ALABAMA HERITAGE
  • Magazine
    • Current and Back Issues >
      • Back Issues 141-150 >
        • Issue 147, Winter 2023
        • Issue 146, Fall 2022
        • Issue 145, Summer 2022
        • Issue 144, Spring 2022
        • Issue 143, Winter 2022
        • Issue 142, Fall 2021
        • Issue 141, Summer 2021
      • Back Issues 131-140 >
        • Issue 140, Spring 2021
        • Issue 139, Winter 2021
        • Issue 138, Fall 2020
        • Issue 137, Summer 2020
        • Issue 136, Spring 2020
        • Issue 135, Winter 2020
        • Issue 134, Fall 2019
        • Issue 133, Summer 2019
        • Issue 132 Spring 2019
        • Issue 131, Winter 2019
      • Back Issues 121-130 >
        • Issue 130, Fall 2018
        • Issue 129, Summer 2018
        • Issue 128, Spring 2018
        • Issue 127, Winter 2018
        • Issue 126, Fall 2017
        • Issue 125 Summer 2017
        • Issue 124, Spring 2017
        • Issue 123, Winter 2017
        • Issue 122, Fall 2016
        • Issue 121, Summer 2016
      • Back Issues 111-120 >
        • Issue 120, Spring 2016
        • Issue 119, Winter 2016
        • Issue 118, Fall 2015
        • Issue 117, Summer 2015
        • Issue 116, Spring 2015
        • Issue 115, Winter 2015
        • Issue 114, Fall 2014
        • Issue 113, Summer 2014
        • Issue 112, Spring 2014
        • Issue 111, Winter 2014
      • Back Issues 101-110 >
        • Issue 110, Fall 2013
        • Issue 109, Summer 2013
        • Issue 108, Spring 2013
        • Issue 107, Winter 2013
        • Issue 106, Fall 2012
        • Issue 105, Summer 2012
        • Issue 104, Spring 2012
        • Issue 103, Winter 2012
        • Issue 102, Fall 2011
        • Issue 101, Summer 2011
      • Back Issues 91-100 >
        • Issue 100, Spring 2011
        • Issue 99, Winter 2011
        • Issue 98, Fall 2010
        • Issue 97, Summer 2010
        • Issue 96, Spring 2010
        • Issue 95, Winter 2010
        • Issue 94, Fall 2009
        • Issue 93, Summer 2009
        • Issue 92, Spring 2009
        • Issue 91, Winter 2009
      • Back Issues 81-90 >
        • Issue 90, Fall 2008
        • Issue 89, Summer 2008
        • Issue 88, Spring 2008
        • Issue 87, Winter 2008
        • Issue 86, Fall 2007
        • Issue 85, Summer 2007
        • Issue 84, Spring 2007
        • Issue 83, Winter 2007
        • Issue 82, Fall 2006
        • Issue 81, Summer 2006
      • Back Issues 71-80 >
        • Issue 80, Spring 2006
        • Issue 79, Winter 2006
        • Issue 78, Fall 2005
        • Issue 77, Summer 2005
        • Issue 76, Spring 2005
        • Issue 75, Winter 2005
        • Issue 74, Fall 2004
        • Issue 73, Summer 2004
        • Issue 72, Spring 2004
        • Issue 71, Winter 2004
      • Back Issues 61-70 >
        • Issue 70, Fall 2003
        • Issue 69, Summer 2003
        • Issue 68, Spring 2003
        • Issue 67, Winter 2003
        • Issue 66, Fall 2002
        • Issue 65, Summer 2002
        • Issue 64, Spring 2002
