The Alabama Trail to Enterprise

Our road trip to Enterprise, Alabama to see our nephew took us on a serious scenic route. We went through several small towns so I thought I'd look them up and give you the low down. Here we go!

I used to live in Pensacola, Florida and we'd pass through Mobile, Alabama all the time to go to my grandparents house in Louisiana but we never stopped. To this day, I've never "been" to Mobile.  I'd certainly never been to any other part of Alabama so this was all new and exciting to me. 

As soon as we crossed into Alabama from Mississippi, we got off the interstate and onto a little road called AL-28.

Jefferson, Alabama was the first little town that I caught. When you try to Google this place, you only get Jefferson County Alabama, which is a completely different area. The only way I could actually look it up was to click on the name of the town from Google maps. The town was founded in 1810 by veterans of the Civil War.

Named for Thomas Jefferson, this little town had 200 people in 1860. Currently, it's an unincorporated town in Marengo County. There's no population in Wikipedia but I found an article that suggested 300 or so people lived in this area. This is the Jefferson Methodist Church. It was built in 1856 and apparently still has services on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month at 9 am.

This is the Jefferson Country Store and Post Office. It's a place where you could get the local gossip and a great cheeseburger. It opened in 1957 and had been family run over the years. According to Facebook, the store closed in April of 2025. It's a shame because it looks pretty cool.

Linden, Alabama: Screamersville!  The next town we rolled through was Linden. It's the county seat of Marengo County and you know I love a good county seat. It was settled in 1818 and was known as screamersville because of all the wild animals making noise at night. Creepy! Linden became the county seat in 1819.

The first thing we passed was this old building. I pulled this photo from the interwebs as mine came out a little blurry. This is the Old Marengo County Courthouse. I would have loved to stop and check this out in more detail. It was built in 1850! It served as the third county courthouse until 1902. After that it became a school, a Baptist Church and then a VWF American Legion Hall. It's famous because in 1890, a nationally infamous train robber and outlaw was killed right in front of it. Rube Burrow started out as a farmer in Texas but after a string of bad luck, he turned to robbing trains. It's been largely unused since the 1960s.

The current courthouse was built in 1903. It is closer to town. Again, I had to pull the photo from the internet as mine was blurry. About 2,500 people live in Linden. They have a Dollar General, which I figure all towns have and a Papa's Grocery.  There's a Subway there but the closest McDonald's is in Demopolis about 20 miles away and if you want a Starbucks? Forget about it!

The next town we went through was Thomaston, Alabama. It was settled in 1890 and named for Dr. Charles Brooks Thomas. He became the postmaster in 1892. This used to be the Elk Food Center, which I assume was a grocery store. It looks like nature is taking it back.

This is on Main Street through the middle of Thomaston. Not much going on here. The town was incorporated in 1901 when the railroad came through. According to a historical marker, the town got telephone service in 1914 and electricity in 1929. By 1949, there were 1,000 people living here. I'd like to have seen what kind of bustling town this was at that time. Today there are only about 400 people that live here.

We came upon Miller's Ferry which is an unincorporated town along the route we were on. There's not much about this place aside from the fact that it's in Wilcox County.

We did see this amazingly beautiful bridge as we crossed the Alabama River just outside Miller's Ferry.

Greenville, Alabama: Camellia City so called because a journalist came through and noticed all the camellias in town. The townspeople also petitioned the state to make the camellia the state flower of Alabama, which happened in 1959.

This is a cool looking old house along Commerce Street. Greenville was settled in 1819 and was originally called Buttsville. That's terrible. In 1822, it became the county seat of Butler County and was renamed Greenville after the South Carolina town that a lot of the settlers were from. I'd love to know about this house.

This is St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church, which was built around 1900. That's interesting as you don't see a lot of Catholic churches in the south. It's a pretty church but I couldn't find much about the history.

This is the Butler County courthouse. It was built around 1903 and is the fourth courthouse to grace this site. It's cool because the street we were on dead-ended into the courthouse allowing for a great photo!

Greenville is the "big city" in these parts. There's a Walmart Superstore, a Taco Bell and a Cracker Barrel. Before the Civil War, Butler County was a cotton farming area due to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. As a result, it was also a prominent slave trading town. Now the 8,000 people that live in this town are employed in the manufacturing industry. The major employers in the area include Hwashin American Corporation, Hysco American Corporation and CorStone Industry to name a few. 

