Cullman County Good Life Magazine - Fall 2013

CULLMAN COUNTY

Post-tornado loft living downtown A farewell Q&A with Dr. Jan Harris Saga of a Confederate soldier

FALL 2013 COMPLIMENTARY

Welcome

Here’s to celebrating the good life you lead good adjective 1. Indicating something is desirable, worth having and achieving 2. Being of high quality or standard and affording pleasure and comfort 3. Showing a kind, generous, gracious disposition life noun 1. Human existence and activity in general 2. A way of living characteristic of a particular place or people 3. A particular aspect of somebody’s life Welcome to the inaugural issue of Good Life Magazine. While the magazine is new, there’s nothing new about the good life in Cullman County.

You live in one of the most beautiful parts of the state – if not the country. You are, and rightfully so, a great and proud people while, at the same time, the kind who roll up their sleeves and dive in. Through this attitude you continue to build a vibrant way of life filled with ever-broadening opportunities.

This place is abuzz.

On top of it all, you love having fun – and how can you enjoy the good life without that?

In Good Life Magazine, we’re out to celebrate the good life you have and embrace. It exists in abundance from West Point to Colony and Garden City, from Crane Hill to New Canaan.

Of course not all that life dishes out is good, no matter who you are, no matter where you live. It’s a reality of life we all deal with, each in our own fashion.

But, ultimately, we are better off to concentrate on the positives and do our best to remold the bad into good. Easy to say, but Lee and Ginger Powell are a fine example. You can read in this inaugural issue about the new home they built from the rubble of the 2011 tornado.

In fact, you’ll find lots of good stuff to read in the quarterly issues of Good Life Magazine. Some of it will be familiar to you – after all, this is your home. But we think you’ll find it presented in fresh and attractive ways that will make you appreciate all the more what Cullman County has to offer.

Here’s to celebrating your good life... and to Good Life Magazine. Enjoy them both.

Publisher/editor 2

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Contributors Auburn grad Tony Glover grew up near Jones Chapel and now lives in Bethel Community and serves as the coordinator of the Cullman County Extension.

He and his wife, Selina, have five children, three of them in college. That’s part of the reason he has a vegetable garden.

Deb Laslie opened Deb’s Bookstore in Cullman in 2005. Her reading tastes are as widespread as her book selection. She and her husband, Fielden, live with their dogs out in the country, where she never gets to garden quite enough.

Steve Maze lives in the New Canaan community. A lover of history and story-telling, he formerly published Yesterday’s Memories, has authored numerous books and may know more about Hank Williams than Hank’s momma ever did.

Sheila McAnear grew up in eastern Cullman County and worked for 28 years in advertising at The Arab Tribune.

An artist at heart, she has one grown son and two others who are still in school. Naturally they all live at home. Sheila partnered with David to start Good Life Magazine as its advertising/art director.

David Moore has a psychology degree (don’t ask) from The University of Alabama but worked for newspapers for 35 years. He left his position of 22 years as editor of the awardwinning Arab Tribune to start Good Life Magazine. His wife, Diane, is a piano teacher and the organist at Arab First United Methodist Church.

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12 Returning to loft-living

Inside

Lee and Ginger Powell rebuild a good life after the tornado...

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20 A Confederate saga

William Maze limped home from the war to pick up the pieces of his life...

26 Take a hike

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Most people don’t know about that itch in Berkeley Bob’s feet...

32 The Edge of Paradise

Larry and Sandy Harris created an RV resort on the lake with a twist...

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Cover story

Tommy and Susan Cost help the popularity of paddle boarding...

Regular features

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David F. Moore Publisher / Editor 256-293-0888 david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com Sheila T. McAnear Advertising / Art Director 256-640-3973 sheila.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

Vol. 1 No. 1 Copyright 2013 Published quarterly MoMc Publishing P.O. Box 28, Arab, Al 35016 www.good-life-magazine.net

Good People: A farewell from Dr. Jan Harris Good Fun: Farm Y’all, Audubon, more

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Good Reads: Visit Africa and ‘Joyland’

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Good Eats: Moe’s Original Bar B Que

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Good Cooking: Munchies for football parties

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Good ’N’ Green: Five great trees to consider

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Out and About: Some folks you might know

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Good People

Dr. Jan Harris retires Sept. 1, leaving her position of nine years as superintendent of Cullman City Schools – but not leaving what she loves.

‘My life mission is to teach others a better way of life through education, love and by example, using my gifts,’ she says. ‘Even though I am retiring, I am not retiring from my life mission. I consider myself a teacher. I don’t see that changing. I love being around anything about education.’

Story and photo

by David Moore

5 x 5 IONS A farewell to QUEST

1. What are five things

you appreciate and will miss about your students?

I think a lot about our little children because I am a secondary math teacher. I love their laughter and hearing them at playtime at the primary schools. So I think about...

1. Their laughter.

2. Their smiles.

3. The way they engage in their play.

4. Their joy.

5. Their innocent beauty.

We have the most beautiful children, inside and out. They are really sweet children. Our high school children are sweet, too. I will miss them so much.

2. What are five things

you appreciate and will miss about your faculty?

1. Our teachers are dedicated.

2. Our teachers are hard working.

3. They are inspiring leaders.

4. They are smart.

5. And they are caring.

Our teachers are incredible.

Our support staff is equally hardworking and dedicated. All of our jobs are important, but I don’t think we appreciate our teachers enough.

After all, our mission is to teach and to inspire our students for life-long success. Teachers deserve our respect.

They are angels on earth.

3. What are five things

you appreciate and will miss about the community?

Dr. Jan Harris

I only come up with three, but they capture it all.

1. Its high expectations.

The community did a tremendous job of conveying its high expectations.

They told me they expected their superintendent to do this or that, not to worry about letting school out early for bad weather because their children were so important.

A strong woman and leader in the community said, “We are number 11 in test scores. Get us back up into the top five.” I was like, wow! That’s important. People rise to expectations.

2 . Its foundational support.

The city council passed a half-cent sales tax before I came. It allowed us to restore positions such as art, theater, choral and music. I knew we had the support of the elected leaders.

The two mayors I have worked with – Donald Green and Max Townson – always helped, along with Garlan Gudger, a phenomenal leader.

Dr. Nancy Horton, the former county superintendent, visited me the first week and said, “Do you mind if pray for you?” I told her I solicited her prayers.

I saw quickly – and continued to see it through the years – that support from the community.

When we renovated the football field, John Apel and Mike Manning helped us with the lights. John was up here on a Saturday morning with his boots on climbing a ladder. He didn’t send an employee. Mike was up here.

Anytime we asked for help he said they would be here. And he didn’t charge us, either.

I once called a banker, Jay Mullins, for a donation for professional development for the teachers. He gave

me a check for double what I asked.

Don Hubbard told me about a grant they had available at his bank. We got $20,000 from it because he cared.

The late Robbie Hearin lost the use of his arm when his health was declining. One Sunday at church, with him holding his arm, he said, “Jan…” This makes me cry thinking about it. “...Is anybody bothering you, being mean to you, pressuring you? Is everything going OK?” I said everyone was wonderful, but it was kind of him to ask. “If anyone bothers you, you let me know, and I will whip their ass.” He said that in church! I hugged him.

Dr. Sylvia Morris, who also passed away, brought me her income tax check every year and said to use it where I needed it. It was that kind of community support, where people with financial means would say that if I ever needed anything to call. And if they couldn’t do it, they could find someone who could.

3. Its encouragement.

I got a note this summer from Elaine Fuller at the county museum bragging on principal David Wiggins and how he loves his children. And she put, “I am going to miss you already.”

A lady told me she loved all of our campuses, that they had never looked so good. That has been one of my goals. It starts at the curb, the way people feel about their schools.

Those are a few – a very few – of the ways people encouraged me.

