allowed to get the water, but told in the future, he would have to make other arrangements.

Nearest Highway: AL 17
Daylight Hours only

Enjoy a selection of video interviews on our ghost stories! www.youtube.com/user/AlabamasGhostTrail

Old Cahawba – there are two sites on the videos that depict stories at Cahawba. To see the sites you will need to check in at the Visitors’ Center. There are actually 4 sites around the park that are part of the annual October Haunted History Tours. For more information about this event visit the Dallas County Chamber of Commerce website. www.SelmaAlabama.com or visit the Old Cahawba website. Information Center: N32°19’10.3”W087°06’16.1”

Tally Ho – This is a restaurant open to the public in Selma during the evening hours Wednesday through Sunday. The origin of the restaurant was as a hunting lodge and, some say a speakeasy during the days of prohibition. The Ghost who haunts the place is named Betty. She was reputed to be a party girl who frequented there during the early days. Others say that she worked there. Betty wore lilac perfume and it can still occasionally be smelled. She turns off the light and causes the chandelier in the main dining room to sway in front of guests. N32°26’23.7”W087°01’53.1”

Old Depot Museum – This was the Train Depot in Selma and prior to that was a munitions depot during the civil war. There are many early artifacts housed in this museum. The ghost who lives here will cause the elevator in the building to go up and down by itself and opens the door. Paranormal investigators <Ghost Hunters> have been here. This museum is open to the public daily. Admission charged. N32°24’31.5”W087°00’50.6”

Vaughn Smitherman Museum – This museum was first a girls’ school, then a military school, then served as a hospital during the Civil War. It became a hospital after the war up until the late 20th century. It has ghosts that have been investigated by Ghost Hunters. This museum is open to the public daily. Admission charged. N32°24’19.2”W087°01’32.4”

Sturdivant Hall –This is Selma’s official antebellum mansion and house museum. The Ghost who haunts the house is said to be that of the original owner. This story is told in Kathryn Tucker Windham’s 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey (Jeffrey Books) book. This museum is open Tues. – Sat. or by appointment. Admission charged. N32°24’47.2”W087°01’43.0”

Kathryn Tucker Windham House – This is the private residence of Alabama’s
Storyteller. This is a 1950s house that has its own ghost named Jeffrey. He
is the Jeffrey in 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey (Jeffrey Books). Copies of the book are available throughout the Black Belt at gift shops and galleries.

St James Hotel – The ghost of Jessie James is said to inhabit a 3rd floor room here. He has been spotted on a regular basis. The theory as to why his ghost is here and not in the place where he died is that he was incarcerated here and had such a good time that he chose to remain. The ladies of the town fought over the opportunity to bring him food because he was so charming and appreciative. This room is available to stay in by request. N32°24’25.0”W087°01’04.7”

The Castle – This is a private residence. For details on the story and other ghostly landmarks, visit the Chamber of Commerce and ask for a Haunted History brochure. Ask about the Annual Haunted History Tours.. N32°24’49.7”W087°01’29.6”

Brownstone Manor – This is a private residence which is said to be haunted by the original owner’s wife. Her presence has been independently verified by a number of psychics who were not connected with each other. They independently arrived at the same information. The house has been featured on Ghost Hunters and on HGTV.N32°24’29.3”W087°01’42.6”

Baker House – This is a private residence that is a Bed and Breakfast where you can stay and do your own investigating. There was a Union Soldier who died in the house during the Civil War. For more details visit the Dallas County Chamber of Commerce..

PERRY COUNTY :

Carlyle Hall: This story is featured in Kathryn Tucker Windham’s book 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey,It is  the story of  the ghost of the woman whose husbamd went off to war with the understanding that if something happened to him, a rider would come on a black horse to bring her the news and if he was okay, the rider would come on a white horse. There was a mix up and a rider came on a black horse. The wife committed suicide by jumping from the tower at the top of the house. This is a private residence. More information can be obtained from the Perry County Chamber of Commerce in the Old Depot in Marion.

