Local History

William and Frances Berryman came to Sylacauga High School in the fall of 1957. I was in the tenth grade and excited, but a little bit nervous about taking some new subjects, algebra, biology, and typing. Algebra I and the teacher had a reputation that made anyone...

Remembering education in Sylacauga from 1948 until I retired from teaching in 2005 covers a lot of territory as well as a lot of time. I was thinking of Sylacauga’s school board policy which often hired married couples at the same time, sometimes in the same school...

Always I have loved vacations. They were a luxury when I was a child, and our family’s first trip to Fairhope, my Dad’s favorite destination, was made in a car that belonged to Daddy’s boss. It was not a luxury vehicle, and my sister and I sat in two little...

The weather is hot here in central Alabama, and lately the Redhead has been hinting (well, nagging really) that it is time to get my “summer” haircut. The summer haircut is an old southern tradition in which men get their hair cut a little shorter than usual for the...

Weather is definitely one of those things in life that is out of man's control. We can have all the warnings, watches, and apps available, but we cannot do much about what is coming our way except follow proven safety protocol. If you are a student of the Bible, you...

Weather demands attention almost everywhere, but especially in Alabama where if you don’t like the current weather,  it will likely change in a few hours. An old Baptist preacher liked to say, “Whether the weather is cold, or whether the weather is hot, we...

Memorial Day was never overlooked in the small town South when I grew up.  One of the first things school children learned was the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and to sing loudly and the out-of-tune The Star Spangled Banner, even when some little ones called it...

Shel Silverstein came to my elementary school classroom via my son,  the year I became a public school teacher in 1980 and Ray went to the University of Alabama as a freshman.  Ray and I were both poetry lovers, but Where the Sidewalk Ends was a different...

The Magic of Marble Festival 2022 is over, but the magic of marble in Sylacauga remains with us in the number of jobs the industry provides as well as the beautiful art treasures that make Sylacauga such a unique place. This was the 14th annual event sponsored by the...

One of my favorite books, When God Winks at You, was written by Squire Rushnell, a former television president and CEO with ABC. It is packed with interesting accounts of how God speaks directly to you day-to-day through events that first seem to be coincidences. Such...

Old time-religion Baptists like to say that the faith that falters was faulty from the first because Jesus Christ changes everything. This is the story of Nora Pearl Minter Culberson and Albert Rufus Culberson who met one day at an all-day gospel singing at the Odena...

Many people, including this writer, are in love with a. town that never existed, a town where Andy, Barney, Opie, Aunt Bea, Comer, and Goober lived and worked and helped each other through the ups and downs of small town living. (We can say with pride that two of...

The story of what happened at the old Rec Building is a strange one that I did not know until I read The Story of the Sylacauga Recreation Building by Beth Yates. As previously reported, that building which opened in 1942 was built to be temporary and last for ten...

Sylacauga’s recreation program was established as a multi-faceted program that had something for everyone. It started on level ground with other nearby programs since it was a part of a federal project in 194l that funded similar buildings in Childersburg and...

The Sylacauga Recreation Building is strategically located near both B.B. Comer and Sylacauga High Schools. Soon after it opened in February 1942, almost eighty years ago, it became a gathering place for students from both schools in the afternoons and evenings, and...

The grand opening of the Federal Community Building was held on February 10, 1942, almost eighty years ago. This area had a problem, and the facility was built to have a place to solve the problem. We all know that, no matter how big, beautiful, and state of the art,...

Bowl games have always been an exciting part of college football; but from this woman’s point of view, they are a little ho-hum now with the football championship playoff games taking center stage. Still the “our best against your best” of bowl games and parades...