Luverne, Alabama: Friendliest City in the South was the next town that we went through. It was developed as a railroad town when in 1880, the Montgomery and Southern Railway was laid linking Montgomery to the Florida Coast. The railroad reached Luverne in 1888. Luverne was also a timbering town as the land wasn't fertile enough to grow cotton. We saw tons of trucks carrying felled trees. It was a little unnerving driving behind them!

Luverne is the county seat of Crenshaw County. This is their county courthouse. It was built in 1955 and is the third courthouse in the county. The first was in the original county seat of Rutledge, Alabama. In 1893, Luverne became the county seat. The courthouse built here burned down in 1897. The next courthouse was completed in 1898 and then was razed in 1955 to be replaced by this one.

I've never seen a Pepsi mural...ever. In this town I saw several. I liked this one quite a bit but I was a little flummoxed as to why Pepsi and not Coca-Cola. Then as we drove through town some more, we figured it out. 

Luverne has a Pepsi bottling plant that has been family owned since it was founded in 1915. The current facility was built in 1960. Did you know that Pepsi-cola was created in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and had originally been named "Brad's drink"? He sold it in his drugstore in New Bern, North Carolina. It was renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898 and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.

Another Pepsi mural in Luverne. I bet they don't even sell Coke here. There are about 2,800 people that live here. Back in 1940, an African American man named Jesse Thornton was lynched here for failing to address a white man as "Mister". That must have been before it was called the "Friendliest City in the South".  They have a Dollar General here and a couple of other local grocery stores as well as a McDonald's and a Subway. The closest Starbucks is in Troy, Alabama about 22 miles away.

Brantley, Alabama: Front Porch Capital of the South was the next town we went through. It's also in Crenshaw County and was incorporate in 1891. It's only 10 miles from Luverne so I would assume they too are on the Pepsi bandwagon. I like this mural a lot. The whole of Brantley only covers about 3 square miles with a population of less than 1,000 people.

Enterprise, Alabama: City of Progress. Finally! Our destination city. Here's mom in front of the Welcome sign.  Enterprise is party in Coffee County and partly in Dale County. It was founded in 1881.

In 1906, the Alabama Midland Railway came to Enterprise. This is the depot, which is now a museum that closes at NOON! The railway opened up a lot of economic possibilities for the town. Their major crop was cotton until 1915. That's when they had a boll weevil infestation that devasted the crops.

The boll weevil really how the  townspeople scratching their heads as to how to survive. But they did. They thought outside the box and found life after cotton by growing peanuts. Within a couple of years, Enterprise was the top of producer of peanuts in the US. The boll weevil mural in downtown Enterprise.

In the center of Main Street, downtown Enterprise is the Boll Weevil monument. It's a woman holding up a boll weevil, their "herald of prosperity". The monument was dedicated in 1919.

Coffee County has two county seats. The original county seat was in a town called Wellborn. When the courthouse burned in 1851, the county seat was moved to Elba. In 1907, the county was split with Enterprise becoming the second seat. This is the fourth courthouse in Enterprise. The ones built in 1907, 1916 and 1925 all burned. This current courthouse was built in 1998.

There are about 21,000 people that live in Enterprise. They have all your standard grocery stores and fast food places as well as all your standard chain restaurants. A lot of people are employed by nearby Fort Rucker.

Daleville, Alabama: The Gateway to Fort Rucker. Speaking of Fort Rucker, this is the Daleville gate. It's known as the gateway to Fort Rucker, I would assume, because this is one of the main gates to get on post. Fort Rucker was originally named for Confederate Colonel Edmund Rucker. When all the Confederate named bases were renamed, it became Fort Novosel, named for Michael Novosel who was a warrant officer. It was renamed back to Fort Rucker when Trump became president. This time, it was named for Edward W Rucker, a WWI aviator, which makes sense since Fort Rucker is an Army post where the US Army Aviation Center is located. All Army and Air Force aviation training is done here.

When we left Enterprise and headed back to Dallas, we took a different route going through Perdue Hill, Alabama. It is an unincorporated part of Monroe County. Back in 1890, there were 300 people here. Now? Nobody knows. What we do know is that right there off the highway are these amazing old buildings. This is the oldest building in Monroe County. It was originally built in 1824 in Claiborne, Al. The upper floor was used by the Mason's until 1919. The lower floor was used as a court room, a town hall, a school and a church. William B Travis of Alamo fame was a lawyer in Claiborne and practiced law in this building! It was moved here in 1984.

