Historic District Houses

The day was too beautiful to stay indoors, so I took the dogs on a very long walk through the nearby historic district. The elementary school I attended sits approximately in the center of this district, hasn't changed much in 58 years! Except, of course, now there's central air/heat, outside overhead shelters for kids on rainy days. Otherwise, it's still an old, old building. However, it is consistently rated one of the best public elementary schools in the state of Alabama.

Anyhow, without further ado, here's the historic district pictures. (Please click to enlarge photos!)

This is the next house from where I left off on the other historic district photos...about 7 blocks from where I live. The following photos are also on this same street...







The following photos are the elementary school I attended:

Entrance to the elementary school

The playground across the street from the school. Spent many hours of fun here with my girlfriends; there used to be a huge old oak at the entry. The roots of the tree were above ground in places, and we kids would sit on those and talk, laugh, play. Too bad it was cut down.

This is one side of the school, just to get an idea of the size. It covers a block, and the next pictures are of all the houses surrounding the school.





When I last worked at the newspaper, I interviewed the lady who lives in that middle big white house. She was a second grade teacher at the school, now elderly, and actually remembered me after all these years!



This house was the home of a former Alabama Governor when I was in elementary school. His youngest children went all the way through high school with me, and were always very popular (duh!)

And finally, this is the Lutheran Church across from the school; there is also a Lutheran private school for elementary students at the rear of that church.

Now a series of photos from the neighborhood facing the train tracks. Like most small southern towns, the original merchants built homes facing the train track so they could meet the train easily, since it was a link to travel back then. The tour starts with the small park across from the houses that borders a tiny creek and the train tracks.

Entry to the park

The walking paths that border the creek and train tracks; across the street are the many historic houses which are coming next....











This is a rather unique place; long, long ago this was a tomato canning plant (processing tomatoes for juice, sauce, etc) and my mother's sister worked there when she was in her 20s. Now it is a combo garage/dwelling. The garage is to the right; the living quarters to the left.

This is an older home turned into a law office

This is a dentist office in an older house

This entire area covers about 3 city blocks; at the southern end, it's more residential. At the north end, it approaches the center of town - which the following pictures show.

The west/east street is still the street I live on. The Busy Bee cafe, first place on corner, has been there as long as I can remember, and is still a popular place for courthouse folks to eat (the courthouse is just across the train tracks). The next two buildings were once the old 'ice house'...in fact, when I was 10 years old I went on a trip with my dad (a long distance trucker) and he drove through the alleyway between those two buildings to 'ice' down a load of poultry -- dry ice to keep the meat from spoiling. Now it's business & law offices.

This little chapel is across from those other buildings, paid for by a prominent businessman who wanted people to have a quiet place to pray during their busy days.

In the distance there is a couple of churches -- Catholic and Christian.

The following are just random historic houses in the historic district, and these are not the entire neighborhood, but representative of the architecture -- antebellum, German cottage and Victorian.











I have always thought this sentiment captures my idea of my home town: "When young, it's a place you want to escape from. When older, it's a place you never want to leave."

This has been a long picture-blog post...but just an afternoon walk with dogs & camera for me.