Holmestead Farm: This is the oldest working farm in the State of Alabama. There are many interesting things to see here. The home where the ghost lives is a private residence that visitors can drive by. The Farm itself is open for tours by appointment. Admission charged.  Visit the Holmestead Farms website for more information or the Perry County Chamber of Commerce. N32°40’25.4”W087°23’47.7”

Westwood Plantation: This private residence in Uniontown has a resident ghost. It is not open to the public, however there is a circular drive that visitors can ride through It also has some of the original slave cabins behind the housed still intact. They can be seen from the driveway. The cabins are mentioned in the state’s Black History brochure. N32°27’34.4”W087°30’52.3”

WILCOX COUNTY:

Snow Hill Institute: This late 19th and early 20th century black school was affliated with Tuskegee Institute. It has a rich black history story that is told in Donald Stone’s biography of his grandfather, Fallen Prince. The book is available at Black Belt Treasures in Camden. By appointment, you can visit with Donald Stone himself. He has a personal ghost story about the Rhumpf Slave cemetery which is adjacent to the Snow Hill property. Ghosts have been seen there by a number of family members. There are a number of fascinating stories associated with the area.

Gaines Ridge Dinner Club: There are a two ghost stories associated with this house. There is also a “ghost truth” told by Mrs. Betty Kennedy, the owner. This restaurant is open to the public Wed-Sat nights and by appointment for tour groups. Dinner is served in dining rooms with antiques on display. N31°59’24.1”W087°15’29.3”

Site of the Castro Story: This is located in downtown Camden. It centers around a pecan tree next to a barber shop. The ghost may still be cited there on occasion. More information can be obtained by visiting the Progressive Era newspaper office or Black Belt Treasures which is just up the street.

The Unfilled Hole: This site is directly in front of the Camden Public Library in the Old Courthouse. It is reputed to be the site of public hangings. You can sit under the pecan tree at the left front of the building and sometimes feel the cold spots. You can see the hole wihc the county has had to fill so many times that they now have placed metal warning post next to it.

The Light in the Water at the Gees Bend Ferry: Signs clearly mark the way to the ferry on the Camden side where the lights can be seen at night. The ferry only runs in the daylight hours, but visitors can come to the site to see if the light is showing at night. N32°03’20.7”W087°18’13.0”

The Millie Hole: This is located on Pine Barren Creek. This is an area of dense vegetation and is not recommended for visiting, only driving by. A slave named Millie was going to be sold away from her family. Rather than let this happen, she drowned herself in Pine Barren Creek. On moonlight nights, a white spector is said to rise up out of the creek and moan. She has been seen by local residents.

The Slave in Chains: At the intersection of Co roads 59 and 24, the sounds of the rattling of chains can clearly be heard at night. Many local residents have heard them. Visitors should pull to the side of the road and not stop in the road if they wish to listen. N31°55’22.0”W087°00’19.7”

The Ghost in the Burford House: This is a private residence. Members of the family are well acquainted with the ghost. There is a  circular driveway where visitors can drive through without disturbing the family’s privacy.

The Purefoy House: This story is told in Kathryn Tucker Windham’s 13 Alabama Ghosts. It involves a well where a slave was buried alive. It is located in Furman. It is a private residence for driving tour only. N32°00’17.5”W086°58’17.2”

Other Ghost Sites

Bellville – Bush Upton’s House

Used to be a Civil War Hospital. Reports of Ghosts of soldiers throwing things at windows and breaking them.

Marion – Judson College

Feelings of being touched, and rumors of even leaving marks on the victims.

Marion – Judson College – Building J

A female apparition seen along with movement from the windows occupancies by scattering feet and whispering voices. The bell tower is locked.

Marion – Judson College – Carlisle Hall

Believed to be haunted by an unknown female spirit.

Marion – Judson College – Kirtley Hall – Room 313

Haunted by two different ghosts. One is Anne Kirtley herself and the other is of a girl who supposedly killed herself in that room. The doors and windows shake there are cold spots and more often than not the entire room is a “cold spot”.

Marion – Marion Military Institute

Built in the early 1800′s, Marion Military Institute was used for other purposes besides schooling. During the civil war, battle victims were taken to the Chapel on campus, which was turned into a hospice. Directly behind the chapel the ones that didn’t survive were buried there. Since then cadets have had experiences with objects in their room being moved, unusual noises in the hallways and rooms, also experiences with paranormal activity. Some believe that the spirits that live on campus, due to their extreme mood changes, possesses some cadets. There have been no cases of violent ghosts or apparitions, but there have been several reports made about cadets having been alone and having a sudden rush of someone being there when there is not.

