Sweet Home Alabama Day 2

September 24th, 2005

Today was family time but I wanted to start the morning with a trip down memory lane. My Great-Grandmother lived in Madison, Alabama, a small hamlet just west of Huntsville. I road out to Madison in the morning to look around. Considering this was the first time I'd returned to Madison in nearly thirty years I was impressed by the fact I was able to find my way around town.

"Downtown" Madison, what there is of it, is comprised of a simple L arrangement of buildings. The Hughes boys were friends of my dad when he was a kid and their father ran the local drug store.

My great-aunt Lolly ran a flower shop downtown. My sister and I visited her one summer when I was about 10 years old and that's where I got my memories of Madison. Her store was located in one of the red brick buildings to the left side of the following photo. Today it is either a Burrito restaurant or clothing store.

Her home shared a worse fate. As you can see below, the Baptist church purchased her land and replaced it with a parking lot. So much for progress!

My great-grandmother's home, above, faired better. Built in 1897, it is now known as the Gillespie McDermott home. I don't know when great-grandmother purchased the house but she was living there in the late 30's as dad mentioned he recuperated from hernia surgery in her home when he was a kid. The surgeon who operated on dad was his own grand-father who lived in this next house.

Dad was a small kid. It's family lore that when dad's grand-father operated he opened dad up a little further just to have a look around and see if there was a physical reason dad wasn't growing faster. Gee, they were a much hardier lot back then!

Early in the afternoon I made my way over to cousin Sonny's farm. Sonny, actually my dad's cousin, lives on the same farm that's been in the family for over a hundred years.

It's truly beautiful land and I was happy to visit. Sonny sets up tables down by the creek and his bbq shack. This year he smoked over a half dozen chickens and countless racks of pork ribs, not that there's any other type of real ribs.

The creek in the background of the above photo is spring fed and crystal clear. Dad swam in that creek along with his sisters and cousins when he was a kid and it was nice to see all the young kids today doing the same. I've gotta return to next year's reunion!

The house and barn were around long before dad. His cousin Betty Jo told me a few stories about she and dad playing in the barn as kids. The white crosses in the foreground are monuments to family pets.

Later in the afternoon I returned to the hotel for a nap and to pack for Sunday's ride home. Although a 50% chance of rain had been forecasted the skies remained clear all afternoon. However, the same 50% chance stood for Sunday so I relented and purchased rain gear at Walmart just in case I found myself caught in a rainstorm on the way home. The problem is that I barely had enough space to get all my gear to Huntsville in the first place. How was I to carry this extra gear home? I wasn't sure myself as I faded off to sleep but I was certain I'd have to figure something out the next day.