4. What five

accomplishments are you most proud of during your AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER

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tenure at Cullman City Schools?

1. Our leadership team.

We have an extraordinary leadership team second to none We have great principals, and I am honored to say that I placed all five of them. They all are exemplary. And the coordinators at the central office, too.

I hired all of them except one.

2. A culture of high expectations and not settling for second best.

I think we have created that culture, raised the bar. A teacher told me, “I think that what you will be remembered for is that you raised the standards.” I have tried to because it is good for all of us.

You can’t rest on your laurels.

Today is a new day. Yesterday is gone. All the accomplishments listed in our annual report, they were yesterday.

I have encouraged our people to not settle for second best. If you make a mistake hiring someone, let them go. Don’t settle. It’s too important.

Our kids can’t afford to have someone who is not a good fit.

3. Our achievements in test scores.

Our teachers did that. You cannot achieve that without the parents and the students having the right attitudes, but it’s our job to support that process.

It’s a team effort, but the teachers deserve credit for that.

4. Improved facilities.

We had every building inspected the second year I was here. I recommended that the board hire a demographer and an architectural firm that specialized in inspecting buildings to know if they were sound or if we needed to raze them and start over.

We love our community and are in the “bosom of the city,” as I told Trent Moore at The Cullman Times.

We didn’t want to move a high school way out on Ala. 157. We wanted to be right here.

We are in the midst of a capital era. The extensive additions we are 8

AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER

making to the high school are not the end of it. We added a library at West Elementary. We remodeled East Elementary. We remodeled the middle school and put on a pitched roof to make it more aesthetically appealing.

We are over-crowded and have waiting lists at every one of our schools for out-of-district students – which is a good problem. But it puts us at a crossroad. We need to add on at the primary schools. We need to add on at the middle school.

5. Improved professional development and technology.

Research shows that if you want to raise student achievement, you do so by having more professional learning for teachers. All of our groups participate in professional development. Nurses, custodians, CNP workers, secretaries – we all are engaged.

Sometimes we do systemwide book studies. I had them all read a book about bullying. We read Dave Peltzer, Alan November and Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat.”

We have done a lot of professional learning.

If I can embed this… I think we have done a good job of capturing the historic artifacts of the year – how we have raised the bar – with our annual reports. We are improving how we tell our story to the community.

I may be cheating by including technology with number five, but we were the first in the state to have the 1:1 initiative in 2006 with laptops in grades seven through 12.

Our test scores have improved.

Teacher morale is great according to all of our indicators. We totally transformed the classroom.

But we need to think bigger than 1:1. We need to view technology as “1:world,” not 1:1. The average person has 2.5 devices. The kids told us they didn’t like carrying around the laptops, so we put in a separate server for them to bring their own devices.

We are continuing to change and

improve our technology. It’s a fluid process.

5. What are five things

people might not know about Dr. Jan Harris?

1. I was a majorette in high school in Virginia. And a gymnast. I was on the dance line at the University of North Alabama. I like all of that.

2. Some people might not know that I love words. I love speaking words. I love writing words. I loved writing my one book and look forward to writing another. I just love words and look forward to having more time to write when I complete my service here.

3. I love social media. I have enjoyed using Twitter and Facebook for Cullman City Schools. I have a pretty good following on both.

4. I have a new love in my life, a little dog, a Papillon, which some people might have seen on Facebook.

Her name is Lilly – Princess Lillian Dunnking.

I did not name her. Dennis “Wholey” Harris, my husband, and I adopted her in November from former principal Helen Dunn, whose maiden name is King. She tearfully told me she could not keep her anymore because of allergies.

I have had so much fun with that dog. Lilly is so smart.

5. I have a very domestic side. The most important thing in the world to me is the husband that God entrusted to me. I want more time for us to be together. I want better quality time together, not just in the car racing from one place to another.

I love being home and cooking, sewing, gardening, painting. I like all of that. But the last 14 years I have been a high school principal and superintendent and haven’t had much time for that.

I also used to have the gift of hospitality. I hope I haven’t lost it.

Good Fun Like to eat? Then thank a farmer. Better yet, join four acclaimed chefs from Birmingham – including Cullman natives Frank Stitt and Clif Holt – and four popular local chefs in thanking farmers at the inaugural Farm Y’all Farm-to-Fork festival 8 a.m.3 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Festhalle Market Platz in Cullman.

It’s a celebration of local farmers, a showcase of the fresh produce and meats they raise and a culinary demonstration of the outstanding dishes that can be created from ingredients directly from Cullman County.

The four Birmingham chefs are supporters – if not instigators – of the locally-grown food movement and will cook using Cullman-grown beef, chicken and produce.

Owner of the award-winning Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega and Chez Fonfon, Stitt was named the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef in the Southeast in 2001 and, in 2011, inducted into its Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. The New York Times called Highlands “a sophisticated, easy-going showplace of enticing, Southern-accented cooking.” Gourmet magazine ranked it No. 5 in its list of the 50 best American restaurants.

Chris Hastings opened Hot and Hot Fish Club in 1995. For his warm and contemporary Southern cuisine, he was twice a finalist for James Beard’s “Best Chef in the South” award, winning it in 2012.

Dyron Powell owns Dyron’s LowCountry in Mountain Brook.

“Use local, fresh, seasonal

ingredients” is his top cooking tip.

“I give Frank Stitt and Chris Hastings both multiple thumbs up in affecting us to the point where we’re aware of (locally grown benefits),” says Clif Holt, chef and co-owner of Little Savannah in Forest Park. “I feel like the momentum is there, but the relationship between farmer and chef needs to be stronger on both parts.”

Farm Y’all is about building that relationship. Here’s the line-up: • 8-8:20 p.m. – Ralph or Annette Harris from Rumors Deli and Coffee House will offer samples of their breakfast fare.

• 8:35-8:55 – Debbie

Wood from the recently opened Blue Moose will also offer breakfast samples.

• 9:10-9:30 – Locally famous All Steak owner and chef Matt Heim will give a cooking demonstration.

• 10-10:45 a.m. – Dyron Powell; • 11:15 a.m. to noon – Frank Stitt; • 12:30-1:15 p.m.

– Chris Hastings; • 1:45-2:30 p.m. – Clif Holt; • 2:45-3:30 – Chris Villa, head of Wallace State Culinary Arts program and the college’s executive chef.

Cullman County leads the state in total agricultural sales.

Its financial impact is $2.4 billion annually, and agriculture creates 15,000 full- and part-time jobs, says Tony A. Glover, Cullman County Extension coordinator.

“Cullman County is known far and wide as a strong agricultural community, and we need to celebrate that fact and show the farm community our gratitude for what they contribute,” Glover says.

“The Farm Y’all festival is a long overdue event that will provide a fun-filled day of celebration and recognition of the contribution of hard working farmers.”

Local farmers will have fruit and vegetables for sale. The Extension will conduct seminars on gardening and cooking local.

There’ll be BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, homemade ice cream, music and games, too.

Sponsors are TriGreen Equipment, the Extension office and the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce.

Audubon, new Clucknbrew, Oktoberfest and more...

Farm Y’all is but one of the fun events the Cullman area has to offer in August, September and October. Here are some others you might want to check out…

• August-September

– The Art of Audubon An exhibition of the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art’s ornithological prints of iconic American painter James Audubon is on view now through mid-September at The Evelyn

Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.

The exhibit, with works dating to 1840, is a gift of Billy and Wanda Isom.

Regular hours of operation for the Burrow Museum are 9 a.m.

thrilling rides, amazing exhibits and great local and regional entertainment.

Special $22 megapass armbands for unlimited rides and free admission are on sale through Sept. 9 – or as long as supplies last – at Peoples Bank. Admission is free anytime for children 11 or younger and free for “kids” 55 and older 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. Regular admission is $6; $22 ride armbands ($25 Friday and Saturday) and individual ride tickets are available at the gate.