Carlton – Mount Nebo & The Boardwalk

This is an old cemetery and right up the road is the boardwalk. In the cemetery there are headstones with faces on them and the faces will change to a smile or mad face and they move. If you go to the cemetery if the light on back of the old church isn’t on then you won’t see anything. On down the road a little ways is the boardwalk (6″ wide boards on stilts that stretch a mile over swamp about 30ft high) when you walk through the across you get the feeling someone is around you it makes your hair stand up. You’ll hear this sound of a kid screaming they say a kid got lost in the swamp during civil war times and died there.
GPS Coordinates: N31°20’45.5”W087°52’01.1”

Demopolis – Gainswood Plantation

According to folklore, the ghost of Evelyn Carter haunts Gaineswood.  Come visit and find out what really happened…. Ms. Carter was the sister of a housekeeper in the late 1800′s. – The smell of Colonel Gaines’ pipe is hinted near his study and the rush of skirts is heard going down the main stairs from the birthing room. GPS: N32°30’31.0”W087°50’06.2”

Masonic Lodge located along Highway 84 in Monroe County, Alabama

from Linda Vice, the Front Porch Philosopher

I went on a Lyceum Trip with the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation this weekend. I’m not really sure what a Lyceum totally is, but it’s better than a workshop and more enriching than a Ramble, which means going around looking at stuff. This was in Monroe County, one of the prettiest places in rural Southwest Alabama. Monroe County is best known for being the home of Harper Lee’s iconic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. This time the trip was about early history and the Federal Road. The Federal Road was the way west out to the colonies. There has been a lot of interest in it lately because its Bicentennial is coming up in a few years in 2014. There are still remnants of the Federal Road to be found in Monroe County. It runs pretty much on top of or parallel to Highway 84. We had a speaker who said that 80% of it is on public lands, but the part we saw was on private property. In fact, we were on it and didn’t even know it for a couple of miles.

We also visited some renovated homes along the way. I say renovated because if they were preserved, they would have had to have all original features restored instead of adding on a porch to make it more serviceable and look better. One of the places we went to visit incorporated an 1820s house with some additional features. It was lovely. It had a porch all the way across the front done in the South Carolina style with the columns on pillars in front of the porch instead of on it. Across the back there was a long room with windows on three sides facing the river. They had used a restoration architect to do the planning. They had incorporated old materials where they could. However, they had altered the floor plan and some other features to make the house more livable and convenient for modern living. Another house we visited had a whole new back part added with sunrooms on each and a big living hall to join them. There were new porches below. Both of these were lovely places updated for modern living.

I’m all for anything that makes an old house more comfortable, easier to live in and less trouble to maintain. In fact, in my own house, I’m about to do a renovation with will change my house markedly. I’m adding an upstairs front porch. A preservationist would look at the existing exterior and only try to do things in character of the original design. I’m not exactly sure what the original design was because the house has already been altered a couple of times. One time was to change the house from a center all and wraparound porch to have bathrooms and more room in the living room. Another alteration was to add the upstairs bedroom and bath. I have already knocked out the back upstairs wall behind one bedroom to make a large bath. The only upstairs bath before was one little cubby hole.

If I were a preservationist, I probably wouldn’t have altered the roofline. I realize that styles change, but in the next generation what I did may be dated and I don’t care. I have already added vinyl siding and storm windows years ago BZ (before zoning). By the next generation, there will be all kinds of modern conveniences that will make somebody else’s life easier. If they are preservationists, they will probably be deprived of these blessings. I’m glad there are some preservationists who have saved Williamsburg and other historic properties that I can visit to see how earlier generations lived. I applaud them, I just wouldn’t want to live in them. Give me all the conveniences I can afford. I just want them to remind me of the earlier eras, not replicate them.

Flowers from my friend Cindy's yard.

by Linda Vice, The Front Porch Philosopher

Spring came yesterday. It felt like it had been here for at least two weeks already. People I know are turning on their air conditioners already. Most of them are middle aged women who get more than their quota of heat already. I am fortunate to live in a high ceiling-ed house that was built for summer in rural Southwest Alabama where the heat in August will have us begging for mercy. I hope all of you will visit us at some time, but if it’s August, come at your own risk. I am told there really are people who thrive in hot, humid climates, but they are not numbered greatly among the population I associate with. I think that is why we have so many good Christians here is because if Hell is any hotter than August here, we don’t want ot spend eternity there. Spring is our season to revel in being here. We first had a show of red maples lining the highways, followed by redbuds and now wisteria. Next will come the lacy parasols of dogwood peppered underneath with azaleas. Amazing beauty surrounds us. It is pleasant on the porch with morning coffee or afternoon tea. The wind keeps my wind chimes in constant motion, playing background music.