        • Issue 63, Winter 2002
        • Issue 62, Fall 2001
        • Issue 61, Summer 2001
      • Back Issues 51-60 >
        • Issue 60, Spring 2001
        • Issue 59, Winter 2001
        • Issue 58, Fall 2000
        • Issue 57, Summer 2000
        • Issue 56, Spring 2000
        • Issue 55, Winter 2000
        • Issue 54, Fall 1999
        • Issue 53, Summer 1999
        • Issue 52, Spring 1999
        • Issue 51, Winter 1999
      • Back Issues 41-50 >
        • Issue 50, Fall 1998
        • Issue 49, Summer 1998
        • Issue 48, Spring 1998
        • Issue 47, Winter 1998
        • Issue 46, Fall 1997
        • Issue 45, Summer 1997
        • Issue 44, Spring 1997
        • Issue 43, Winter 1997
        • Issue 42, Fall 1996
        • Issue 41, Summer 1996
      • Back Issues 31-40 >
        • Issue 40, Spring 1996
        • Issue 39, Winter 1996
        • Issue 38, Fall 1995
        • Issue 37, Summer 1995
        • Issue 36, Spring 1995
        • Issue 35, Winter 1995
        • Issue 34, Fall 1994
        • Issue 33, Summer 1994
        • Issue 32, Spring 1994
        • Issue 31, Winter 1994
      • Back Issues 21-30 >
        • Issue 30, Fall 1993
        • Issue 29, Summer 1993
        • Issue 28, Spring 1993
        • Issue 27, Winter 1993
        • Issue 26, Fall 1992
        • Issue 25, Summer 1992
        • Issue 24, Spring 1992
        • Issue 23, Winter 1992
        • Issue 22, Fall 1991
        • Issue 21, Summer 1991
      • Back Issues 11-20 >
        • Issue 20, Spring 1991
        • Issue 19, Winter 1991
        • Issue 18, Fall 1990
        • Issue 17, Summer 1990
        • Issue 16, Spring 1990
        • Issue 15, Winter 1990
        • Issue 14, Fall 1989
        • Issue 13, Summer 1989
        • Issue 12, Spring 1989
        • Issue 11, Winter 1989
      • Back Issues 1-10 >
        • Issue 10, Fall 1988
        • Issue 9, Summer 1988
        • Issue 8, Spring 1988
        • Issue 7, Winter 1988
        • Issue 6, Fall 1987
        • Issue 5, Summer 1987
        • Issue 4, Spring 1987
        • Issue 3, Winter 1987
        • Issue 2, Fall 1986
        • Issue 1, Summer 1986
    • Digital Features
    • Links of Interest
    • Bonus Materials >
      • Adventures in Genealogy
      • Alabama Heritage Blog
      • Alabama Territory
      • Becoming Alabama >
        • Creek War Era
        • Civil War Era
        • Civil Rights Movement
      • From the Vault
      • History in Ruins
      • Places in Peril
      • Recipes
  • Online Store
    • Customer Service
  • About Us
    • Awards
    • Meet Our Team
    • News
    • Writer's Guidelines and Submissions
  • Search
  • Donate
Published by The University of Alabama,
The University of Alabama at Birmingham,
and the Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Heritage Issue 110, Fall 2013
Issue 111, Winter 2014
Buy This Issue
Start Your Subscription
Give a Gift Subscription
On the cover: Detail of weathered steam engine components at Sloss Furnaces by Randall Connaughton. 

