alabama-local-history

[alabama-local-history]

There’s an old building in Madison, Alabama, on Slaughter Road as you come up on Eastview, across the street from St. Andrew’s Anglican Mission Church (the third picture, on the right). I’ve passed it every other day my entire life living here and I’ve only ever heard once that it used to be an old strawberry or fruit stand, and that was from my dad. No one else I’ve asked knows for sure though. Reminds me of another nearby building that I’ll get to soon though.

Purely speculation but it is entirely within the realm of possibility that it used to be an old farmhouse for the farmland it currently stands guard over today. Madison used to be sparsely populated until the construction of the railroad and station in 1856, then known as Madison Station.

If you know what it used to be leave a reply!

[alabama-local-history]

Visited Mooresville today after fishing with my dad.

The first town incorporated into the Alabama Territorial Legislature in 1818, the town’s most historic buildings are the Post Office, oldest in operation in Alabama since the 1840s; the Stagecoach Inn and Tavern, built in the 1820s and operating as the town post office before the above mentioned; the Brick Church, built in the 1830s, in the style of Greek Revival, used and owned by the Cumberland Presbyterians until 1898 when it was bought by local Methodists, after which Baptists also used it; and the Church of Christ, built in the 1850s, also built in the style of Greek Revival but noticeably more subdued.

During 1863, while encamped at Bibb’s Spring, General James A. Garfield of the 42nd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers (and later U. S President) preached at the Old Brick Church. In the 1870s a minister called Constantine Blackman Sanders would preach at the Brick Church and was said to occasionally enter trances where he would then make predictions, locate lost objects, assist the ill, and report on local happenings. And at the Stagecoach Tavern and Inn in 1825 you could purchase supper at “2 bits” or approximately 25 cents.