Haunted Talladega County


Book Description

"Discover the ghosts in and around Talladega County, Alabama"--




A Walk to Freedom


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Talladega


Book Description

Talladega, Alabama, best known for its popular speedway, is also a town of enchanting old homes, historic institutions, and fascinating people. In this pictorial review, the reader travels over diverse paths-from winding Indian trails to the fastest racetrack on earth-into the rich and colorful heritage of a landmark Southern community. Talladega: Pathways to the Past invites both longtime residents and newcomers alike to watch a Native American ballgame, experience an Indian battle, peer into Old South plantation life, step into a notorious saloon, behold a feast at a world-famous hotel, and thrill at the speed of race cars. The rambler views quaint nineteenth-century storefronts, sees the state's oldest courthouse still in use, strolls through the historic Silk Stocking District, discovers the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, greets youngsters at the Presbyterian Home for Children, tours one of the nation's oldest historically black colleges, and relaxes at Shocco Springs. Vintage photographs within these pages bring truly extraordinary people to life, including the "Father of Radio," the only Alabama nurse to give her life during World War I, a noted author of popular plantation tales, a world-renowned sculptor, the founder of one of the nation's largest tourist agencies, and the first Alabamian inducted in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol. Perhaps more importantly, this volume showcases everyday folks doing everyday things, thus preserving numerous slices of daily life in small-town Alabama.




The Free State of Winston


Book Description

Based on a lifetime of researching and writing about their home county of Winston, the husband and wife team of Don and Amy Dodd have crafted a unique pictorial retrospective that conveys a serene sense of what it was like to grow up in the hills of Winston. Outlining the highlights of this Appalachian county's history, from its opposition to the Confederacy to its slow evolution from its rustic, rural roots of the mid-nineteenth century, two hundred photographs illustrate a century of hill country culture. A sparsely settled, isolated county of small farms with uncultivated, forested land, most of Winston County was out of the mainstream of Southern life for much of its history. The creation of the Bankhead National Forest preserved almost 200,000 acres of forested land, primarily in Winston, to perpetuate this "stranded frontier" into the post-World War II era. The story setting is scenic--fast-flowing creeks, waterfalls, bluffs, caves, natural bridges, and dense forests--and the characters match the stage--individualistic, rugged pioneers, more than a thousand mentioned by name within these pages. Winston has long resisted change, has held fast to traditional values, and, as seen in this treasured volume, is a place as unique as any other in America.




The Alabama-Coosa


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Visions of the Black Belt


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Visions of the Black Belt offers a rich cultural overview of the emblematic core of Alabama known for its prairie soils, plantation manors, civil rights history, gothic churches, traditional foodways, and resilient and gracious people.




Cleburne County


Book Description

Cleburne County is strategically located between the two major cities of Birmingham and Atlanta. Once a part of Benton County, Cleburne County was officially created in 1866 by the Alabama legislature and named in honor of Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne, who served the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Talladega National Forest covers the western half of the county and includes Mount Cheaha, the highest point in the state. Cleburne County gained national notoriety in the 1840s when gold was discovered around Arbacoochee, which became one of the largest mining towns in the state. Over $5 million in gold was mined there. In the early 1900s, the area's mild climate and rich soil drew several hundred settlers from northern states who came to Cleburne County and established a wine-producing colony, Fruithurst, which produced as much as 23,000 gallons per year.




Haunted Talladega County


Book Description

Talladega County is known for its auto racing and rich southern history. Stories of the strange and supernatural, however, are just as prevalent. Like the story of Gloria's bridge, where the spirit of a woman and her baby are said to appear when her name is called out. Or the ghost of a man and his dog wandering the forests of Cemetery Mountain. At Hill Elementary, the specter of a principal still patrols the grounds, watching over her students. Paranormal writers Kim Johnston and Shane Busby chronicle the strange, mysterious and ghastly past of Talladega County.




Tracing Your Alabama Past


Book Description

Searching for your Alabama ancestors? Looking for historical facts? Dates? Events? This book will lead you to the places where you'll find answers. Here are hundreds of direct sources--governmental, archival, agency, online--that will help you access information vital to your investigation. Tracing Your Alabama Past sets out to identify the means and the methods for finding information on people, places, subjects, and events in the long and colorful history of this state known as the crossroads of Dixie. It takes researchers directly to the sources that deliver answers and information. This comprehensive reference book leads to the wide array of essential facts and data--public records, census figures, military statistics, geography, studies of African American and Native American communities, local and biographical history, internet sites, archives, and more. For the first time Alabama researchers are offered a how-to book that is not just a bibliography. Such complex sources as Alabama's biographical/genealogical materials, federal land records, Civil WarÂ-era resources, and Native American sources are discussed in detail, along with many other topics of interest to researchers seeking information on this diverse Deep South state. Much of the book focuses on national sources that are covered elsewhere only in passing, if at all. Other books only touch on one subject area, but here, for the first time, are directions to the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.