FEATURE ABSTRACTS


Alabama Heritage_Burnt Corn grew up around a spring on the Old Federal Road before moving to its current location a couple of miles up the road. This building is known simply as the Burnt Corn grew up around a spring on the Old
Federal Road before moving to its current
location a couple of miles up the road. This
building is known simply as the "Red Store."
(Courtesy Robin McDonald)
Nature, Chance, and War: The Birth of Burnt Corn, Alabama
By Jacob F. B. Lowrey III and Carey Cauthen

An advantageous intersection of waterways drew travelers to stop near Burnt Corn, eventually giving rise to a small community that witnessed many significant events in the territory and, eventually, the state. The area hosted a variety of different travelers and visitors, endured the opening episodes of the Creek Wars, and offered the setting for a melodramatic romance—all while remaining an important crossroads.



Buy This Feature
Additional Information 
For additional reading on Burnt Corn, the authors recommend the following sources: 
* The Battle of Burnt Corn Creek found on the Encyclopedia of Alabama's website. 
* Riley, Benjamin F. History of Conecuh County, Alabama. Columbus, GA: Thos. Gilbert, Steam Book-Binder, 1881.
* Halbert, H. S. and T. H. Ball. The Creek War of 1813 and 1814. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995.
* Waselkov, Gregory A. A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813–1814. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006.
* Collins, Robert P. “‘A Packet from Canada’—Telling Conspiracy Stories on the 1813 Creek Frontier.” In Tohopeka: Rethinking the Creek War and War of 1812. Kathryn Braund. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2012. 


About the Author
Jacob F. B. Lowrey III, a native of Burnt Corn, is a CPA in Greenville, South Carolina, the home of his late wife. He recently published “The Story of Captain  Sam Dale (Thlucco) and his Double-Barrel Shotgun,” which appeared in Echoes, a monthly magazine of the Escambia County Historical Society, and was republished in the Evergreen Courant, the Monroe Journal, and the Brewton Standard.

Carey Cauthen is a native of Birmingham who worked in Washington, D.C., as an editor before moving back to Alabama. She spent six years at Auburn University as the editor of the Alabama Review and continues to play a role in the Alabama Historical Association. She is now a web designer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Back to Top

Alabama Heritage The first-ever battle between ironclad warships pitted the CSS Virginia (left), armoured with iron plating forged at the Cane Creek Furnace and shipped from Blue Mountain, against the USS Monitor (right), at the Battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia, March 8-9, 1862. (Library of Congress)The first-ever battle between ironclad warships
pitted the CSS Virginia (left) against the USS
Monitor (right). (Courtesy Library of Congress)
Grey Troops at Blue Mountain

By Greg Starnes

Although it is now a small hamlet, during the Civil War, the Blue Mountain community in Calhoun County played a significant role, serving as a center for troops as well as a munitions depot. The area also sent a number of men to the war, including John Pelham, whose accomplishments earned praise from Robert E. Lee and other commanders. Factors contributing to Blue Mountain’s importance were its role as a railroad hub and the town’s arsenal. Once those fell under  attack, Blue Mountain itself fell, marking the end of one of Alabama’s most important Civil War strongholds.

Buy This Feature
About the Author
Greg Starnes is a freelance writer, professional storyteller, Civil War historian, and award-winning preservationist. A native of Anniston, Alabama, he graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama in 1991 with a BA 
in communications. Upon graduation, he started a video production company specializing in sports highlight packages. He has written, or contributed information to, articles published by many Alabama newspapers. Combining 
history with haunts, he has written articles for FATE Magazine, as well as two  books—a collection of DeKalb County ghost stories, titled Hollers from the  Hollows (The Ardent Writer Press), and a southern twist on Charles Dickens’s classic Christmas tale, titled A Secessionist Christmas Carol (Mirror Publishing). 


Back to Top

Alabama Heritage Blue Mountain’s greatest period of prosperity came after the mill was purchased by the Linen Thread Company, from 1916 to 1958. The mill expanded to become one of the largest of its kind in the world, and the mill village thrived accordingly, becoming an incorporated community in 1937. (Alabama Department of Archives and History)Blue Mountain's mill was purchased by the
Linen thread Company. (Courtesy
Alabama Dept. of Archives and History)
Mill Village Life at Blue Mountain

By Sarah Cole

After the Civil War, Blue Mountain’s future looked rather bleak. However, with Anniston’s founding during Reconstruction, the entire Calhoun County area experienced a resurgence, mostly driven by iron production. Eventually, Blue Mountain established itself as a textile headquarters, and the town’s mill kept families working for decades. Residents felt they were part of a unique community—one brought together by mechanized production, but unified by the common goal of wholesome family life in a friendly small town. As international business developed, though, the textile economy suffered, and Blue Mountain’s fate grew less secure. Today, the town remains mostly shuttered and forgotten, inhabited by only a few remaining residents who fondly remember the way it once was. 