This is the Barbara Locklin Baptist Church which was founded in 1888. It's a historic Black Baptist Church in Perdue Hill. It was renamed for Barbara Locklin in 1897 as a result of a large gift from Capt. Charles Wheeler Locklin. This is an active church with services every Sunday.

Also right off the highway is this small 2-room cottage that was the home of William B. Travis when he lived in Claiborne. It was built in 1820. In 1831, Travis moved to Texas where he practiced law. He became involved (that's an understatement!) in the Texas Revolution and was killed defending the Alamo in 1836. The house was moved here in 1985 from Claiborne.

This cool looking building is the Perdue Hill Union Church. It was constructed some time before 1880 using donated lumber. The pulpit was built using lumber from an old saloon in Claiborne. According to Rural SW Alabama, this church was used by all denominations. 

And finally, this building is the W.S Moore Store. It was built around 1875 as a doctor's office. The last doctor known to have used this (again, according to Rural SW Alabama), is Dr. J.L. Sowell. It was later enlarged around 1927 and used by William Moore as a store. What I would have given to go into these places was...well, admission fee if that was an option.

This is the Coffeeville Bridge that crosses the Tombigbee River. Coffeeville was established in 1817 and named for General John Coffee. Bad things happened here in the late 1890s; Rural farmers vs Coffeeville merchants led to violence. Then an almost-lynching in 1939. When we drove through, it was foggy and peaceful.

Barges on the Tombigbee River.

The drive through this part of Alabama was awesome. I feel like all these little towns, including ones that I didn't even touch on, require further exploration. If we have reason to come through again, I hope to have more time to stop and check things out. I just love taking the scenic route!

Meridian, Mississippi - Queen City

Always on the lookout for a cool place to stop on the road to somewhere else, we found ourselves in Meridian, Mississippi.

Meridian was founded back in 1860 at the junction of two railroads: The Mobile and Ohio Railroad and The Southern Railway of Mississippi. While Richard McLemore was the first settler, there are two men that are considered founding fathers: Lewis Ragsdale and John T. Ball. The two men had different visions for the city starting with the name. Ragsdale wanted Sowashee (named for a nearby creek) and Ball wanted Meridian (meaning junction). Every day, the name at the train station would changed. Finally, the railway workers had enough and picked Meridian.

During the Civil War, the city was used as a Confederate Headquarters. Then in 1864, General Sherman came in and destroyed the town during the Battle of Meridian. After Sherman left, it didn't take long for the townspeople to get the railroad running again.

This is the Meridian Train Depot, aka Union Station. It's an active station as the Amtrak still runs through here.

The Meridian Railroad Museum is next to Union Station. It's free to go in. They have some cool exhibits inside.

Across the street was the Union Hotel. It was built in 1908. Rail travelers could get a room here for $2 per night, even up through the 1960s! The hotel closed in the 1970s but was converted to apartments. The first floor houses the Visitor's Bureau. I love that they didn't tear this place down.

Check out the ads on the side of the building! I love these!

Not too far away was the Lamar Hotel built in 1928 by grocers Sam and Joe Meyer. It was eleven stories high (a skyscraper in those days!) and considered to be very swanky. Only the wealthiest people stayed there. Unfortunately, the Great Depression kept it from reaching it's full potential. The hotel closed in the 1950s. It's now an annex to the courthouse across the street.

Another famous hotel was the E.F. Young, Jr. Hotel. Opened in 1946, it catered to African-American travelers. It was the only hotel within a 90 mile radius that would accept minorities. In it's heyday, it was listed in the Green Book and had two barbershops and a beauty salon as well as the hotel. The hotel closed in 1978 and the building was converted to office space.

This is the lot the hotel was on. Even though it was on the National Register of Historic Places, it was demolished in 2023 due to safety concerns. It's a shame that it couldn't be turned into a museum. Surely I'm not the only one interested in history like this.

This is the hotel that we stayed at, The Threefoot Hotel. Built in 1929 by the Threefoot family, it was an office building and, at one time, the tallest building in Mississippi. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hit the family and they went bankrupt. The building changed ownership and had tenants but by the 1990s it was vacant and abandoned. It was eventually renovated and converted to a hotel. Now it's part of the Marriott chain and quite nice. It has a rooftop bar that offers amazing views of the city.

This was a photo in our hotel room. It's the Lauderdale County Courthouse. The original was built in 1890 but was destroyed by fire in 1903. This courthouse was built in 1904.

In 1939, the courthouse was renovated and expanded. A jail was added on the top floor. The jail isn't used anymore and there's some debate on whether to remove it or preserve it. Personally, I say keep it and make it a museum!

This is the Meridian City Hall. It's sits on the edge of downtown. Behind it is the African-American business section of town from the 1960s as well as some of the museums that the city offers. When we were there, the Christmas decorations were being setup. The building was built in 1915 replacing the earlier building from 1885.

This is the Dement Printing Company. The building was erected in 1909 but the family has been in the printing business since 1875. Five generations of Dements worked at this business. In 2016, they sold it. The new owners are still printing things today.

This is the Temple Theater built in the early 1920s by the Hamas Shriners to replace their old meeting place. When it opened in 1927, it was quite the showplace. They had silent movies here along with live performances. The Shriners leased the building to the Saenger Theater company who managed it for a while. In 2009, it was sold to Roger Smith, a Dallas businessman who restored the theater. Today they have all kinds of events there, including concerts, live shows, etc. It's a cool building and I would have loved to see the inside.

On our tour of Meridian, we stopped at Merrehope. Remember Richard McLemore? He's the guy that owned all the land back when Meridian was just starting. He sold to the two "founding fathers". 

Before he did that, he deeded some land to his daughter for a wedding gift. She and her husband built a cottage. This back half of the house was part of the original cottage. In 1863, the house was used as a Confederate HQ. In 1864, General Sherman came to Meridian and used this house as his HQ as he burned the rest of the city.

This is the bedroom of the original cottage. It's tucked away behind the big dining room that was added on when the home changed hands in 1868 and was purchased by cotton broker John Gary. He added on the rest of the first floor, for the most part. In 1903, the next owner added the second floor, the columns and the balcony.

In 1915, it became a boarding house and was divided into 8 apartments. This is a photo of the back of the house on the second floor. You can't go out there but you can see the apartment doors. 

I love touring these old houses but I was disappointed this time. It was most likely bad timing. They were decorating for Christmas so we were charged the "Christmas premium" but we didn't get a tour. We just got to walk around the house with no context. While the house is very cool, it would have been that much more so if we'd known what we were looking at.

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Rose Hill Cemetery, which is one of the oldest in Meridian. The oldest marker here is from 1853. They do cemetery tours here...not the creepy ones but historical ones that I think would have been interesting.

This is the memorial for Lewis Ragsdale. Remember him? He's one of the founding fathers of Meridian. He's the one that wanted the name Sowashee. 

This grave is interesting. It's the grave of the Gypsy Queen, Kelly Mitchell. She was an American woman who was married to Emil Mitchell. He was King of the Gypsy nation, which he inherited from his father. She died in childbirth of her 15th kid! She died in Alabama and her body was put on ice for six weeks so that Emil could get the word out. They settled on Meridian for her burial place. The rest of her family is here as well. People leave things on her grave in hopes that good fortune will come their way. Kelly died in 1915 and it is reported that 20,000 people came to her funeral. 

This is the MSU Riley Center once known as the Meridian Grand Opera House. It was built in 1890 by the Marx-Rothenberg brothers next to their department store of the same name. It was originally going to be a hotel but just after construction started, it was stopped and the opera house was built in its place. For $1.50, you could get a good seat to a famous opera or live show. In 1923, it was leased to the Saenger Theater company. Remember them? They leased the Temple Theater too. When they leased the bigger theater, they wanted to change this place to an office building but the lease was very specific that it remain a theater. Saenger didn't pay the lease and the brothers sued. The brothers eventually won but by then the Great Depression hit and Saenger went bankrupt. In 2000, the Riley foundation gave $10M for renovation under the stipulation that Mississippi State University run it.

The S.H. Kress & Company was a five and dime store back in the early part of the 20th century. This one was built in 1934 and then enlarged in 1958. These stores were so cool. They had some of everything!

The store in Meridian closed in 1974. The building was used as an office and other things but in 2015, it became part of Mississippi State University. I LOVE that the city kept all these historic buildings. Kudos to them for not tearing them down and instead repurposing them.

Earlier I mentioned the E. F. Young Jr. Hotel that was in the African American Business section of town. That area is a bit run down. One of the buildings had this old Dr. Pepper sign on it. That's one area that I wish I could have found more information on. There are several buildings and lots there that are empty that I'm sure have amazing or interesting stories to tell.