I have had the gardening bug for weeks now, starting with the spring false alarms we got a few times in February. I bought what plants I could find to assuage this need to put something in the earth. I found bare root roses. I have never been one to pet plants. I have a friend who says “I don’t like them if they don’t like me”. Those are my sentiments exactly. I am not going to pet roses. Fortunately, I have been to seminars at the Rural heritage Center in Thomaston done by Petals from the Past that specializes in antique and heritage roses. I have learned from them that the old varieties of roses that we find in graveyards and along fence rows are pretty much fool proof. If they weren’t, how would they have lasted all these generations in a state of neglect. These are the descendants of the cuttings carried by the settlers to be planted at their new home place. They were stuck into potatoes to keep them moist and to root. Now isn’t that a novel green idea? You can just plant the cutting potato and all. I have bought several over the last few years. We have had bad droughts the last few summers and , although not the 8 feet tall some of them will grow to be, they are alive and well, which is saying a lot. The ones that I bought this year are all floribunda or grandifloras, which means not the temperamental tea roses which get black spot and require spraying.

There is one particular thing I have notices about the showier rose bushes in people’s yards. The ones that thrive the most seem to be yellow and orange varieties with lots of clusters of blooms. My aunt had one like that and it continues to thrive even though she moved off and left it. It sits right next to a stream, which could account for some of it, but I have seen two or three others in yards that seem to do equally as well. I bought 3 varieties in that color family to see if I have any luck. If they all thrive, you can just call me the gaudy rose lady. I have other colors as well, mostly pinks and whites. I don’t like red roses for some reason. They just seem like they don’t go with my yard.

True confession time is here. Not everything I plant in the garden lives. If everything I had planted was alive, I’d be living in a jungle. I just can’t bring myself to water the plants a lot. I love them, but I just can’t pet them. The ones I do have are mostly native to the area or heritage plants that know how to take it when droughts come.

My goal has always been to have something blooming at every season of the year. I’m getting there. Right now I have a bouquet of spring flowers on my coffee table that is made up of narcissus, two kinds and colors of irises, snowball tree, and bridal wreath. It warms my soul every time I pass it. Two things started me gardening, my friends Patsy and Cindy, and my love of picking bouquets. As a child, I was bad to pick the neighbor’s flowers. They were generous to let me. My grandmother was a stellar gardener. She grew a pineapple from a bought pineapple top one time and had her picture in the paper. I don’t think I’ll ever get that far, but I will always have lovely bouquets.

Linda Vice enjoying a beautiful spring day!

The Front Porch Philosopher by Linda Vice

St Patrick’s Day is upon us. People are wearing shirts and buttons that say “Kiss me. I’m Irish”. Some are and some aren’t. For one day, they adopt the carefree aspects of being Irish. I am of the opinion that most every native of rural Southwest Alabama has a little Irish in them somewhere the way I have opined that all of us of every persuasion has a bit of Indian (Native American) in us. I was at a St Patrick’s Day celebration yesterday where we were hard pressed to find anybody who knew they had any Irish in their ancestry. One fellow with red hair and freckles couldn’t recall that he had any Irish in him. The rest of the group assured him that he did. Several came up with Scotch Irish roots. My friends, that is not Irish. What happened was that the English sent a group of Scots up to Ireland to keep any eye on the populace and keep down the rebellion that is ingrained in the hearts of the wild Irish. They stayed there for several generations. When the New World was settled, these Scots were among the first to come. They had lived in Ireland so long that they talked like the locals. When they got to the colonies, the other people called them Scotch Irish, much to their chagrin. It meant they claimed to be Scots, but they sounded Irish. They were more like the dour Scots than the carefree Irish. If they married into any Irish, they did their best to weed it out of their children. They never celebrated much of anything, let alone St Patrick’s Day.