About the Author
Sarah Cole is an award-winning photojournalist for the Alabama Media Group, the Huntsville Times. She holds a degree in English from the University of West Alabama and an MA in journalism from the University of Alabama, where she worked as a graduate teaching assistant as well as a contributing reporter for the Crimson White. She has had works printed in various publications, including the Eagle’s Eye Magazine, Muse Magazine, and the Anniston Star. She is also the recipient of two Alabama APME Newspaper Awards.

Back to Top


Alabama Heritage Artists-in-residence pour molten iron into sand molds carved by an audience of school children who get to take them home as souvenirs.  (Randall Connaughton)Artists-in-residence pour molten iron into
sand molds carved by an audience of
school children who get to take them home
as souvenirs. (Courtesy Randall
Connaughton)
Sloss Furnaces: The Art of Industry

Text By Bob Wendorf
Photography By Randall Connaughton 

Although best known for its functional roles in the economy and history of Birmingham, Sloss Furnaces is also a haunting and beautiful structure. Dating back to the 1880s, the facility remains a focal point of the Birmingham community, educating visitors on the history of pig iron production and offering  hands-on activities and tours. And as Randall Connaughton’s photographs  demonstrate, it also presents a stunning aesthetic experience, showing how form  and function may unite into a thing of beauty.



Buy This Feature
About the Author
Bob Wendorf is a semi-retired clinical psychologist who  teaches part-time at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is author of a  dozen published articles in family therapy and two popular psychology books, Make Someone Happy (2008) and Tales from the Couch (in  progress). He is cofounder and current president of the Japanese Garden Society  of Alabama and has lived in Birmingham and Vestavia Hills for more than thirty  years.

About the Photographer
Randall Connaughton left architectural practice to complete an MFA in photography from  the Savannah College of Art and Design. Born in New York and raised in Hawaii  and Miami, Connaughton explores the contrasts of the urban and natural  environments, and his approach emphasizes a sensitivity to the nuances of light.  His photographs of historic buildings are in the collections of the J.Paul Getty  Museum and the Library of Congress. He currently resides in Atlanta. Visit his website.

Back to Top

Alabama Heritage A domestic science class at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, circa 1916. (Alabama Department of Archives and History) A domestic science class at Bryce Hospital in
Tuscaloosa, circa 1916. (Alabama Department
of Archives and History)
The Welfare of a Nation:  Birmingham’s Young Women and the Emerging Domestic Science Curriculum of the  Early Twentieth Century

By Kelsey Scouten Bates 

At the turn of the twentieth century, school systems nationwide—including those such as Birmingham’s—started to recognize a new curricular demand: the need to include domestic science courses. Although women were still outside the norm in traditional sciences, domestic science—what would eventually become known colloquially as home economics—legitimized the role of homemakers and recognized the important work women were doing throughout the country. But women didn’t stop there. Domestic science became a platform through which women could affect the health and well-being not only of their families but of their entire communities.

Buy This Feature
About the Author
Kelsey Scouten Bates is the director of development, and was previously assistant archivist, at the Birmingham Public Library. While raising money for the library, she enjoys  writing and speaking about the archives collection and history in general. She recently published “Comfort in a Decidedly Uncomfortable Time: Hunger, Collective Memory, and the Meaning of Soul Food in Gee’s Bend, Alabama” in the  refereed journal Food and Foodways (January 2013) and is currently working on a memoir about her family’s history and struggle with tuberculosis. Bates is originally from Maryland and has her BA in American history from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MS in writing from Towson University.


Back to Top

Department  ABSTRACTS


Alabama Heritage_This Hale County store in Newbern illustrates the prevailing country-store format from colonial times until after the Civil War: a gabled front, wide central door, and two flanking windows guarded by heavy batten shutters. Often a lean-to storage room sprouted from one side of the building. And in the South especially, a shady porch welcomed customers and loafers alike. (Robin McDonald)This store in Newbern illustrates the prevailing
country-store format from colonial times until
after the Civil War. (Courtesy Robin McDonald)
Southern Architecture and Preservation
The Vanishing Country Store

By Robert Gamble 

Not so long ago, the American landscape was graced with a number of community focal points—a place where passersby could stop in for a drink or directions, or where locals could congregate on the porch to exchange news or whittle away an afternoon. But as with many elements of earlier times, the country store has faded, too, disappearing in favor of more modernized retail corridors. Robert Gamble, the senior architectural historian for the Alabama Historical Commission, explores the state’s remaining country stores, detailing their architectural and cultural significance. 