Regular hours are 5-10 p.m. weekdays, 2 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 2-8 p.m. Sunday.

The fair is sponsored by the Cullman County Lions Club and held at Sportsman Lake Park off U.S. 231 in Cullman. For more information: 256-734-0661.

Audubon’s ‘Snowy Heron’ on exhibit at Wallace State to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

For more information: 256-352-8457.

• Sept. 7 Cluknbrew Here’s another new event…

Clucknbrew is a wings cook-off for amateurs and restaurants that think they have a hot recipe… or a mild one, as the case might be. It’s being put on 3-9 p.m. at Depot Park.

Several bands will play. A kids zone and inflatables – along with burgers, hotdogs, cupcakes and yogurt – will be available for the youngsters. Older kids can take their wings to the TVs in the game day football tent.

Admission is $5, which gets you five wings; you can buy more $1 tickets good for two more wings each, and tickets for other food vendors and beer also will be sold.

Proceeds go the the Cullman City Parks and Recreation

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Foundation for the community playground project at Ingle Park.

Want to enter the cook-off and win countywide bragging rights? There is no cost, but you will need a health department OK; a permit form comes in the cook-off application packet. For more information: 256-734-9157.

• Sept. 7 – Cullman County Fair Parade Sponsored by the Lions Club and drawing people countywide, the parade begins at 2 p.m. at Bennett Tire and goes north up U.S. 31 to Cullman Shopping Center. It usually takes about an hour for it to pass – big doin’s, in other words.

For entry information: 256-734-0661.

• September 12-23 – Cullman County Fair Since 1954, the Cullman County Fair has delighted young and old with

• Sept. 12 – An Evening with Hal Linden Hal Linden will bring a dose of nostalgia and a dash of legendary star quality to spice up the stage at the Betty Leeth Haynes Auditorium in the Student Center at Wallace State Community College.

Backed by a seven-piece band, Linden performs some of America’s greatest songs and Broadway hits.

He is best known for his portrayal of the police captain on the “Barney Miller” TV show, which earned him multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.

In 1957, Linden made his Broadway debut in the musical “Bells Are Ringing” opposite Judy Holliday and continued to perform in 20-plus Broadway and off-Broadway productions including “Pajama Game,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Chicago” and “Cabaret.”

In 1971, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in “The Rothschilds.”

Presented by the Cullman Community Concert Association, the concert begins at 7 p.m. Tickets at the door are $20 adults; $10 students.

For season tickets: www. cullmancommunityconcertassociation. com.

• Sept. 14 – Sons Of Liberty Fall Motorcycle Ride The leisurely, full-escort, 140-

Greg Richter shot the first, second and, here, irresistible third place photos in the 2012 Oktoberfest photography contest; pictured is band member Robynn Amy of Terry Cavanagh and the Alpine Express. The Oktoberfest volunteer board is headquartered at the Cullman County Museum on 2nd Avenue NE. For more information: 256-739-1258 or 1-800-533-1258. mile ride – benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project – starts at the Cullman County Courthouse and loops around Joe Wheeler State Park. Kickstands up at 11 a.m.

The second-year event drew 48 cycles last year and is hoping to double that this year.

Participants get a fish fry and chicken finger dinner afterward. Door prizes and a 50/50 drawing will be held. Registration is 8-10:30 a.m. and includes a $20 donation per bike and $5 for an extra passenger.

For more information: Charles Dansby, 256-339-1212.

• Aug. 17 – Percy Sledge Hear “When a Man Loves a Woman” by this legendary R&B singer in a benefit concert for Joy! For the March of Dimes. Held at TP Country Club, doors open at 6:30 p.m.; show starts at 8.

Admission (a tax deduction) is $100; $175 for couples; $875 for a table of 10; includes hors d’oeuvres; cash bar is available. Tickets can be arranged by phone: Amber Lamote, chairman, JOY!

For the March of Dimes, 256-338-8410; or Hannah Hicks, TPCC, 256-739-0720.

• Oct. 5-12 – Oktoberfest A grand celebration of Cullman’s rich German heritage held since 1982, the festival includes women and girls in Dirndls and men in Lederhosen dancing to Oompa music at the Festhalle Market Platz, lots of traditional German food and, these days, a beer garden.

There will be arts and crafts, a photo contest, bratwurst eating contests, 5- and 10-k runs, a big car show, historical tours and a bed race.

For more information: www. cullmanoktoberfest.com.

• Oct. 12 – Cullman Oktoberfest BBQ Challenge Sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, the event offers professional and backyard BBQ teams the chance to win cash, points toward their overall KCBS standings, points toward the Alabama Governor’s Cup Award – and indisputable braggin’ rights.

Hosted by the Cullman County

Bama Chapter, it’s a full day of fun at the fairgrounds with live entertainment, a beer tent and free kid activities.

Gate fee: $5. Proceeds go to the John Mark Stallings Endowed Scholarship Fund; city, county and Wallace State foundations; and the Alabama Credit Union “Secret Meals” School Food Program.

For more information: www. http://cullmanbbqchallenge.com.

• Oct. 19-20 – Alabama Gourd Festival “Gourding in a Winter Wonderland” is the theme of the 15th annual show at the Cullman Civic Center on Fifth Street SW. It’s everything gourds, with more than 200 entries and vendors from at least eight states.

Last year, about 2,000 people came to see the gourd art work and buy unique gifts. Children can decorate their own gourd necklace for free.

Admission is $3 for adults; 12 and under are free. Show hours are 9-5 Saturday and 10-4 Sunday.

For more information: www. alabamagourdsociety.org.

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Rebuilding their home and life, the Powells...

I

Return to loft-living downtown

t was April 2011, and Lee and Ginger Powell led a good life in their loft apartment above his insurance office in downtown Cullman on Second Avenue SE. Royal Crown Cola products were once bottled downstairs in the old, red-painted brick building. Back in the ’30s or ’40s, someone had lived upstairs. After Lee bought the building and opened his agency there in 2008, he and Ginger spent a year and a half extensively remodeling the space into a comfortable loft apartment. They moved in during summer 2010.

Emmaline, then 2-1/2, called it their “red house.”

Story and loft photographs

by David Moore

Torpe employee Robert Allison shot this photo of the EF-4 tornado while at work on April 27, 2011. Lee Powell’s insurance office – and his and Ginger’s upstairs loft apartment – were among many structures the tornado destroyed.

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Emmaline, Lee and Ginger – expecting Evie Mae in September – stand on the front porch of their loft apartment. They rebuilt on the site of their former building, and Lee’s Country Financial insurance office is located below, along with Les Cheveux Salon, which rents space from him.

About 40 percent of the brick inside and outside of the new building was salvaged from the old one.

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‘The open concept… I love it,’ Ginger says. ‘If we have friends over and I’m in the kitchen, I don’t feel like I’m secluded.’ Among the few items salvaged from their first apartment is a closet door from Emmaline’s former bedroom, resurrected as a sofa table., following page.

But, as it did for so many others, April 27 ripped their good life asunder.

With the threat of more violent weather on that historically violent day, Lee closed the office in mid-afternoon.

“He could tell the way the wind was blowing through the alley… It wasn’t right,” Ginger says. “When he came upstairs to get us the sirens started. I probably wouldn’t have left if it hadn’t been for him.”

The family headed west on U.S. 278 for his parents, Lachlan and Cheri Powell’s house.

They later learned that, during its assault on downtown, the EF-4 tornado hit their building no more than six minutes after they fled. When they finally got that news from friends, they hurried back to town. Lower walls still stood, but their apartment was sheared off.

“I remember shaking and saying, ‘Oh, Lee! Oh, my God! Oh, Lee!’ It was a numbing, shocking feeling,” Ginger says.

But rebuilding was never in doubt.