This building for example is the Holbrook Benevolent Association building. This building was erected in 1924 but the association was created in 1875 for the support and mutual aid of free and enslaved African Americans. This was a cultural and social hub for the African American community in Meridian. It's located across the street from where the E. F. Young Jr Hotel was located. I read that in 2024, there was talk of restoration of the building but as we're at the end of 2025, I'm guessing the money isn't there?

In 1904, two grants were given to the city of Meridian by the Carnegie foundation. One was for $30,000 for this main library which is now the Meridian Museum of Art. We didn't have time to go in though if I'd realized it was a Carnegie Library, I'd have made it a priority. The second grant was for $8,000 for a library for Black patrons. That library was demolished in 2008.

There are quite a few museums besides the Meridian Museum of Art. There's a children's museum, the Railroad Museum, The Jimmie Rodgers Museum, The Soule Steam Museum, and, of course, the visit to Merrehope.

I really enjoyed my time in Meridian and would highly recommend a visit if you're into history. I fully expected the whole of downtown to be run down and full of vagrants. It was not. It wasn't exactly bustling but it was busy and well cared for. 

We met a guy walking around with a coffee who was super friendly and welcomed us to the city. It's the 8th largest city in Mississippi with 35,000 people who live here. Because of the railroads, cotton and timber were big markets here. Today, one of the biggest employers of the city is the Naval Air Station that's about 20 miles north. The second biggest employers are the two hospitals that are located in Meridian.

Off of I-20, you have all your standard hotel chains: Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, etc. But if you're going there, you should stay at the Threefoot. It's right downtown and doesn't cost much more. Also off of I-20, you have your standard restaurant chains: Olive Garden, McDonalds, Red Lobster, Chick-Fil-A and for a grocery store, there's a WalMart.

If you're in the area looking for something interesting, check out Meridian!

Anna, Texas: Groundbreaking Possibilities

As I was driving home on some back roads I found myself in Anna, Texas, so I stopped. Anna is one of the many small towns that are right off of US 75 between Dallas and Oklahoma.

Anna, established in 1883, was named for Anna Quinlan, the daughter of George Quinlan who was the superintendent for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. The Railroad ran right through the town and, in 1885, built a depot.

The passenger depot, built in 1885, is still there. It is the oldest surviving railroad station in Texas. Train service ceased in the early 1960s due to the growth of the automobile industry. The depot is now a museum but its only open on Saturdays from 10 - 2. If you're in the area, stop by.

This is a Mogul locomotive 201, a historic 2-6-0 steam locomotive originally built in 1906. 

This is a house of some kind that is directly across the street from Sherley Park where the train depot is located. It has lots of entrances and porches. I did some research and I couldn't tell if this was a single family home or some kind of a duplex or what. Either way, it's a pretty cool looking house.

In 1894, brothers Andrew and Fred Sherley opened up this hardware store. Over the years, the Sherleys were undertakers, sellers of furniture, farming implements and machinery, wagons, grains and groceries. The business remained in the family until it closed in 1979. I'm not sure if you can go in the buildings or not. I didn't see any signage but they appear to be maintained.

On the side of the Sherley Hardware Store, the Beech-Nut sign appears to be freshly repainted. So, someone's paying attention, which is good. It would be cool if this was a historical museum for the town.

The First Christian Church was founded by Collin McKinney and JB Wilmeth in 1846 in Mantua. When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad came by passed Mantua, the congregation split. Some went to Van Alstyne and others here. In 1882, Rebecca Sherley helped organize the congregation in Anna. Services were held in her house until 1886 when it burned down. This church was built in 1890 on the site of her house.

These are the buildings on fourth street in Anna Texas. They are used by the New Life Church. I tried to figure out what they were originally but there isn't a lot of information on line.

I saw this Malt Shop sign as I was driving by. This place was built in 1959 and the sign was the first neon sign in Anna. The restaurant is now Spurlock's Malt Shop. Spurlock's is an institution as well. The original location was in Lamesa and was started by Gilbert Spurlock. When Gilbert retired, his son, Doug took over. Doug's daughter, Kristie opened this location in 2012 a year before her Dad retired. It's a great old-fashioned gathering place. Next time I'm in the area, I'll give it a try. I went by around 2pm and it was pretty crowded.

About 17K people live in Anna. The biggest employers of the town are the Anna ISD, Walmart, Pate Rehab and Brookshire's. There are exits for Anna off of US 75 where there are big chain restaurants and gas stations. If you're in the area, stop in and check it out!