Additional Information
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE COUNTRY STORE? No statewide inventory of landmark country stores exists. If you have a favorite one, please call Lee Anne Wofford at the Alabama Historical Commission at (334) 230-2659, or send an e-mail.

About the Author
Robert Gamble, standing editor of the “Southern Architecture and Preservation” department of Alabama Heritage, is senior architectural historian for the Alabama Historical Commission.


Back to Top


Alabama Heritage Becoming Alabama Following skirmishes with Jackson’s forces, the Red Sticks established a position in a bend on the Tallapoosa River. This map of the layout of the Horseshoe Bend battleground was drawn by R. H. McEwen, a quartermaster with a regiment of Tennessee volunteers. The thick black lines at the neck of the horseshoe show the breast- works built by the Red Sticks. The location of the town is indicated on the low ground at the top, below the river. (Library of Congress)This map of the layout of the
Horseshoe Bend battleground
was drawn by R. H. McEwen.
(Courtesy Library of Congress)
Becoming Alabama: Quarter by Quarter

By Joseph W. Pearson, Megan L. Bever, and Matthew L. Downs

Editor’s Note:
Alabama Heritage, the Summersell Center for Study of the South, the University of Alabama Department of History, and the Alabama Tourism Department offer this department as a part of the statewide "Becoming Alabama" initiative—a cooperative venture of state organizations to commemorate Alabama’s experiences related to the Creek War, the Civil War, and the civil rights movement. Quarter by quarter we will take you to the corresponding seasons 200, 150, and 50 years ago—sometimes describing pivotal events, sometimes describing daily life, but always illuminating a world in flux. We will wait for the ultimate outcomes as our forebears did—over time. For those joining the story in progress, you can find earlier quarters on our website. 
 
This quarter’s installment of Becoming Alabama takes readers to Andrew Jackson’s skirmishes with Red Stick Creek Indians near the Tallapoosa River, in the days leading up to what would become known as the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. In the Civil War component of this department, we consider the naval exploits of the era, focusing on the Hunley and on Mobile’s Raphael Semmes, who made his name in command of a number of different wartime vessels. And in the civil rights era, we revisit the landmark case New York Times v. Sullivan, in which the U.S. Supreme Court made significant protections of first amendment
rights—and  secured the ability of civil rights activists to share their stories from the segregated South.
      
 About the Authors
Joseph W. Pearson is a PhD student in the department of history at the University of Alabama. His research interests include the nineteenth-century South, antebellum politics, and political culture.

Megan L. Bever is currently a doctoral student in the department of history at the University of Alabama. Her research interests include the nineteenth-century South and the Civil War in American culture.

Matthew L. Downs (PhD, Alabama) is an assistant professor of history at the University of Mobile. His dissertation focused on the federal government’s role in the economic development of the Tennessee Valley.


Back to Top


Alabama Heritage_Daphne Cunningham’s diary offers fascinating insights into her life as a college student. (W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library)Daphne Cunningham’s diary offers
fascinating insights into her life as
a college student. (Courtesy W. S.
Hoole Special Collections Library)
Alabama Women
Daphne Cunningham’s World: Student Life at Alabama in the 1910s

By Lisa Lindquist Dorr 

Among the treasures at the University of Alabama’s W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library is the diary of Daphne Cunningham, a student at the university in the 1910s. As one of the earliest women to enroll at the university, Cunningham occupied a particularly interesting space in the school’s history. Her diary sheds compelling light on everyday life in that era—on campus and beyond, and it details how some attitudes towards dating, dancing, and other relational issues may be different than we might expect a century later.


 
About the Author
Lisa Lindquist Dorr is associate professor of history and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama. Joshua D. Rothman, standing editor of the “Alabama Women” department of Alabama Heritage,
is professor of history at the University of Alabama and director of the university’s Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South, which sponsors this department.

Back to Top


Alabama Heritage_The first issue of the Southern Courier appeared on July 16, 1965. (Tuskegee University Archives) The first issue of the Southern
Courier
appeared on July 16,
1965. (Courtesy Tuskegee
University Archives)
Revealing Hidden Collections
Uncovering Tuskegee’s Hidden Legacy: The Southern Courier

By Dana R. Chandler 

Tuskegee University bears a long history of engagement with African American and civil rights issues, but one aspect of it that few people know about is its archival collection of the Southern Courier, the Montgomery-based weekly newspaper that educated readers on the civil rights movement from 1965–1968. The Tuskegee collection contains the papers and various materials concerning its founding and publication, offering a rare and valuable window on an institution central to the massive changes sweeping the state and the nation in that era.

About the Author
Dana R. Chandler is the archivist at Tuskegee University. He is a graduate of Auburn University and teaches a variety of history classes. Louis A. Pitschmann, standing editor of the “Revealing Hidden Collections” department of Alabama Heritage, is Dean of the University Libraries at the University of Alabama and director of the Alabama Center for the Book, which cosponsor this department.

Back to Top


Alabama Heritage_Jonathan Myrick Daniels. (Courtesy of Virginia Military Institute Archives)Jonathan Myrick Daniels.
(Courtesy Virginia Military
Institute Archives)
Portraits & Landscapes
Remembering Jonathan Myrick Daniels

By Scott A. Merriman 

Although not a native of the South, Jonathan Myrick Daniels felt drawn to the area during the civil rights movement, when he took a leave from his seminary studies and traveled to Alabama to volunteer as an activist. Daniels was murdered in the aftermath of a protest, and he later became recognized by the Episcopal Church as a martyr, leading to an annual pilgrimage in which participants retrace his final steps through Hayneville, where a small, somewhat secluded marker memorializes his death. 
 
About the Author
Scott A. Merriman, lecturer of history at Troy University, researches American legal and constitutional history, centering on civil rights and the First Amendment.

Back to Top


Alabama Heritage_Nature Journal A five-lined skink suns itself. (L. J. Davenport)A five-lined skink suns itself.
(Courtesy L. J. Davenport)
Nature Journal
A Vestavia Hills Almanac

By L. J. Davenport 

In this quarter’s installment of Nature Journal, our intrepid naturalist takes a closer look at his own yard and one particular pesky plant—a dying silver maple dropping its limbs at inopportune times. Through the course of the year, Davenport considers his nemesis and the history of its species, finally deciding  that he just might be able to live with it after all.

About the Author
Larry Davenport is a professor of biology at Samford University, Birmingham.

Back to Top


Alabama Heritage_The South and America Since World War II by James C. Cobb
Alabama Heritage_Cold War in Dixie by Kari Frederickson
Alabama Heritage_From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt by Bruce J. Schulman
Reading the Southern Past
The End of the Old South

By Stephen Goldfarb   

This quarter, Stephen Goldfarb explores the post–World War II South, looking at its history and the rampant changes occurring as veterans returned home from war. Among the books under review are James C. Cobb’s The South and America since World War II (Oxford University Press, 2012), Bruce J. Schulman’s From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt: Federal Policy, Economic Development, and the Transformation of the South, 1938–1980 (Duke University Press, 1994), and Kari Frederickson’s book Cold War Dixie: Militarization and Modernization in the American South (University of Georgia Press, 2013).

About the Author
Stephen Goldfarb holds a PhD in the history of science and technology. He retired from a public library in 2003.

Back to Top
Online Store
​Customer Service
Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
Corporate Sponsors
News
Join Our Email List

Employment
UA Disclaimer
UA Privacy Policy ​
​Website comments or questions?  

Email ah.online@ua.edu
Published by The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History
​Alabama Heritage
Box 870342
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Local: (205) 348-7467
Toll-Free: (877) 925-2323
Fax: (205) 348-7473

alabama.heritage@ua.edu