Letters from Exile

By Éric Saugera

Editor’s Note: Readers may remember Rafe Blaufarb’s article “Alabama’s Vine and Olive Colony: Myth and Fact” in our Summer 2006 issue. In that article, Blaufarb introduced readers to the history of Alabama’s Vine and Olive Colony,a nineteenth-century settlement by French exiles in Marengo County. The exiles fled France in 1817, after Napoleon was deposed, and Congress granted them lands in Alabama to begin planting grape vines and olive trees. With Blaufarb’s article, former Alabama Heritage editor Suzanne Wolfe informed readers about an intriguing discovery of letters that were written from Demopolis by one of the colonists. In our new article, Éric Saugera, the historian who found the letters in France and author of Reborn in America, a new history of the Vine and Olive Colony, brings to life the story of their author, Jacques Lajonie, and reveals new details about daily life in the colony.

When a toothache led French historian Éric Saugera to the dentist, he little expected to discover a fascinating history of an Alabama colony. But that’s exactly what happened. Saugera’s dentist shared a trove of letters his ancestors, who lived for a time as exiles in Alabama’s Vine and Olive Colony, sent from the states back to France. Written by Jacques Lajonie, whose loyalty to Napoleon proved dangerous after the emperor’s fall from power, the letters offer a rare glimpse of life on the Alabama frontier and the struggles of pursuing an agrarian life in a land far from home. They also reveal new connections between Alabama and France, showing common threads between these distinct nations.

Awaiting Justice: “Scottsboro Boy” Clarence Norris

By Thomas Reidy

Known as the “Scottsboro Boys,” the group of young African American men arrested in Paint Rock, Alabama, in 1931 received a criminal conviction many Americans questioned. Upon his parole fifteen years later, “Scottsboro Boy” Clarence Norris went into hiding, certain that he would never be treated fairly by the Alabama legal system. And for many decades, his certainty appeared well-founded. In the 1970s, though, the state’s social and political landscape had shifted substantially, and Norris received a long-hoped-for but never-expected pardon. Author Thomas Reidy details the events that led to this legal decision and updates readers on current efforts to commemorate the “Scottsboro Boys.” 

The Rise and Decline of Alabama’s Redneck Riviera

By Harvey H. Jackson III

Although we now consider spring break at the beach as common a paring as peanut butter and jelly, this tradition of coastal vacations was not always so ingrained in cultural norms. Like everything else, it originated somewhere, and Harvey Jackson’s article details that origin story, weaving together a colorful cast of characters that includes former University of Alabama quarterback Ken Stabler, writer Howell Raines, and a fish (or is it a bird?) called mullet. If you’ve ever sipped a beverage under the lingerie-draped eaves of the Flora-Bama, this article is for you. 

Southern Architecture and Preservation

A Landmark Revived

By Mary Riser

When author Mary Riser started looking for a country house, she little suspected that she would find it in an abandoned building. However, with the help of two ardent preservationists—Riser’s mother, former state senator Ann Bedsole, and architect Nicholas Holmes Jr.—Riser discovered that sometimes even the roughest structure can be rehabilitated and restored. In this quarter’s installment of the Southern Architecture and Preservation department, Riser details how she bestowed new life on an abandoned Clarke County hunting camp and preserved a piece of Alabama’s architectural landscape. 

Revealing Hidden Collections

“What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Cooking”: Samplings of Alabama’s Contributions to America’s Foodways

By Louis A. Pitschmann

In this new department, Alabama Heritage explores from the state’s libraries, museums, and private collections, bringing to light little-known treasures. In this initial installment, the department’s standing editor, Louis Pitschmann, discusses the Lupton Collection, a rare assortment of African American cookbooks held at the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama. Reading through the cookbooks, one gathers a sense of how African American cooks, particularly those from Alabama, have influenced what we now consider traditional American fare. 

Southern Religion

Anti-Catholicism in Alabama and Florida in the Early Twentieth Century

By Arthur Remillard

When one thinks of intolerance, generally issues of racial prejudice come to mind. However, many people fail to realize that for a number of years, many southerners held a bias against Catholicism. As the twentieth century dawned, anti-Catholicism gained prominence as a political stance, and it eventually filtered into personal belief systems as well. However, following a Methodist minister’s 1916 murder of a Catholic priest, many Alabamians decided things had to change. Arthur Remillard revisits the death of Father James E. Coyle and considers its continued influence on Alabama.

Recollections

The Tennessee Valley: Gator Country?

By Thomas V. Ress

Although the American Alligator commonly appears in warm climates such as Florida, its historical range is much broader—a fact that many visitors to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in the Tennessee Valley learn firsthand. The reptiles have a complicated history at the site, though their presence dates back at least forty years. Through their decades at the refuge, the alligators have sparked a number of reactions among nearby residents, causing both excitement and fear. Thomas Ress evaluates the alligators’ presence, positing possible sources for it and discussing how we might come to coexist comfortably with these creatures.

Alabama Treasures

Paul Revere and the Alabama Capitol’s Striking Tower Clock

By Thomas Kaufmann

In 1852 Montgomery’s capitol building gained a lovely addition: a striking tower clock. Today, the piece stands as a rare example of the art of American clock making. As author Thomas Kaufmann explains, the structure also links Alabama’s capitol to one of the preeminent figures in American history—Paul Revere.