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Gold rushes in Cleburne and Tallapoosa Counties attracted thousands of miners years before California’s famous strike. In 1936, production at the Hog Mountain mine caused Alabama to be recognized as the top producer in the Appalachian states. In Hog Mountain’s heyday, a local German settler discovered the precious metal while digging a wine cellar. In…
Join author Wil Elrick as he explores the history behind some of the Cotton State’s weird and legendary tales. Mysterious 1989 UFO sightings brought more than 4,000 visitors to the tiny town of Fyffe, population 1,300. Legends of the Alabama White Thang – an elusive, hairy creature with a shrill shriek – persisted in the…
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, legendary artists like Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan traveled to North Alabama to record with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm section, also known as the Swampers. But Alabama hasn’t just attracted musical stars with its talent–it also has a history of creating stars of…
The rise of Alabama’s largest utility company is a story that mirrors the growth of the state in the twentieth century, and it is told within these pages through vintage photographs from the company’s corporate archives. Glimpses of the past reveal how the company flourished after its December 4, 1906 creation and how it changed…
While legislators were writing the first laws in Alabama, some miscreant citizens were already breaking them, causing disorder and fleeing the hands of justice. Among these were cult-leader-turned-murderer Bloody Bob Sims, social-activist-turned-anarchist Albert Parsons, the mysterious hobo bandit Railroad Bill and the nefarious outlaw sheriff Steve Renfroe, who was credited with countless prison escapes, thefts…
Theviewthatslaverycouldbestbedescribedbythosewhohadthemselvesexperienceditpersonallyhasfoundexpressioninseveralthousandcommentaries,autobiographies,narratives,andinterviewswiththosewhoendured.AlthoughmostoftheseaccountsappearedbeforetheCivilWar,morethanone-thirdaretheresultoftheambitiouseffortsoftheFederalWriters’ProjectoftheWorksProgressAdministration(WPA)tointerviewsurvivingex-slavesduringthe1930s.TheresultoftheseeffortswastheSlaveNarrativeCollection,agroupofautobiographicalaccountsofformerslavesthattodaystandsasoneofthemostenduringandnoteworthyachievementsoftheWPA.Compiledinseventeenstatesduringtheyears1936-38,thecollectionconsistsofmorethantwothousandinterviewswithformerslaves,mostofthemfirst-personaccountsofslavelifeandtherespondents’ownreactionstobondage.Theinterviewsaffordedagedex-slavesanunparalleledopportunitytogivetheirpersonalaccountsoflifeunderthepeculiarinstitution,todescribeintheirownwordswhatitfeltliketobeaslaveintheUnitedStates.NormanR.Yetman,AmericanMemory,LibraryofCongressThispaperbackeditionofselectedAlabamanarrativesisreprintedinfacsimilefromthetypewrittenpagesoftheinterviewers,justastheywereoriginallytyped.
Alachua County’s African American ancestry contributed significantly to the area’s history. Onceenslaved pioneers Richard and Juliann Sams settled in Archer as early as 1839. They were former slaves of James M. Parchman, who journeyed through the wilderness from Parchman, Mississippi. They and others shaped the county’s history through inventions, education, and work ethics based on…
Alamance County, situated in the lush landscape of North Carolina’s Piedmont, has played an important role in the state’s history, from its early participation in the American Revolution to its continued contributions to North Carolina’s growing industrial market. For generations, residents and visitors have enjoyed the pleasant combination of the county’s pastoral scenery and the…
Through its many incarnations, Alameda has never lost its charm and ability to draw people from all walks of life. Originally a peninsula inhabited by Native Americans, it was purchased by Don Luis Peralta in 1818 and developed into a bedroom community of San Francisco. Alameda became an island in 1902, and a short time…
Across the great bay from San Francisco, the city of Alameda evolved into an island hometown of fine Victorian and Craftsman architecture and a port containing a naval air station, shipbuilding center, and the winter home of the long-gone Alaska Packers fleet of “tall ships.” But Alameda also was a busy railroad town. In 1864,…
What began as a ranching family’s Sunday pastime of horse racing, with cheering crowds and thundering hooves on dusty roads, would give way to the Alameda County Fair that we know today. The Bernal family built the original racetrack in 1859 on their 52,000-acre ranch, which was part of the Northern California land grant, Rancho…
Alameda County spans from the shores of the San Francisco Bay to the golden inland hills. Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) is comprised of multiple consolidated agencies that began joining forces and sharing resources in 1993. Protecting unincorporated county land as well as Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, San Leandro, Dublin, Union City, Newark,…
In 1853, Alameda County was formed on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. On the land route to the California goldfields, the primarily agricultural county had problems with cattle rustling and thievery. It had the reputation of being one of the most lawless areas around. From famous lawmen like Harry Morse to infamous outlaws…
The 56-year history of the Alameda Naval Air Station from 1940 to 1997 was a major military presence in the San Francisco Bay Area. As one of the largest and most important naval air stations in the United States, with a population of 45,000, it occupied 300 buildings to service squadrons and Carrier Air Groups….
The modern city of Alamo, where Winter Texans come to enjoy the Land of Two Summers, is far different from what Peter Ebenezer Blalock and George T. Hawkins from Mississippi envisioned as a great cattle ranch when they purchased 32,000 acres of Spanish land grants on the north side of the Rio Grande. In 1909,…
In 1898, the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad established New Mexico’s first preplanned development community at Alamogordo. This city and its satellite communities of Tularosa, La Luz, and Cloudcroft are the only urban settlements in an area almost as large as Connecticut–the vast deserts and mountains of the Tularosa Basin are where people “climb for…
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