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The daughter of Richard Wooten and Linda Robertson, Ginger grew up in Good Hope and is a counselor at West Point Elementary. Her father – who owns Richard’s Custom Cabinets – has done woodwork for more than three decades and built all of the maple cabinets in the apartment.

AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER

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The minimalist look of the hall compliments the open family room. Lee laughs at the term minimalist: “I thought it was called broke.” A set of four steps breaks up the hallway, keeping it from feeling like a bowling alley, Ginger says. Exposed beams in the hallway and most of the doors for the apartment came from Southern Accents. The three chandeliers in the hall and two in the bedrooms came from New Orleans.

“We owned the property,” Lee says. “We needed an office and home, and it made sense to put them under one roof again.”

L

iving at his parents’ house in the interim, they razed the old building, cleared the debris, hauled in new dirt and finally began construction in January 2012.

The long rectangle building – about 100x36 feet – limits floor plans, Lee says, so the new apartment is similar to its predecessor with several key evolutions. It’s six feet wider than before. Lee included business rental space on the ground floor. He also was keen on adding a two-car garage for their home. Ginger wanted a fireplace in the open living area. They did not replace a second stairwell located in the former hall.

Upstairs porches – they call them decks – were added to the front and rear. Having frequented New Orleans – Lee attended Tulane for a couple of years – they wanted

French doors lead from the porch into the master bedroom.

From there, antique sliding doors open to the master bath, which connects to Lee and Ginger’s walk-in closet.

It, in turn, connects to the laundry room, also accessible through the hall.

Lee has a downstairs bar between his office and the stairwell. The 1930s bar rail – originally from Kansas City – was salvaged from their first apartment and bears “character“ dings from the tornado. a courtyard. They made it a splitlevel and included an outdoor fireplace because Emmaline loves to roast marshmallows.

T

he Powells moved into their new loft apartment Dec. 14, 2012.

They’ve dropped Emmaline’s “red” adjective and simply referred to it as “our house.”

The inside stairwell near the back of the building opens into a spacious greatroom the width of the apartment that includes the living room, kitchen and an eating corner. Ceilings are 12foot. The fireplace is flanked by French doors opening to the back porch and the outside stairs.

A 10-foot wide hallway – stunning for its size and minimalism – runs about three-fifths of the building’s length, from the greatroom at the rear to an alcove sitting area by two sets of French doors leading onto the front porch.

Lit by three chandeliers and three windows, the outside hall wall is old brick, while doors to the 18

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three bedrooms, laundry and a half-bath open to the inside.

The Powells are not finished with their loft apartment.

Top priority on their to-do list is a nursery for Evie Mae, due in September. Like her big sister’s room, it will have a walkin closet and full bath. Also in the plans is an eventual elevator.

T he family enjoys the convenience of downtown

loft-living.

For starts, Lee may have the shortest commute to work of anyone in Cullman – a walk downstairs, across the length of his bar, and he’s in his office.

Ginger says they walk a block to attend St. John’s Evangelical on Sundays. Emmaline will go to pre-K there this year. And it’s a short walk around the corner to the youngster’s favorite business, the eclectic Mary Carter Paint Store.

In rebuilding, the Powells became another part of the Herculean effort on the part of

many to reconstruct downtown Cullman in the post-tornado era.

Like many property owners, they didn’t consciously view themselves as part of a larger movement.

“We were doing our own thing,” Ginger explains. “There was no question we were going to rebuild.

But by not having a choice from day one, I guess we became a part of the rebuilding effort.”

It’s paid off, both personally and as part of the larger effort.

On the one hand, she says, though they loved the good life they had built in the “red house,” their new building and loft apartment offer wonderful improvements.

The same holds for downtown.

“I t’s definitely better than it was before,” Ginger says of their reemerging part of town. “It definitely improved the area. I’m proud of it.

“We have always been a fan of restoring old places, of bringing back character.”

And that’s exactly what they did at the site of the old RC Cola bottling plant.

A 1,200-square-foot courtyard is built out back on two levels with an outdoor fireplace, visited below by Shelly, Emmaline’s (for now baby) African leopard turtle. No matter how nice a living space is – even in a penthouse – you can still feel stuck inside a box, Lee says. ‘You’ve got to have access to outside space or you’ll go crazy.’

At the Battle of Shiloh, William Maze could have carried an 1860 Enfield rifle like this one at Crooked Creek Civil War Museum and Park. Then again, says museum owner Fred Wise, Maze could have been shot by an Enfield.

The 58-caliber rifle, imported from England, was one of the most common weapons of the war and used by both Confederate and Union soldiers.

William Maze

Saga of a Confederate soldier Story by Steve A. Maze Photos by David Moore

W

illiam “Bill” Maze was one of the many people who tried to scratch out a living on a North Alabama farm before and after the Civil War. He and his wife, Nancy J. Logan of South Carolina, were married around 1850 in Tennessee.

As happened to many people in those days, the allure of rich available land in Alabama drew them southward.

They probably followed the Tennessee River south from Knoxville, crossed over to the west side around Chattanooga and continued southwest toward Huntsville where they crossed the 20

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Tennessee on a flatboat at Ditto’s Landing.

They headed up Brindley Mountain and made their way south, probably passing through the village of Oleander before making their way to Bear Meat Cabin Road.

After two weeks in a covered wagon, they ended up at Turtle Creek, now known as the Strawberry community, which today is about five miles south of Arab in northeastern Cullman County.

Nancy Maze was known for her thriftiness and frugal ways. She enjoyed having friends and relatives visit, but she seldom asked anyone to stay for a meal or spend the night.

On the other hand, her husband, whom their grandchildren referred to as Pappy, was very

Of the 109,784 men who fought at Shiloh April 6-7, 1862 – depicted here by 19th century artist Alonzo Chappel – 23,746 were wounded or killed.

friendly, kind and free-hearted. William gave small amounts of money to his grandchildren whenever possible. He also was a good storyteller and enjoyed relatives and friends staying in their home.

In addition to being a resourceful farmer, he was a carpenter and blacksmith. His grandson, Newborn “Bennie” Berry, had a well-equipped blacksmith and carpenter shop where William liked to spend a lot of time. There they would repair and build wagons, plows and other hand tools.

William once made a hoe for Bennie’s wife, Martha Ann, which she treasured and used in her garden until her death. The hoe was lightweight, correctly slanted to make digging easier and never needed sharpening. In fact, her descendants still use it today.

By 1861, William and Nancy had settled into a quiet rural lifestyle with their three young sons, Elijah, 9, David, 4, and baby Robert, who was almost 1. Life was filled from sunup to sunset with many chores around the farm that meant survival to the family.

The couple was aware of the Civil War, even though

the devastation it would bring had not yet arrived to the Deep South. They would often meet with other families to discuss what to do about the war and how they might be affected.

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William would have felt obliged to help defend his homeland, although slavery would not have been an issue to him since neither he nor any of his family owned slaves.

He probably never heard of something politicians called “state rights.”

William did know that soldiers with blue uniforms would walk into people’s homes and steal food and everything else that wasn’t nailed down. Sometimes the soldiers burned down the homes after they left.

That was one of the reasons he enlisted in the Confederate Army during the first part of 1862 when he was in his early 30s.

He was a member of the Company A Regiment of the Alabama Infantry Volunteers.

Two companies of the 26th had been captured at Fort Donelson, and now the Union Army was working its way to Corinth, Miss., to dismantle the MemphisCharleston Railroad that ran through the city.

Capturing Corinth would also open the Mississippi River to Federal forces for several hundred more miles. For the Confederates to win this battle the plan was simple – amass enough troops at Corinth to take out the Union Army that was at Pittsburg Landing before northern reinforcements arrived.