There were two groups of Irish who came to the colonies. Both came because of famine. If they hadn’t gotten hungry, they’d have never left the Emerald Isle. The first group came in the early 19th century. They did pretty well. So they were called by themselves and others the “Lace Curtain Irish” which was a way they made themselves sound more cultured. This is the same group that intermarried with all other groups, including the Indians. These are the Irish that came south. The latter group, “the Paddies” settled in New York, Boston and Chicago. You realize that I am a storyteller, not a historian, and storytellers repeat the stories and legends that they are told. This is what I have picked up along the way.

There is another reason that we don’t talk too much about our Irish ancestry. It’s the curse of the drink that many Irish ancestors had. It’s the other side of the colorful and carefree coin. Irish people feel things a lot. Many of them drank to lessen these feelings. There is no one sadder than a sad Irishman. My granddaddy was one of these. He was not a mean drunk. He was a sad drunk. He would sit around and cry. I think this aspect of the Irish is one reason that many southerners don’t make much of the Irish ancestry. My granddaddy was a generous, loving., and outgoing man unless the drink was upon him. He never hurt anybody but himself. He did do some bizarre things, like paint the floor of his rental house orange, so that he couldn’t rent it to anybody but gypsies, much to the chagrin of my grandmother’s relatives next door. Maybe some of the others at the St Patrick’s Day party had some similar experiences they’d rather not recall in public.

All, issues aside, I’m glad that for one day a year, we have the “wearin’ of the green” and celebrate our Irish roots. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I can honestly say I have lived to see shocking things on the streets. Let me alter that to say they would be very shocking on the streets of rural Southwest Alabama. In New Orleans at Mardi Gras, they had an air of normality. That is how strange New Orleans is to the rest of the South. The only distant cousin it might have in the good ole’ USA may be San Francisco. What is ironic, though, is that wew are only 4 hours away from this alien world. We are close enough to jump in the car anytime and make a long day of it in New Orleans. We have been known ot jump in the car with little premeditation and hit the road to the Big Easy for a day of food and culture shock. Some friends and I did that on Fat Tuesday. Some of the friends had made an annual event of it in the past when time permitted. I know where most of the best restaurants in New Orleans were, but my Mardi Gras experiences had been limited to the tamer family oriented Mobile celebrations right down the road.

I am here to tell you that I saw some things in the French Quarter that were heretofore not publically exposed in my presence.  It was equal parts of costume party and exhibitionism. The funny thing is that seeing the exposures was not too shocking after 5 minutes because there was so much of it. Perfectly ordinary looking people were extraordinary only in what they exposed. Some of the exposures were not even attached to people. They were strange symbols lining the streets that we just stepped over and kept going.

My friends and I were not dressed up much at the beginning, but by the time the day was over, we were so draped in beads and boas that we looked costumed, We were more than fully clothed, I might add. We looked like coat racks we were so covered in debris.

Why did we go? Well, as I’ve told you before, in the Black Belt, we’ll drive 60 miles on any day for a good party. We drove 250 miles out of curiosity, because we had heard this was the party to end all parties. It is true because the next day starts the 40 days of Lent. We were like the local preachers who had heard there was a local drive-in movie showing porn movies. They went and they were so shocked that they had to go back a third time just to make sure they saw what they thought they were seeing. This was in the French Quarter. On Canal Street was where all the families were gathered for the real parades. We went to one of those because we wanted to be well rounded culturally.  We didn’t even try to catch beads at that parade was were already too weighted down with beads throw at us off balconies in the Quarter.

It was a fun experience, but I guess I am just not cut out to be a serious partier. I had a touch of vertigo a few weeks back, so I didn’t want to be dizzy. I volunteered to be the designated driver. I felt a little like an alien on another planet watching all of this cold sober. The only other cold sober people were some insistent young people accosting everybody on the street to question their religious affiliation and ask to pray with them. I think that they were some fundamentalist religious sect that wanted to come see the wild party. The only way, in their minds, it was permissible, was to do missionary work. They were like the ministers here who went to the porn movie. They’ll probably come back next year just to make sure they saw what they thought they did. I’m not too worried about them. They watch television, which insulated them somewhat from the shock. One woman was walking down the street in black fishnet clothes and chains with little else. Someone in the group I was with pointed her out. I said “So? I’ve seen Cher at the Academy Awards in an outfit just like that”. By the time we go back next year, there may be nothing shocking about the French Quarter crowd. We’ll have watched television and You Tube all year in the meantime, so there may be nothing that seems unusual in the crowd by then.  Even rural Southwest Alabamians like us may become unshockable.