Today I had planned to travel to Selma and Gee's Bend. For some reason when I woke up this morning, I changed my mind and decided to head another direction. I got in the car and set my GPS to "avoid Highways" and took off, taking back roads to Gainesville.
Once I got to Gainesville, I blinked and almost missed it! I turned around and found this, giving me a little history of the town.
Next I wanted to find several things I had read about, some of the old houses, the coffin house and the old cemetery. I found everything but the old cemetery.
The coffin house was where Mr. Edward Kring built coffins for many of the early residents of Gainesville. Apparently you could even go and pick out the wood and he would custom make them for you. Talk about planning ahead! Mr. Kring also built some houses, churches and businesses in Gainesville. Here is the Coffin House.
After I found the coffin house, I drove around a bit and found Mr. Kring's house. I am not sure if he built the house, but when I found it, I had a feeling of Deja vu. I immediately thought, "I've been in this house before."
Researching this house a little, I am pretty sure that I have been in it. Unfortunately, this was some years ago and I didn't appreciate the beauty of the house and didn't ask any questions about the history of the house.
So, are you wondering, when and why I was in this house? Well, I'm not 100% sure it's the same house, but I once had a friend who lived in Gainesville. I had forgotten where he lived until today. Once I got home I looked up the address I had for him, but it was a PO box in Gainesville, so I still can't be 100% sure. However, my research found a reference to this house as the Kring, Cate, Acton home. Mr. Jimmy Acton was the friend I am referring to, so I think this was his home. Mr. Acton was a campus security officer when I attended Livingston University. We became good friends over the years and stayed in touch even after I graduated. Unfortunately by the time he passed away in 2001, we had gotten to the point of just exchanging Christmas cards. That is something I regret. But, he was a dear, sweet man. Mr. Acton was a story teller and I am sure that's what he was doing in this picture.
I know this has nothing to do with Wandering Wednesday, but let me tell you a bit about Mr. Acton. He was a police officer, a poet, a writer, and a friend. He wrote some country songs, the "policeman's Prayer" and a book. He was also a craftsman, making things with his hands.
I remember once when my mother came to visit me at college and he brought her a bottle of homemade blackberry wine. Yep, brought it to the dorm room. I think we even opened it and drank a glass, but hey, he was a campus security officer, so I don't think anyone was going to turn us in!!
This is the book I have that he wrote. I keep the above picture of him inside this book and on my shelf. The book was printed in 1988, so I have been keeping this in a prominent place on my shelf for many years.
Mr. Acton was called Grandpa by many students at LU, but he really did treat me like a family member.
This is the inscription inside the book. I don't believe I bought the book, I think he gave it to me. He once told me that he and another friend of mine were writing a children's book. They both are gone from this world now, so I don't know whatever happened to their book.
This is a clock Mr. Acton made for me. At the top there were letters that spelled out my name, but they have fallen off over the years. The wood was from an old church pew, If I remember correctly.
So, I don't know for sure that was his house, but I think it was. I wonder if it still belongs to his family.
This is another home in Gainesville. I couldn't find the old cemetery, and I couldn't find a place to stop to eat or take a potty break, so I decided to head somewhere else. I found this next place, which had a sign that said "tours", however, there didn't appear to be anyone there, so I just took these pics and went on my way.
I wasn't real sure where I was going, but I needed to make a pit stop and so I did a search for service stations with the trusty GPS and it took me toward Eutaw. After a pit stop, I made a decision to head to Greensboro, Al. As I got into town, I snapped a few pics of some houses.
There are some magnificent old houses in this town. I was hungry, so I headed to main street, thinking perhaps I could find a little cafe.
I love old towns with a Main Street that looks like this.
There is just something about a small southern town that makes me smile.
So Quaint and inviting. I was just driving along, enjoying small town, Alabama, when I saw it.
Saw what? You ask. PIE LAB
Yep, with a name like that, I had to pull into the first available parking spot and cross my fingers that they served lunch. But, If I had to eat pie for lunch, so be it! I had heard of Pie Lab before, but really didn't know much about it.
A little research and I found this, taken directly from their website "Founded in 2009 by a group of designers working for the greater good
known as Project M, PieLab is a much more than your ordinary bakery.
PieLab makes a tremendous impact in the community by being the platform
for conversation, ideas, and design, as well as donating all profits to a
charity(H.E.R.O.), which provides a multitude of housing and disaster
resources, empowers Greensboro citizens, and much more"
Interesting place. Here is their website
http://pielab.org/
They did serve lunch, so I had a trio of salads, chicken, tuna and fruit.
Of course I got a piece of pie to go, but ended up eating it on the ride home, so no picture. They were busy making 300 pies for an artwalk event, so I didn't get to talk to them much while I was there. I was watching them make butterscotch pecan pies. That was what I wanted, but they were out of a lot of the pies for the day, so I ended up with the chocolate pecan brownie pie. It was very good. I watched as they made the butterscotch pecan and I think I can probably make one. I make a decent pecan pie and I saw when and where they added the butterscotch, so, hmm.....
After lunch I headed on home, so that was more or less the end of Wandering Wednesday # 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment