September 17th, 2021 … Summer of Fun continues! Alabama into Georgia

Gunter Hill Campground lies just 15 minutes and a world away from I-65 and the bustle of downtown Montgomery. At Gunter Hill, paved roads lead serenely through tall pines and mature hardwoods draped with Spanish moss, terminating at the banks of Catoma Creek, a backwater of the Alabama River. 

After passing the gatehouse at the main entrance, the park road forks, offering two loops: the Antioch and Catoma loops. The Antioch Loop is a relatively direct path to the river, the paved park road passes beneath a canopy of mature pines and bottomland hardwoods. We camped in this loop. Gunter Hill Park is one of the state’s undiscovered gems. The park is fully staffed and well-maintained, offering a peaceful scene of trees and nature on the backwaters of the Alabama River.

Before the state of Alabama was even established, the site of present-day Montgomery was an important crossroads that straddled major Native American trade routes, with paths, streams, and the Alabama River connecting the Creek Indians to a wider world. Beginning in the sixteenth century, European intrusions began changing the destiny of the original inhabitants. By 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, the Creeks had ceded millions of acres, including what is now Montgomery County, to the United States. Located in the heart of central Alabama, the city of Montgomery holds a strategic place in state, national, and international history. A frontier settlement, it became a center of the cotton kingdom, Alabama's seat of government, and the original Confederate capital. Later, the 1886-87 Lightning Route electric trolley system and in 1910 the Wright Brothers' civilian flying school brought it recognition as a center of technology. During the turbulent civil rights era, Montgomery citizens played a central role in some of its most important events, including the bus boycott and the Selma to Montgomery March.

I found this intersection thought provoking. Rosa Parks Ave & South Blvd. Rosa Parks was called "the mother of the civil rights movement." Rosa Parks invigorated the struggle for racial equality when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks' arrest on December 1, 1955 launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens.

In December 2014, Trenholm State Community College was granted initial accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate degrees. The John M. Patterson State Technical School was established as a result of the 1947 passage of Regional Vocational and Trade School Act 673 by the Alabama State Legislature. The Montgomery County Board of Revenue and the City of Montgomery purchased 43 acres of land at the junction of the Southern Bypass and U.S. 231 South in 1961.  The school opened on September 4, 1962. Patterson was named a technical college by action of the State Board of Education in 1974.

Sweetcreek Farm Market, I would love to stop, but there is no place to park an RV towing a car! But Sweetcreek Farm Market is a farm-to-table market where they sell local, fresh produce, signature sandwiches, homemade ice cream, fresh baked goods, home-blended coffees and gifts. The big cow is a plus!

Union Springs, a small historic town, we passed through on US 82. The picturesque downtown and the surrounding residential streets show what makes it uniquely and genuinely Southern. From antebellum homes to one of the oldest jails in the state to cemeteries dating back nearly 200 years, Union Springs is a showplace of Southern history, architecture, and charm. Naturally, I had to take a picture of the purple house! It’s historic, even with that color scheme! The Cope-Parsley House built in 1903. It’s a Queen Anne style enhanced with turret finials and small leaded glass windows on the tower. It has a large verandah and was built by E.H. Cope.

A major battle was fought with the Native Americans near Midway on the Pea River with General William Welborn leading the settlers. The battle of Hobdy’s Bridge was the last battle fought with Native Americans on Alabama soil, and the fiercest of the conflict. Among the first people to homestead in the area of present day Bullock County were several Scotchish families who settled at Bethel, which was at the time a part of present day Pike County. They spread to Inverness and Aberfoil. It is said that they built their church before they built their homes. Most of the early settlers came from the Carolinas and Georgia. Wealthy people settled on the Ridge because of the fertile soil and water supply. From these settlements grew a society unsurpassed with a culture and prosperity typical of the “Old South”. The first church, “Old Ebenezer” was built on Bullock soil was for these people. Other settlements were made at Midway, Enon, Guerryton, Suspension, Chunnennuggee, and Union Springs.

Our last town in Alabama was Eufaula. It is nestled high upon a bluff overlooking the beautiful 45,000-acre Lake Eufaula, along the Alabama-Georgia border. Along the main street in Eusaula is a Confederate Monument. The shaft is of Georgia granite, beautifully polished so as to produce two shades of gray, and is thirty-five feet high.  On top of this, exquisitely carved in Italian marble, is the statue of a private Confederate soldier, with his accouterments, standing "at rest".  The presentation of the monument to the city, in the name of the Barbour County Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, was made by Miss Mary Clayton, the organizer of the Chapter and a daughter of Gen. H. D. Clayton. 

 

This statue in honor of the Reverend Marton Bryan Wharton is located at the intersection of Randolph Street and the Barbour Street, also the US 82. It stands in the center of the intersection facing the church where he was pastor twice, the First Baptist Church of Eufaula. The statue is made of white marble, stands about 15 to 20 feet tall. He was born on April 5, 1839 in Orange County VA and died on July 20, 1908 in Atlanta, GA. Originally called the Irwinton Baptist Church, when the town name changed to Eufaula, so did the church! This is the 2nd permanent location of the church, the 1^st location burned to the ground from a lightning strike in 1907.

On US 82, when you leave Alabama and cross over into Georgia, you cross over the Chattahoochee River into Georgetown, Georgia, over Lake Eufaula, on the Walter F George Reservoir and onto the Ernest Vandiver causeway.

The route then crosses into Cuthbert Georgia. Unique fact, one of the only water towers erected in the middle of a federal highway (US 82) stands in Cuthbert, the county seat of Randolph County.

Cuthbert’s Historic District boasts architectural styles spanning most of the county’s history, and many of the buildings, originally built around 1890, are still standing on the town square today.

There were several new murals in the downtown area, which I don’t remember.

One of them an area called Magnolia Alley. There is new landscaping hardscapes to round out the wall murals that Andrew College Mural Artist Chris Johnson painted. The mural work was made possible with the support of a Tourism Product Development Grant.

         

Usually, we are heading to the west coast of Florida, so we cut down Route 19. This year, we are heading to the east coast, so we are continuing on Hwy 82. The next town we came to is Dawson, Georgia. To me, it’s a tale of two cities. Dawson, Georgia’s historic residential districts, featuring unique and beautiful architecture ranging from Victorian to Antebellum style. Some are in pristine condition and others have been left to wither and disappear, just like all the memories made there.

In 1893, a community known as "Isabella Station," was established and became the county seat of Worth County, when the Brunswick and Albany Railroad entered the region. Gradually, more communities were founded along the railroad. In 1894, the residents of Isabella Station voted to change the community's name to "Sylvester" in honor of a prominent local family. Sylvester was incorporated on December 21, 1898. Today, the community celebrates the Georgia Peanut Festival in October every year. This festival includes the Peanut Parade, an annual dance called Goober Gala, an arts and crafts show, the Miss Georgia Peanut pageant, and peanut cuisine.

The city's first courthouse burned down in 1879, but a new one was built in 1893. However, this too was damaged by fire. Following the burning of the new Worth County courthouse in 1982, Max Hufstetler was convicted as an arsonist.

We arrived at the Tifton KOA, our home for the night.

#TwoLaneAdventures