St. Clair County, Alabama
Articles & Information
Thoughts From the Front Porch
The Right Southern Corner by Sara Rast
The Charisma of KathleenPublished June 3, 2009
Kathleen had always been attractive and she knew it. It seems she was born knowing it, but not in an arrogant sense of knowing she was beautiful. She’d just grown accustomed to being treated that way by man and woman, girl and boy, old and young. It was just a fact of her existence. And she didn’t give it any more weight or importance than the fact of her hazel eyes. More
Views From Benny Hill by Jerry Smith
Phunky Physics VII: All Steamed Up
Posted June 29, 2009
Nothing bespeaks sheer power like a steam railroad locomotive. This machine is alive even while sitting still; a real-life, fire-breathing dragon of unbelievable strength. Steam engines do not struggle; they simply move with a force that can only be described as inexorable, absolute. More
Driving Dixie
Westervelt-Warner Museum
Tuscaloosa. Alabama
Posted June 29, 2009
So what's a world-class art museum doing at a place called The North River Yacht Club? To understand, you would need to visit the Yacht Club itself. There's not a yacht in sight; rather, it’s a super-fine country club. After you drive the grounds for a while it becomes apparent it's a most suitable place for this museum. More
Capitol Park
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Posted June 19, 2009
At first glance the remains of Alabama's fourth state capitol building look like the ruins of a small gothic cathedral somewhere in barbarian-ravaged Europe or Britain. The place seems impossibly small to have housed all the various functions of state government. Maybe that's because Xerox had not yet invented quadruplicate copies. More
History Articles
Howard Martin Part II: Early Church Life
Posted June 29, 2009
Sunday brought a day of rest for everyone in the family except mamma whose work never ended. In those days almost everyone respected the Sabbath. Only the essential work such as cooking and taking care of the children was done. You never saw anyone with a fishing pole or heard the sound of a hunting rifle being fired. Families and neighbors spent their afternoons visiting and sitting on the porch when the weather permitted. More
Howard Martin Part I: The Farm
Posted June 15, 2009
I was born September 27, 1924 on the Pondexter & Waters farm in Springville, Alabama. The farm was located on what is today U.S. Highway 174 with most of the property situated on the south side of what is now Davis Lake. I was the ninth of thirteen children born to Zaner Rose and James Benjamin Martin Sr. More
Time Machine
Uncivil Wrongs IV - The Aftermath
Posted June 29, 2009
All eyes were on Birmingham after the bombings, so the networks wasted no time in taking their share of the resulting profits. Howard K. Smith hosted a TV special called Birmingham: City of Fear, which haunted the economy and reputation of our part of the world for decades afterward. The bombings seemed to catalyze fresh trouble everywhere; serious trouble.More
Uncivil Wrongs III - Birmingham Explodes
Posted June 19, 2009
Faced with the impending doom of our way of life, Alabamians anxiously elected George Wallace as governor. He ran on a ticket of pro-segregation and pro-states' rights, a sure winner in our part of the country. The blacks had already assembled a lot of major players; now we had one, too. Few could foretell the chaos that lay in store as the year 1963 rolled around. More
Photo Gallery
We have over 300 photos in the Photo Gallery. Many of the photos show structures and events over 100 years old. All the photos were submitted by the general public and are of great interest to researchers, students and those that have an interest in St. Clair County. We welcome your submission of a photo or photos of our county.
Our latest entries are:
John C. Harris
Avondale Mills Fire
Avondale Mills Smokestack
Old Pan-Am Service Station