Located in Dallas County, Alabama, on Cahaba-Greenville Road stands one of Alabama’s remaining antebellum churches. Built around 1853, Adams Grove Presbyterian Church is an example of Greek Revival architecture. Outside the columns that typify Greek Revival architecture, the church contains separate entrances for men, women, and the enslaved. Additionally, there is a slave gallery which was typical of antebellum churches in the South.
The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Because it is made of heart pine (an extremely hard wood from old-growth pine trees that are no longer in existence), the church remains in incredible condition.
The Slave GalleryPulpitSteps to slave gallerySlave gallery
A thank you to my friends, Victoria Lemos and Kristin Halloran, who took these photos as I was injured on our trip and couldn’t wander with them.
In March 1965, there were three attempts to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to secure voting rights for Black Americans. The final successful attempt began on Sunday, March 21, 1965, with 3,000 people walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to start the march and ending at the steps of the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, on Thursday, March 25.
The first campsite was located approximately 7.8 miles away from Selma on the land of David Hall. One of the homes still stands today. From this campsite, many people returned to Selma because the highway was narrowing and Lowndes County had imposed limits on the marchers’ movement through the county. You can read a fuller history of Campsite One here.
The march from the first campsite to Rosie Steele’s farm was just over fifteen miles. Ms. Steele was a farmer and general store owner. Unfortunately, her home and store were lost in a fire in 1967. (I searched and could not find whether this was an accidental fire or arson. If anyone knows, please message me.)
For a fuller description on the Rosie Steele farm, please read the National Park Service’s information on the site.
The next campsite was just over 12.5 miles away. The marchers were drenched after spending the day in the rain. When they arrived at the final campsite, the grounds were incredibly muddy. Robert Gardner put down hay and tried to improve the conditions of the campsite. For a fuller story on Campsite 3, please read the National Park Service’s information.
The final campsite was in Montgomery, Alabama, at the City of St. Jude, a Black Catholic church.
Viola Liuzzo
Along the route is a memorial to Viola Liuzzo, a white woman who was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. She and Anthony Moton, a 19-year-old Black man, were shuttling marchers back to Selma from Montgomery. They stopped in Lowndes County to get gas, where they were met with threats. Once back on the road, four Klansmen pursued them, attempted to run them off the road, and fired into their car, killing Liuzzo. Thankfully, Moton was not injured. Covered in Liuzzo’s blood, he remained motionless, causing the Klansmen to assume he was dead as well. After they left, Moton was able to flag down help.
The murderers were captured within 24 hours and were found guilty of their crimes.
The historic bungalow located on Lapsley Street was built in 1916 was initially owned by Booker T. Washington. Later owned by the Amelia and Samuel Boynton, the home played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. The home served as a hub for civil rights leaders during the Selma voting rights campaign. Civil rights illuminaries, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, Diane Nash, C.T. Vivian, and Bernard Lafayette, gathered here. The first draft of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was written here.
The house is listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, years of neglect have left it in severe disrepair. After acquiring the property in 2008, the Gateway Educational Foundation completed emergency repairs but the building remains at risk. The foundation hopes to restore the home and transform it into a museum that will celebrate Selma’s civil rights history,
Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson
2015 image from Wikipedia
Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson was a widow at the time of the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, as her husband died two years previous. She was one of the organizers of the march. On Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, she was towards the front of the marchers where she was beaten unconscious by a white police officer. Photographs of her were featured in newspapers across the world. She later joined President Lyndon B. Johnson for the signing of the federal Voting Rights Act.
Mrs. Robinson remain involved in politics and civil rights until she passed in 2015 at the age of 110.
For a fuller biography, please read her entry on Wikipedia.
The John R. and Susie Copeland Mansion is located in Birmingham’s Norwood neighborhood. The Copelands married in 1889 and had five children. John Copeland was president of Copeland-Inglis Shale Brick Company and held multiple positions at Alabama Paving Company. He also served as an alderman for the town.
Construction on the home began in 1905 and was completed in 1906 for $8,000. Today, that would be approximately $270,000.
Announcement in the December 22, 1904 edition of The Birmingham News.
Norwood began as a trolley suburb, but following desegregation, many white residents moved farther from downtown. In fact, Copeland relocated to Ohio by 1930. Once known as “The Placid Place” for its scenic lake and location north of town, Norwood, like many neighborhoods across the United States, experienced significant decline over time.
In downtown Birmingham, a recently restored Greyhound Bus Station serves as a reminder of Greyhound’s heyday. Built in 1952 by William Strudwick Arrasmith, noted for his designs of Greyhound Bus Stations, the Streamline Moderne building was one of the many bus stations that the Freedom Riders passed through to force bus desegregation.
The station was a key location for the civil rights movement. On May 14, 1961, two buses left Atlanta, Georgia, bound for New Orleans. White supremacists attacked the civil rights activists and slashed one bus’s tires. The driver was able to leave, but the mob stopped the bus and threw a firebomb into it. When the second bus arrived in Birmingham, they were greeted by Ku Klux Klansmen who had been tipped off by Police Commissioner Bull Conner, who told them they had fifteen minutes where they could freely attack the Freedom Riders.
After Greyhound moved operations in 2017, the building sat vacant until it was recently restored. The restoration uncovered many hidden mid-century details that can be seen today, like the bus marquee and the iconic silver greyhound.
I learned about Harmony Hill Cemetery when an account I follow posted images of a ledger stone with marbles. Marbles are one of my favorite folk art finds on headstones, and I will document them whenever I can. I was in Chambers County looking for the William “Rock” Jackson grave markers and decided to find this cemetery.
Note the brick piers.
The cemetery can be found on a dirt road west of Oak Bowery. The easiest path into cemetery lead me to what I believe are the remains of the Harmony Hill Baptist Church.
Research has not given me much information. According to FindAGrave, the earliest burial is 1891. The most recent obituary is from 1971, which matches the last burial in the cemetery. Jeffie Allison (1887-1981) is one of five members of the Allison family buried here.
One of the dozens of field stones in the cemetery.I believe this to be an old grave marker.This is the grave of Lucy Presley (1871-1927). Her headstone is a common handmade one that can be seen in the South. Her grave ledger is decorated with marbles. Close-up of Lucy Presley’s headstoneThese are the graves of brothers James and Luke Moody. They died within six days of each other in 1903. A records search doesn’t show why they died so close to each other.Patsie Jones (d. 1922)
If you know more about this church and cemetery, please let me know.
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