Author: Katie Roberts

I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive: The Life of Hank Williams

By Dr. Steve Goodson

The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society welcomes its membership and the public to a presentation by Dr. Steve Goodson on the life and cultural impact of country icon and Alabama native Hank Williams on Sunday, January 24th at 3:00 PM EST (2:00 PM CST). This public presentation will be held online (due to the ongoing pandemic) via ZOOM. All attendees, both CVHS members and the general public, will need to send an active email address to the following address by 12:00 noon EST on that Sunday, January 24th, 2021: programs@cvhistoricalsociety.org.  The moderator (Charles Powers) will respond to each email with specific directions on how to connect prior to the 3:00 PM meeting.

Steve Goodson was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and grew up in nearby Prattville. He received his B.A. in History from Auburn University at Montgomery in 1988, and earned his Ph. D in History from Emory University 1995. He has been teaching at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia, since 1996, having served as the Chairperson of the History Department from 2006 until 2018. Dr. Goodson became an avid fan of Hank Williams in his childhood; both his father and his brothers had attended many of Williams’ performances in person. Like the musician himself, Goodson also considers Montgomery his hometown and has a special fondness for the city and its culture and people. Steve’s father also had a personal collection of 78 rpm Hank Williams records that both he and his brothers would listen to frequently.

While still a senior at the Auburn University at Montgomery in 1998, Steve, along with his brother Gary, gave his first presentation on the life and legacy of Hank Williams. Many in attendance were so impressed that word soon spread to other colleges and universities in Alabama, and Steve and his brother were soon invited to give a similar presentation at Jacksonville State University. While he was still a graduate student, Steve contributed an article on Hank Williams to the Alabama Review, which was well-received and further established him as an expert on the country music legend. He continued to lecture and speak on Williams’ legacy throughout his graduate and post-graduate studies (and he has continued as a Professor at the University of West Georgia). He has authored a book entitled Highbrows, Hillbillies, and Hellfire: Public Entertainment in Atlanta, 1880-1930, published by the University of Georgia Press. Published in 2002, this book received the Georgia Historical Society’s Bell Award for best publication published that year. In 2014, Goodson became the co-editor of The Hank Williams Reader, published by Oxford University Press.

Goodson’s enthusiasm for the life and legacy of Hank Williams comes from his long-standing belief that the Southeastern United States has a rich history of artists, media personalities, and others who are often overlooked or otherwise not properly understood by the general public. He believes that the life journey of Hank Williams to country music stardom was a complex and richly detailed journey that encompasses many interesting details on life in rural Alabama in the early and mid 20th century. He has often noted the influence of African-American blues musicians on Williams’ artistry and career as an example of this complex cultural history that is often overlooked by the general public.

This online meeting will be the first of our four quarterly meetings in 2021. The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society has been in continuous operation since its founding in 1953. It is a membership-based organization with members from across the United States. The CVHS also has membership in both the Georgia Historical Society and the Alabama Historical Society. Each summer the CVHS leads a 5-6 day “bus tour” to various historical sites throughout the Southeastern United States departing from and eventually returning to Valley, Alabama. These trips have visited many prominent sites from the American Civil War, and the next upcoming bus trip (scheduled for June of 2021 if the COVID situation improves) will focus exclusively on the Muscogee (Creek) Indians and their prominent historical sites in the state of Alabama.

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A Book Talk: Lafayette in Alabama—Which Way Did He Go? And Which Way Did He Not?

By Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker

The public is invited to a book talk by Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker, author of Nine Days Traveling: Lafayette’s 1825 Alabama Tour, Today’s Historical Road Trip, on Sunday,  October 25, 2020, at 3:00 EST. Due to the pandemic the meeting will be hosted on Zoom; registering is explained at bottom of page.

In 1824, President James Monroe invited the last surviving General from the Revolutionary War, the French-born Marquis de Lafayette, to return to the United States to help celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Revolution. Among the 24 states Lafayette visited in his year long journey was Alabama. He spent nine days traveling from the Chattahoochee River, through Creek Indian Nation along the Federal Road to Montgomery, then down the Alabama River via steamboat, finally arriving at Mobile and the Gulf Coast fort at Mobile Point. But where exactly did he go? How can we separate facts from multiple legends and folklore? What is there to see of his stops and route today in East Alabama? And which sites claimed for his visit…aren’t true?

The book Nine Days Traveling traces Lafayette’s path across the state from the fragmentary first-hand accounts and later researcher’s notes, and separates fact from myriad local legends. If after 200 years Lafayette came back and traveled the route again, what would he see? What would be different? What would be the same? And how would you travel the route today? Ultimately, 37 sites were found where the Marquis ate, slept, talked, was talked to, witnessed an event, did something or stopped at, which Dr. Krumenaker photographed and marked on modern maps. Krumenaker proposes five walking trails in different cities that should be marked for Lafayette’s Tour bicentennial in 2025. In addition to a general discussion of the recovered route and sites, the nearest locations to Valley, Al, will be described.

Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker is both a global and academic wanderer. Though currently a Macon County resident, he has lived and traveled in many states and numerous countries as his interests have taken him around the world. Dr. Krumenaker began his professional life as an astronomer with research in stellar spectroscopy and planetary cartography and is the discoverer of the brightest and first known micro-quasar. He often teaches in the sciences and astronomy education. He has taught at such diverse places as Jackson State University in Mississippi, Seoul University in Korea, and the University of Cologne in Germany. Over the past two decades, he has become a world renowned science journalist, including being the president of the International Science Writers Association, and before coming to Alabama was Journalist-in-Residence at the Heidelberg (Germany) Institute for Theoretical Studies. Dr. Krumenaker has published six books, three of which are historical tourism books.

If you wish to purchase Nine Days Traveling please go to  Dr. Krumenaker’s website www.hermograph.com/lafayette.  He offers 10 percent off the price of  $26.95 if you use the code CVHS20 through this website and order online through October 24th. You may also be interested in other historical publications and items advertised at his www.hermograph.com website.  The t shirt which tells time as a sundial is very interesting.

CVHS makes history by hosting its first virtual program on Sunday October 25, 2020 at 3:00 EDT. 

On Sunday October 25^th Charlie Powers will moderate the Zoom video conference.  Attendees, CVHS membership  and general public, are requested to initiate attending this virtual meeting (via Zoom on the internet) by sending your email address to: programs@cvhistoricalsociety.org  – Please send your email address before 12:00 noon on that Sunday (Oct 25th).  The moderator will respond to each email with directions of how to connect prior to the 3:00PM meeting.  It is best to join-in and be ready about 3 or 4 minutes before the meeting begins.  You will simply be “on-hold” until it is time to begin.

West Point on the Chattahoochee: How It All Began

On Sunday, July 26, at 3:00 pm EDT, the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society will present its summer quarterly program on the development of the city of West Point along the banks of the Chattahoochee River. The outdoor public gathering will be held at the large covered pavilion that is located next to West Point City Hall and, appropriately enough, alongside the river.
Henry Jacobs, Middle Chattahoochee Director for the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper(CRK), will discuss the natural history of the river, particularly the benefits and challenges of the Fall Line geography that defines West Point and the Greater Valley Area. Jacobs will also examine the most significant tributaries in our region, including Oseligee Creek, Tanyard Creek, Moore’s Creek, and Osanippa Creek, and talk about recent efforts by CRK to address issues concerning the health of the local watershed including sediment erosion and the proposed removal of Langdale and Riverview Dams.
CVHS President Malinda Powers will provide additional commentary about the history of settlement at this western-most point of the Chattahoochee. Originally, these lands were settled by the Creek Indians, who were still living on the west bank at the time Troup County was organized in the 1820’s. Powers will address the influence of the Chattahoochee River on the early development of the city and examine the effects of major flooding in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“As always, our public programs are free. The general public is invited to enjoy Henry Jacobs presentation. One of our Society’s publications contains a wonderful history of West Point that was written in 1876 and delivered on the occasion of the nation’s centennial celebration. We will have copies of Proudest Inheritance for sale at our program for $10 each,” says Powers. “We encourage those interested in local history to attend. For more information about our organization, go to www.cvhistoricalsociety.org.”

This meeting was cancelled due to the pandemic.

How the Family History of a Boy from Fairfax Intersected with the Civil Rights Struggle in Alabama and the Making of a Movie Presented by Jim Patterson, United States Diplomatic Service

Writer/speaker Jim Patterson has many interesting stories to tell ranging from describing  boyhood in an Alabama textile mill village, to traveling worldwide as an economics and political officer of the United States Diplomatic Corp, to being an actor in a movie which portrayed his father’s role in the Alabama National Guard during the Civil Rights struggle in Alabama.  Ever mindful of public service by members of the Patterson family, Jim was motivated to a career in public service and now is inspired to describe his family’s historical intersection with the Civil Rights struggle in Alabama.  His father James Glover Patterson (b.1933 d.2003) served in the nationalized Alabama National Guard during three significant historical events: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the integration of the University of Alabama, and the Selma March. Jim’s interesting family story animated him to seek to re-enact his father’s roll as a National Guardsman during the Selma March in the making of a movie. He will describe his father’s nationalized guard duty in the 1960’s  and how those experiences affected the Patterson family and Jim’s values. In an attempt to memorialize his father’s public service in the Alabama National Guard, Jim describes his effort to project himself into commercial film making, into acting in the award-winning film, Selma. Although Jim has lived away from the Valley and Alabama since he finished his education, he acknowledges that he has lost his southern accent, but his core values have always been rooted here in the Valley and Patterson family history.

Jim Patterson was reared in  the Valley town of Fairfax, graduating in 1973 from Valley High School and later from Auburn University.  Following university, he moved to Washington, D. C.,  where he  began his career as a Foreign Service Officer at the United States Department of State. Jim has served as a US Diplomat in Mexico, United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France and the Netherlands. He is currently stationed in Washington, D.C. He is a contributor to The Foreign Service Journal, The Hill and other publications. His graduate education includes continuing studies at Georgetown University, the Graduate School, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Foreign Service Institute.

Jim enjoys public speaking on US foreign affairs, family history and on his life experiences.  He is a member of the Sons of the American Legion, Associate Member of the Korean War Veterans Association,  Life  Associate Member of the Vietnam Veterans Association,  The US Philippine Society, Friends of Israeli Defense Forces, Donor/Member of Helen Keller International, Life Member of the American Foreign Service Association. He is a member of the Auburn University Alumni Association,  Alabama’s State Society, and the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society. He is a formerly elected official in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Washington, D. C.

A Mill Village Story Presented by Gerald Bruce Andrews

The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society is happy to announce that Mr. Gerald Bruce Andrews will be the speaker at the October General Membership Meeting on Sunday, October 27, 2019, 3:00 EST in the Lanier Room, The Chambers County Bradshaw Library, Valley, Alabama. Mr. Andrews will review his recent book which is descriptive of growing up in the mill villages and working in the mills of the Chattahoochee Valley. His book is biographical and his story’s setting is the village with its mill and the many working people of good character in that past era.
The publisher, New South Books, describes: “A Mill Village Story is the record of one man’s upbringing in a place and time that is quickly vanishing. A quintessentially American small town, West Point, Georgia is a place defined by its local industry—a world-class textile mill run by the WestPoint-Pepperell Corporation—and adherence to traditional Southern values of congeniality, manners, and friendliness. Everyone author Gerald Andrews knew or even just rubbed shoulders with worked at the mill, and it was Andrews’ experiences there that would take him from relative poverty to the corporate boardroom. A Mill Village Story is an account of Andrews’ early years, his rapid rise to leadership in various textile firms, and the special character of the village that shaped him.
How does a young man go from night watchman to corporate sales in a matter of years? A Mill Village Story offers some explanation. Creativity and kindness set him on the right path, those characteristics nurtured in him by family members and the mill community. Gerald Andrews also quickly gained a reputation as a problem-solver—even at the lowest position at the mill—and for recognizing the importance of every employee, no matter their rank. This compassion for his employees contributed to his success. In A Mill Village Story, a lifetime of wisdom comes to file, with Andrews peppering his tale with the homegrown philosophies he developed from the unique social relationships he enjoyed growing up. Add to the mix personal encounters with Southern characters like country psychic Mayhayley Lancaster and A Mill Village Story becomes a memorable time capsule that serves as a portrait of a uniquely American place.
Gerald Andrews grew up in a small Southern mill village. He attended Auburn University and Harvard Business School, and has received over eighty honors and awards in praise of his creative brand of leadership. He has served as Corporate Executive Vice President of West Point Stevens, Inc. in New York; President and CEO of Johnston Industries; CEO and Chairman of Accelegrow Technologies; and Executive-in- Residence at Auburn University. A Mill Village Story is his first book.”
Members of the general public and members of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society are invited to attend the presentation by Mr. Andrews in the Lanier Room, Bradshaw Library, Valley, Alabama, Sunday, October 27, 2019, at 3:00 EDT.

Thank you, Mr. Rosenwald
Presented by Susan Webb, historical interpreter

The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society is happy to announce that Ms. Susan Webb will be the speaker at this month’s general membership meeting. Using photographs, documented interviews, historical artifacts, audience participation of authentic recitation lessons and tales of early American education, America’s Traveling Schoolmarm will transport you to the legacy of Julius Rosenwald and the schools he helped build in the back roads of Alabama. Julius Rosenwald, the early 20th-century president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, was a German-Jewish immigrant, philanthropist and trustee of Tuskegee Institute. From 1912 until 1932, his generous caring and compassion for the education of 663,615 African-American children helped blanket 15 Southern states with over 5,300 school buildings, 407 of which were built in Alabama. His collaboration with Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, and grassroots community efforts resulted in a program which constructed schoolhouses, teacher homes and industrial high schools across the South. By 1928, one in every five African-American rural schools in the South was a Rosenwald school. Makeshift classrooms in run-down shanties and dusty church basements were replaced with well-constructed and carefully planned Rosenwald school buildings. Today, through the efforts of local residents, the National Trust of Historic Preservation, and generous corporate contributions, many Rosenwald schools are being restored in southern communities, including Notasulga, Greensboro, Midway, and Fredonia, Alabama.
Susan Webb, early American school historian, has become America’s Traveling Schoolmarm. Having lived in areas of the country steeped in the history of country schooling, Susan has developed a passion for the study of American education. Her 20 years as a classroom teacher, her background in theatrical presentation, and over a decade of early-American education research prompted her to develop her entertaining and unique, yet informative, programs. These ventures have transported her to libraries, universities, conference sites, historical societies and museums across the United States. From these journeys she has collected a small library of antique schoolbooks and an array of historical school artifacts. Susan has set foot in countless historically restored country schools throughout the country to engage audiences in school reenactments, utilizing her book Country School Copybook and other publications she has written: Ready for Reenactment?, School Days Lessons, Masterful McGuffey, and My One-Room School Copybook.
Members of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society and the general public are invited to attend the program in the Fredonia Community Center (formerly the Fredonia School House) in Fredonia, Alabama, Sunday July 28, 2019, 3:00 p.m. EDT.

When young Louis Merz arrived in Philadelphia, he quickly found his way to the residence of cousin Sam Cohen, a fellow Jewish emigrant from Bavaria. Cohen introduced his kinsman to another boarder in the house, Heyman Heyman from Prussia. These three young men were part of a tight-knit band of Jewish immigrants who had come to America’s “City of Brotherly Love” to escape antisemitism in Europe and pursue the American dream. After a year of working in the city’s mercantile trade, Heyman and Merz headed south, eventually opening a dry goods store in West Point, Georgia, in 1854.

Over the years, friends and relatives followed and became an integral part of West Point’s business community and social life. Several of these families- Heyman, Merz, Hagedorn, and others- lived in “Bluffton”, the Alabama heights overlooking the growing city of West Point. By 1859, they had established a Jewish congregation and held religious services in each other’s homes until a temple was constructed in 1909 in “Grandma Heyman’s (former) garden”.

Their stories are the focus of the quarterly program of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society on Sunday, April 28, at 3:00 pm EDT. History educators Malinda and Charles Powers will serve as presenters. While the former specializes in American and Alabama history, Charles is a university instructor with a concentration in European and American history. Mr. Powers will highlight the plight of the 19th-century Jews living in Prussia and Bavaria, lands which would later become part of the nation of Germany. In addition, he will examine their emigration to U.S. cities such as Philadelphia. A power-point presentation will include a variety of old photographs.

In 1959, the centennial anniversary of the founding of Temple Beth-eL, Miss Fannie Herzberg presented a paper she had written on its history and pioneer members to our historical society. Miss Herzberg, a resident of West Point, was a granddaughter of Heyman (later “Herman”) and Betty Heyman. At the close of her presentation, she stunned the crowd with her donation of the Confederate diary of her great uncle, Louis Merz. This diary was transcribed, and both Miss Herzberg’s address and the contents of Merz’s diary were published as CVHS Bulletin #4 later that year. The diary was then placed in a security vault for safe-keeping.

For the first time in 60 years, this diary will be on public display at our upcoming quarterly meeting. What a unique opportunity for those interested in local or Civil War history to view this important artifact! The program will be held at the H. Grady Bradshaw Library in Valley, Alabama, and is open to the public. For directions, please check our website at www.cvhistoricalsociety.org.

The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society will host its winter quarterly program on Sunday, January 27, at 3:00 pm ET, at the Bradshaw Library in Valley.  Guest speaker for the event will be author Julie Hedgepeth Williams, a journalism professor at Samford University with a specialty in media history.  Williams has recently penned a new book, and will be speaking about its historical backdrop at the program.

According to her publisher, Williams will be speaking from her research and writings on interactions in the lives of three men and how their serendipitous interactions culminated in the creation and publication of the Uncle Remus stories.  The three men, Joseph Addison, Joseph Addison Turner, and Joel Chandler Harris are creatively described in her new book, Three Not -So-Ordinary Joes: A Plantation Newspaperman, a Printer’s Devil, an English Wit, and the Founding of Southern Literature,  published this year by New South Books.

The author describes her presentation as “story-telling based”.  She even incorporates audience volunteers as participants in several skits based on the Uncle Remus stories.

Julie Williams is also the author of A Rare Titanic Family, winner of the 2014 Ella Dickey Literacy Award, and Wings of Opportunity: The Wright Brothers in Montgomery, Alabama, 1910.  She will have copies of all three of her books for sale at Sunday’s program.

The general public is invited to this program of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society and to enjoy Dr. Julie Williams’s presentation.