T

he 26th quickly moved their new recruits, including William, to Corinth. A town filled with the confusion of hot weather, dirty hotels and crowded, noisy streets greeted

Another weapon William Maze might have carried at Shiloh is the 36-caliber Kentucky long rifle, such as the one on display at the Crooked Creek Civil War Museum and Park in Vinemont.

William and other CSA soldiers.

They were a diverse unit, but one thing they shared was that few of them had any experience as soldiers, and most had never fired a gun in hatred.

Their first assignment was to fortify the city.

On April 6, William was shot while throwing up breastworks during the Battle of Shiloh. Not only did he lose his right toe due to being wounded, but he was hospitalized at least twice shortly after; the first time for dysentery, the second time for pneumonia. He also had measles several times.

William was discharged from military service in 1863. He resumed his life as a farmer, but things were never quite the same.

The physical and emotional toll of the war left him a changed man. His physical condition was made obvious with a limp, but his emotional condition was a little harder to detect. William was still friendly and even jovial to those he met, but he sometimes slumped into dark moods and would stay mostly to himself.

I

n early 1900, William applied for a military pension under the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act. Two stipulations to receiving the pension were that the applicant’s assets could not exceed $400 and that he could not make a living as a result of any war injury.

William filed the following financial statement to prove his net worth:

Assets Value

80 acres of land $160

One horse $35

Two head of cattle $20

Household furniture $30

Farm tools and implements $10

Total $255 William was also required to submit to an oral and physical medical examination in order to qualify for the pension.

“I was never absent without leave,” William stated during the oral examination. “I was at home at the close of

the war, having been discharged from Corinth, Mississippi, in 1863, on account of relapse from the measles.”

After his physical examination, the doctor reported, “I find wound by bullet in the big toe and find him very feeble from relapse of measles and old age and cancer on under lip as he is unable to make a living by manual labor.”

William was approved for his military pension – $11 per month.

Three more children were born after William was discharged from the war in 1863. Two of the three children born after he returned home from war had military references in their names; “General” William Maze and Mack “Sherman” Maze.

William’s tombstone lists his death 1908. There is no record of his wife’s death.

The Civil War veteran and his loving but frugal wife are buried at Warrior Creek Cemetery just over the northeastern Cullman line in Blount County.

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Good Reads

Revealing African adventure delivers a great summer read

T

hose of you familiar with the Lady Julia Gray books by Deanna Raybourn will be delighted to meet Miss Delilah Drummond, spoiled heiress and daughter of a scandal-prone mother in 1923 Paris.

Exiled to her favorite stepfather’s savannah manor house in Kenya “just until the gossip subsides,” Don’t believe the stories Delilah charges through you have heard about the African summer with me.

I have never killed gin, jazz and safaris. She anyone, and I have never assumes her duties as stolen another woman’s mistress of the wasted, husband.

Oh, if I find one sun-bleached Fairlawn lying around unattended, estate and slides into the I might climb on, but I decadent pleasures of the never took one that didn’t ex-pat society. want taking. And I never This is an Africa meant to go to Africa. you’ve never seen or read

about, full of mystery, adventure, danger and, of course, a little romance. Delilah is brazen, flashy, willful, highly sensual, opinionated and, underneath all that bravado, incredibly sensitive and courageous – and, ultimately, quite lovable.

Raybourn’s “A Spear of Summer Grass” is Delilah’s coming of age and a marvelous adventure for us all.

It’s the perfect summer – or fall – read.

– Deb Laslie 24

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Stephen King strikes yet again with a hardboiled ‘who dunnit’

If you know anything about Stephen King, you know

he’s one powerful storyteller. His books can either scare the daylights out of you, make you marvel at the power of the human spirit, hold your sides laughing or, in the case of his latest, “Joyland,” keep you on the edge of your seat with a taut, noir-style “who dunnit.”

I walked slowly down the This is King’s second double-S, thinking it would book published by Hard not be beyond Eddie to Case Crime, offering the hear me and shut off the best in hardboiled crime overhead work lights as fiction by our top writers a joke. To leave me in – with cover art to match. here to feel my way past Set in the New the murder site with only England area in 1973, this the sound of the wind and one has college student that one slapping board Devin Jones taking a to keep me company. And summer job at Joyland suppose… just suppose… a theme park hoping to young girl’s hand reached forget being dumped by out in that darkness and his first love. He winds took mine…? up facing the legacy of a vicious murder along with the dark truths about life – and what comes after – that change him forever.

King masterfully sets the mood, builds the suspense and kept me turning the pages. I loved every minute of it.

– Deb Laslie

Out ’N’ About If you’re out and about, you might see the helpful Brandy Colbert. She has worked at the Reddy Stop Chevron on U.S. 31 in Cullman about a year and a half.

She grew up in Cullman and lives in West Point.

Amanda Konrad and Adam Lang have a laugh in front of Southern Accents where they work. Amanda, who is a secretary, started there several months ago.

Initially from Orlando, she moved to Cullman about three years ago. Lang, who has been at SA about three years, is a Cullman native and a sergeant in the Alabama National Guard.

Lt. Phillip Patterson lives about four miles from the sheriff’s eastside satellite office in Baileyton, from which he serves as district supervisor. Most people are glad to see the 19-year veteran lawman out and about. Others? Well, not so much. ‘Right,’ he grinned.

Take a hike...

with the other Berkeley Bob

H

By David Moore

is hands are made for picking folk music on a clawhammer banjo or a guitar. That and brewing coffee.

Bob Keefe owns Berkeley Bob’s Coffee House on First Avenue SE in downtown Cullman. Here, permeated with the rich aroma of specialty roasted beans, he created a popular gathering place with an atmosphere that’s a throwback to the San Francisco Bay area in the 1960s and ’70s.

Beyond drawing a strong clientele, Keefe and his coffee house generate a special gravitational force that for a full decade has attracted top-notch musicians from far and wide who come to perform, play and just be social.

Most people you bump into around here know these things about Keefe.

Few people, however, know about his feet.

They may have seen them tapping time as he picks and sings “The Ballad of Jesse James,” but these feet – and, yes, his boots – were made for walking.

Like his desire for music and his desire for the society of his coffee shop, Keefe lives with a desire to hike and enjoy the solitude of the forests and mountains.

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After recovering from heart surgery in 2011, Keefe tested himself by hiking the Rock Creek trail to Mono Pass in the John Muir Wilderness Area of the Sierra Nevada. Hiking alone, he started out at about 10,000 feet, climbing through western evergreen forests punctuated with ponds and lakes, shooting pictures en route. About 3.5 miles later, he reached the moonscape-like 12,000-foot saddle of Mono Pass – and shot his own picture.

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27

Perhaps the most favorite photo Bob Keefe has taken captures a sunset from Tioga Pass. At an elevation of 9,943 feet, the pass marks the eastern entrance into Yosemite National Park via Calif. 120. As he shot the picture, Keefe says, many of the passing motorists were oblivious to the unfolding spectacle. A large print of his photo – titled ‘Sierra Wave’ – hangs on a wall at Berkeley Bob’s. ‘I love the landscape out West,’ Keefe says. ‘But I”ll take the culture here over the landscape there.’

“I just love being out by myself, as far away as you can go,” he says, sitting on a comfortably-worn sofa in a front corner near the door to Berkeley Bob’s. “I have always loved the mountains. That’s what I miss most around here.”

Born in 1941 and raised in the San Francisco area, Keefe got early introductions to two future mainstays in his life. First, at age 8 or 9, he began fiddling around with stringed instruments, ending up on the banjo.

Secondly, vacations with his parents and two siblings usually entailed tossing tents, sleeping bags and fly rods into the car and heading east to the Sierra Nevadas.

Yosemite National Park was – and remains – a favorite of Keefe’s, just as it was for photography master Ansel Adams, whom he recalls seeing there.

“I knew he was a photographer, but I didn’t know he was famous,” Keefe says.

As he got a little older, the mountains and forests led him to Boy Scouting. “We went hiking and camping all the time.”

He outgrew Scouts just shy of reaching Eagle, but he never outgrew hiking. He took sojourns of up to two weeks and once trekked 125 miles through the Sierras on the John Muir Trail.

After high school Keefe began working with the U.S.

Forestry Service. That continued during his forestry studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

In those early years he did research and cruised timber in California, Oregon and Alaska. For a young man who loved hiking, it was a fine job in some fine country. In the Northwest he was seldom out of sight of three volcanic kings of the Cascades – Mount Hood, Mount Baker and, before literally blowing its top in 1980, Mount St. Helens.

Keefe would go on to spend 35 years in forestry, mostly with large paper companies.

But first, one boot step ahead of the draft, after he earned his degree in 1964 he joined the Marines. Instead of spending 1967’s Summer of Love with hippies in San Francisco, Keefe found himself flying helicopters in the Republic of Vietnam.

“Obviously,” he says, “not by choice.”

Before his pilot training and the war itself, there was basic training to survive. The 20-mile “hikes” they took bore little resemblance to hiking.

“Somebody would hit you on the back of the helmet if you didn’t keep up,” Keefe grins.

In ’69, he returned to forestry, now in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama. He continued to cruise timber initially, but later found himself more into management than the woods.

During his Cullman years, Keefe enjoyed hiking the 30

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Bankhead National Forest, but he’s always felt drawn to the Sierra Nevadas.

His sister, Susan Barker, lived for years in Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, Calif., small towns snuggled up to eastern slopes of the Sierras, where peaks soar over 14,000 feet. (Until moving to Cullman about a year ago, Keefe’s mother, Evelyn, lived in Bishop, too.) The area is a dream for backpacking, hiking, fishing and simple solitude. Keefe says a person can go for 50 miles and never see another soul.

Nodding to a shelf of coffee at his elbow, Keefe says his favorite is “Wake Up America” – at least when he’s in his store.

“But it doesn’t really matter what kind of coffee it is in the morning when you’re on the trail,” he says. “If I’m camping out, I make it over the fire, which I like.”

About 15 years ago, Keefe and his son and daughter – Michael and Erin – joined Susan, her daughter and a friend for a 16-mile hike up famed Half-Dome, which juts 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley.

“The last 1,000 feet of the way you have to pull yourself up the rock face on a cable.” The tough hike paid off with

Keefe – with hiking boots on his feet – plays banjo in the back room at Berkeley Bob’s with Carl Lowe, a fiddler from Arab. Keefe has written down the lyrics of some 300 old folk ballads. ‘When I turned 60,’ he laughs, ‘I realized I was forgetting the words to those songs. Now I’m in my 70s, and I have the words, but I forgot the tunes.’

Photo by David Moore

spectacular waterfall views and, from the sheared summit edge, an awe-inspiring panorama of the valley and High Sierras.

H

iking with family or friends is fine, but Keefe prefers to hike alone – as something of a lone eagle.

“I am and I’m not,” he sort of agrees. “When I am out in the woods, I like to be by myself. When I’m here in the store, I like to be with people.”

Maybe a social hermit?

A dry grin cracks behind Keefe’s beard. “That’s probably a good description.”

Keefe doesn’t play music as much as he once did. He doesn’t hike much, either. Two years ago he had a heart valve replaced. Earlier this year he had a stroke.

“I’m doing pretty good,” he says. “They were both related to birth defects I didn’t know I had.”

His wife, Geri – along with Erin, a barista at Berkeley Bob’s, and her husband, Josh Brooks, the manager – try to get Keefe to take off more time from the store. That

works… well, sort of.

Likewise, health and age have not fully squelched the pull the Sierras have on Keefe – similar, perhaps, to the gravitational force he and Berkeley Bob’s exert on musicians. He felt the pull of the Sierras after recovering from heart surgery.

“I went hiking out there to see how my parts worked,” he says.

While he’s not been hiking in a while, Keefe isn’t planning to give it up. He still would like to hike the Horton Creek Trail into his beloved Sierras and the John Muir Wilderness Area before he gets too old.

So... what about this aging business?

“I’m glad to be here,” Berkeley Bob says, rubbing his beard. “You have to live with what you are dealt. I’d rather be 30, but that’s not going to happen. So I’m glad to be 71.”

Dealing with aging, he says, is a big part attitude. Music helps. So does good coffee. So do family and friends. And, he adds, a pair of hiking boots helps.

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The $3 million worth of construction and landscaping done by Larry and Sandy Harris are just some of the reasons lot owners at Smith Lake RV Resort agree with the Van Giessens’ signs.

Lake living for Everyman at the Edge of Paradise Story and photos by David Moore

It was on his second of four tours in war-racked Iraq

that then-Major Woody Wood began to envision a place of his own, somewhere peaceful, special, on a body of water.

Dena – who did an 18-month tour in Iraq as a civilian with the Army – caught the vision when they married in 2009.

At that point in their lives they’d never heard of Smith Lake – much less Smith Lake RV Resort. But that’s where their vision materialized, where they bought their dream place on the water.

Kathy and John Van Giessen, two of their resort neighbors, call their lake place the “Edge of Paradise.”

Sandy Harris, who helped her developer husband Larry bring to reality his vision for the resort, calls it her favorite place on earth.

“It just melts your week away,” she says.

Unlike most RV parks, the Harrises don’t rent space at the resort. They sell RV lots along with packages that include decks and pergolas, outbuildings and cabins, 32

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landscaping and lawn maintenance, membership to saltwater pools and access to the scenic 100-yard boardwalk Larry built into the shady rock bluffs stretching from the boat slips and amphitheater/pavilion to a second dock and swimming area on the lake.

If you think Larry’s an expert on RVs, think again. He’s never owned one.

“But I’ve learned a lot about them,” he laughs.

What he is an expert on is developing. Part Cherokee, Larry grew up in Crane Hill and owns Edgewater Land.

Smith Lake RV Resort is his eighth development since the 1990s.

Before launching the resort, Larry raised longhorn and Brahman bulls on the 58.5-acre spread. The big animals were a source of fascination to Sandy, a Chicago native.

She’d take them day-old bagels, which she slid onto their horns, nearly causing passers-by to run off the rural road.

Larry credits Robin Cummings, president and CEO of Peoples Bank, with the idea for the park. Cummings

Developers Larry and Sandy Harris, left, visit with Dena and Woody Wood on their deck, which extends from a covered pergola. had noticed growing interest in recreational vehicles and suggested that Larry look into developing a park.

He and Sandy visited some RV shows, conducted a survey and saw the potential. Many people want to be on the lake but like where they live and don’t want – or can’t afford – to build a second home. But the idea of buying a small lot to park their RV on, having amenities and access to boat slips, and not having to cut grass and such, is alluring.

‘We knew folks were looking for something like this,” Larry says.

S

o, four years ago in April, the last longhorn got its last bagel. Larry brought in his earth-moving equipment and began building his latest dream.

Someone once said if your dreams don’t scare you, then you are not dreaming big enough. Sandy insists that Larry dreams big enough.

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“He scares me,” laughs Sandy, who works for Dr. Steven Skinner at Cullman Dermatology.

A tour of the resort attests to the estimated $3 million the Harrises have invested so far on the project: an amazing amount of stone work, thoughtful landscaping, the beautiful pavilion area, a new fishing pond, laundry facilities, a private sewer system and just in case – a community storm shelter.

Twenty-six of 28 available lots are sold. Larry is grading out space for 37 more – some overlooking the lake from the hilltop – and plans a second, more elaborate clubhouse.

He fully prepares each site with attractive stone pads and utility hook-ups. Lots average 50’x100’, though some are 9,000-square feet. The least expensive available site goes for $69,000, but some new sites will sell for under $60,000.

Everyone so far has had Larry build decks and/or pergolas. Nearly everyone has an attractive shed – though full cabins are available – for parking golf carts, the preferred mode of transportation.

Homeowner fees are $60 per month.

“If you already have your RV,” Larry says, “you can come out and have a nice place on the lake for $60,000$70,000.”

Call it paradise for the Everyman.

Three of the owners actually live at the resort, though

two of them travel extensively. The others, like Woody and Dena Wood, can’t wait to arrive on the weekends.

Lot owners come from as far as Mississippi and Tennessee. The Woods live in Hartselle and work at Redstone Arsenal. They pack Thursday nights and are Smith Lake bound after work Friday.

“Sometimes we come down during the week,” Woody says, relaxing on their deck.

“We love the water,” Dena says, “That’s what drew us.”

On this particular day, Woody was out fishing at 6 a.m.

The Woods discovered the resort while Harley riding in October 2011. At the time, it was little more than unimpressive red dirt. The following May they docked their boat there and found paved roads and landscaping.

“We didn’t know the vision Larry and Sandy had,” Dena says. “I said, ‘Oh, my, gosh!’”

She and Woody boated around for an hour, came back and took a lot.

“Our goal had been to find a place near the water,” Dena says. “This answers – or fulfills, I should say – everything we dreamed of for a second home.”

Certainly, Woody laughs, it beats the heck out of Iraq.

If you’re interested, John and Kathy Van Giessen have

a motor home for sale. They had planned to travel after he retired from Nucor Steel, but those plans changed when they visited Smith Lake for Memorial Day 2012 and found the RV resort. They parked the motor home.

“Once we came here,” John says, “we didn’t see the need to go anywhere else.”

The Van Giessens are one of three couples from Hoover.

It’s a 70-mile drive, and, like most owners, they’re at the resort nearly every weekend.

The closeness they share with the other owners goes beyond a mere feeling of community, they say. It’s like a big family. They experienced it on that Memorial Day visit.

People invited them to lunch, to have a drink.

“We fell in love with it,” Kathy says from a leather sofa in the living room area of their 39-foot Sierra. “It’s so much fun. It’s like a big family.”

“We know everybody,” John says. “‘When you come to

Like many of their neighbors, the Van Giessens travel nearly every weekend to be at their place on the lake.

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35

Larry Harris gets the credit for building the boardwalk; Sandy gets the credit for landscaping. As for the Van Giessens... they get lots of doggie kisses. the lake, it’s time for the good life.”

The night before, four or five couples joined them for a deck party. They planned a “deck crawl” this summer, a mobile party from place to place. Earlier, Sandy organized an ice cream tasting; Kathy’s homemade concoction won. The Van Giessens also won the Christmas decoration contest. John played Santa.

He and Kathy laugh about the neighboring Ogden boys, Nathan and Jackson, 12 and 8. They’re the resort’s selfappointed sheriff and deputy and often stop owners for the likes of “speeding” in their golf carts. All are assumed guilty and get not only a stern chewing-out but perhaps a $500 ticket (none of which are paid).

“They’re the cutest things,” Kathy says as if she’s talking about her own child. And, here at the Edge of Paradise, Smith Lake RV Resort, that’s the way it is.

Oh… and about John and Kathy’s motor home that’s for sale? They want to buy a boat.

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Good Eats

BBQ... Moe’s way Justin Gilley grew up loving Grandma Lucille Gilley’s cooking in Holly Pond. He learned to dabble in it himself.

“But as far as envisioning owning a restaurant… nope,” he grins, sitting at the bar at Moe’s Original Bar B Que – MOB – in Cullman. He owns the place with Tyler Schuman, a friend since Cullman High, and Joseph Fralic, a Moe’s transplant from Tuscaloosa.

Justin and Tyler got business degrees from The University of Alabama in 2007 but decided suit jobs didn’t fit. They went to Colorado and worked with Moe’s growing chain – determined to conquer the world with Bama-style BBQ. MOB founders Mike Fernandez, Tuscaloosa; Ben Gilbert, Athens; and Jeff Kenned, Huntsville met back in their UA days when another Day – Moses Day – introduced them to fire roast meats.

MOB was born non-glamorously but honestly in Minturn, Co., where the trio roasted meat on a charcoal grill at a doublewide trailer on the river.

By the time Justin and Tyler hooked up with MOB, it had expanded to 16 or so hot locations, mostly in Colorado and Alabama; it now has 26 in six states.

“We ended up loving the business, loving the owners,” Justin says of their apprenticeship. So they decided to open their own location, settling on their hometown after considering larger markets.

Joseph joined them from his GM position at Moe’s in Tuscaloosa. They bought a shell of an old building on First Avenue SE in January 2012, started construction a year later and opened May 29.

“We knew we’d do well,” Justin says of their desire to further fan the flames of the emerging night-scene downtown. “But it’s been a lot better than we anticipated. The people of Cullman love the food, the place, the atmosphere.

Some of them come in three or four times a week.”

There’s live music several nights a week and more than 50 craft brews to choose from. The BBQ sauce is sassy. You could gum the meat if need be. You can go with red or white sauce. Or, better yet, ask for Bama style – you get both sauces, marinated slaw and pickles. Eight or so sides are offered each day from Moe’s recipe book of 50-60.

And, unless you drop in for lunch, there’s really no need to find a suit that fits.

– David Moore

Katelyn Crawford serves up pulled pork, potato salad, smoked pork chili and MOB’s special cornbread. Her favorite side is the mac ’n’ cheese – so cheesy you can pick it up in one piece with your fork.

Good Cooking

Whatever team

you’re pulling for...

Score big with these munchies while tailgating or at the party Brenda Ward likes a little War Eagle served up with her football party hors d’oeuvres. A lot of War Eagle is even better.

“This is our year,” she insists.

A few folks across Cullman County might argue her claim. But they’re unlikely to argue some of the recipes she likes to prepare for football parties.

Brenda, who is the secretary at Cullman First Baptist Church, provided a copy of its Women’s Ministry Cookbook – tasty enough to have sold out twice. From its section on appetizers, she’s particularly fond of the pineapple cheese ball.

No fumble there.

Here’s a sampling of recipes from the cookbook that are sure to offer winners for your football party or tailgating, regardless (well, almost regardless) of the final score...

BEEF LOG

Jayne Stringer 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened 1 bunch green onions (tops and roots), chopped 2 (6 oz.) pkgs. pressed beef, chopped 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp. garlic salt 1 tsp. Accent 1/2 c. chopped pecans Parsley Cut chopped beef into the softened

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cream cheese with a fork. Add chopped onions; mix well. Add remaining ingredients; mix. Form into a log; roll in shopped pecans and parsley. Chill. Serve with crackers.

CHEESE PENNIES Bobbie Pope

1/2 lb. sharp Cheddar cheese, finely grated 1 stick margarine 1 c. flour 1/2 pkg. dry onion soup mix 1/2 tsp. salt Let margarine and grated cheese come to room temperature, then mix.

Add flour, salt and dry onion soup mix; blend thoroughly. Divide into 4 rolls or logs. Roll each in foil and freeze. When ready to use, cut into thin slices and bake in a 400º oven for 8-10 minutes. Yield: approximately 5 dozen.

PINEAPPLE CHEESE BALL Debbie Sapp

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese 2 T. chopped green pepper 2 T. chopped onion 1/4 c. drained crushed pineapple 1 tsp. Lawry’s seasoned salt 2 c. chopped pecans Soften cream cheese. Add green pepper, onion, pineapple, seasoned salt and 1 cup of pecans; mix well. Shape into a ball and fold in

remaining pecans. Chill well before serving. Serve with crackers or fresh vegetables. Yield: 1 large or 2 small cheese ball(s).

SAUSAGE STARS Rudene Tidwell

2 c. (1 lb.) cooked, crumbled sausage 1 1/2 c. grated sharp Cheddar cheese 1 1/2 c. grated Monterey Jack cheese 1 c. prepared Hidden Valley Ranch original salad dressing mix 1 (2 1/2 oz.) can sliced, ripe olives 1/2 c. chopped red pepper 1 pkg. fresh or frozen wonton wrappers Vegetable oil Preheat oven to 350º. Blot sausage dry with paper towels and combine with cheeses, salad dressing, olives and red pepper. Lightly grease a mini (or regular) muffin tin. Press 1 wonton wrapper into each cup and brush with oil. Bake 5 minutes until golden. Remove from tins, place on a baking sheet and fill with sausage mixture. Bake 5 minutes until bubbly.

Yield: 4-5 dozen.

LOLLIE JACKSON’S CHEESE STRAWS Juanita Waters

1 lb. grated sharp cheese, room temp.

1/2 lb. butter, room temp.

Sift together: 1 1/2 c. flour 1 tsp. salt A dash of red pepper

Here’s what you need to make Debbie Sapp’s pineapple cheese ball – the kind Brenda Ward likes.

Photo by David Moore

Add everything together to make a firm dough. Pack into a cookie press and, using the star design, make into the length you desire. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in a 350º oven until they being to brown.

Remove from pan while hot; cool well. Store in an airtight container.

Note: This recipe is in memory of Lollie Jackson, long-time member of FBC, Chancel Choir and WMU.

MINI SAUSAGE QUICHES Jennifer Mauldin

1 c. all-purpose flour 3 oz. cream cheese 1/2 c. softened butter 1/2 lb. Italian sausage 1 c. shredded Swiss cheese 2 T. fresh chives, snipped 2 eggs 1/4 tsp. salt 1 c. half-and-half Dash of cayenne pepper Beat butter and cream cheese until

creamy; blend in flour. Refrigerate 1 hour, then roll into 24 balls. Press balls into mini muffin cups. Preheat oven to 375º. Cook and crumple the sausage; drain grease. Sprinkle evenly into pastry shells; sprinkle with Swiss cheese and chives.

Whisk the eggs, half-and-half, salt and cayenne; pour over sausage in shells. Bake 20-30 minutes. Remove from pan; serve hot. Yield: 24 mini quiches.

crackers.

Note: Great in quiche recipe or as a pizza topping ingredient.

HOT SPINACH AND ARTICHOKE DIP

Mix all ingredients and chill overnight. Serve with corn chips or crackers.

Lisanne Brown

1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach 1 (15-16 oz.) can artichoke hearts 1 c. Parmesan cheese 1 c. mayonnaise Mix all ingredients. You can put into a blender and purée; if not, cut artichoke hearts into small, bitesize pieces. Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips or

BLT DIP Amy Hurt

1 (8 oz.) ctn. sour cream 1 c. mayonnaise 2 or 3 tomatoes, diced 1 btl. Hormel Real Bacon Bits

CORN DIP Amy Hurt

1 can Mexicorn, drained 1 c. grated Cheddar cheese 1/4 c. chopped green onion 1/2 c. mayonnaise 1/2 c. sour cream Mix all ingredients. Chill for 2 hours.

Serve with corn chips or crackers.

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5 great trees

Good ‘N’ Green

They could be your new favorites Story and photos provided by Tony Glover Cullman County Extension Coordinator

The spring tornadoes of 2011 left a path of devastation through the heart of Cullman County and the city. Among the storms’ casualties were many large, mature shade trees whose absence has dramatically altered the landscape.

Trees provide more than beauty. They give us a sense of history and well-being, make our communities livable, provide habitat for wildlife and shade our homes, helping us save money on utility bills.

But too much of a good thing – even when it comes to trees – can be bad. It is always best for a community to plant a mixture of tree species. Whenever we rely too heavily on too few species, Mother Nature will punish us sooner or later.

To stir your imagination, I have picked out five beautiful, under-used trees perfect for your Cullman landscapes...

1 Southern sugar maple (Acer saccharum var. floridanu) – This under-appreciated tree looks similar to sugar maple but is better suited for smaller spaces, hotter summers and poor soils.

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Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboretum) – The sourwood is commonly found on rocky wooded slopes in the Appalachian Mountains, often growing in combination with other heath family members – e.g., azaleas and rhododendrons – that share the same acidic soil preferences. It typically grows 20-25 feet tall with a straight, slender trunk and narrow oblong crown. Bees love this native tree – and you will, too.

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3 American

hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) – Sometimes called Musclewood because of its muscle-like wood, this is a great small tree about the same size as the fringe tree, below. It is suited for partial shade to full sun. It has fine textured birchlike leaves with an interesting bloom and winged seed pods.

4 Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) – This

wonderful native species tolerates a wide range of soil types, has beautiful red fall color, provides nectar for bees, and the female trees produce a small fruit that birds enjoy.

Tree planting tips

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Fringe tree (Chionanthus retusus) – Often called Grancy Greybeard, this tree is available in native and Asian forms. Both types perform well in well-drained, partial sun locations, but the Asian species is actually a little tougher and better adapted to poorer soils and direct sun locations. This is a small tree suited for locations with 25-30 feet of clearance.

• Planting in fall or early winter reduces planting stress and water needs.

• Initially water every day or two; about 2 gallons per inch of trunk diameter. Later, decrease frequency but increase the volume and area. You may need to water for six months or longer.

• Fertilizing and pruning are not usually needed the first year except to remove dead, rubbing or broken limbs.

• Apply about 3 inches of mulch in a ring around the plant, but avoid direct contact with the trunk. Get a free weed barrier ring at the Cullman County Extension, 402 Arnold St. NE, Cullman.

• Questions? Call: 256-737-9386.

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Tommy and Susan Cost organized the Paddle at the Rock races in July. It was a SUP first for North Alabama.

The Costs had hoped to draw 25-30 racers – and drew 39 from as far as Knoxville and Atlanta. Among the seven from Cullman County were Andrew Brymer, who won the 1-mile race, and Micah Leigeber, who finished third in the 6-miler.

SUP (stand-up paddle boards)

catching a wave of popularity on Smith Lake Story and photos by David Moore AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER

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IAsks thatHank.hard?He’sPaddle boarding? a dog, and he can do it.

Is it fun?

Again… check with Hank.

It’s late afternoon, and light plays nicely off the waters of Lewis Smith Lake. Hank, a Jack Russell terrier, stands on front of the board Susan Cost is paddling. Her husband, Tommy Cost, is paddling a second board with their 7-year-old daughter, Kate, perched at his feet.

The family that paddle boards together…

The Costs are among the growing number of people one sees enjoying stand up paddle boards – or SUPs – on the lake these days. And they are part of the reason. You can buy a board at Werner’s Trading Company in Cullman, or you can buy or rent one from the Costs, who own Smith Lake Paddle Board on Cullman Co. 222 in Trimble.

They dove into the business shortly after Susan bought her board in the spring of 2012.

“I had looked at them for a while and just knew I would love doing it,” she says.

She was right. And Tommy was quickly on board with her, so to speak.

“It’s a matter of getting confident on the board,” he says. “It didn’t take too much time.”

“A lot of people over-think it,” Susan adds.

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To learn balance, they instruct people to start off on their knees, then work their way up. If you get wobbly when you stand up, simply sink back to your knees.

Kate shares the secret to paddle board mastery.

“Practice,” she giggles.

W

hile still relatively new to Smith Lake, paddle boarding has been around hundreds of years. It’s a cousin to surfing.

John Webber, an artist who sailed with Capt. James Cook to The Sandwich Islands, depicted a Polynesian riding a wave on a paddle board in an engraving he did in 1781. Paddle boarding in a prone or kneeling position as a sport got its start in the 1930s, not surprisingly in Hawaii and California. But for years it was done only in the ocean, and catching waves was the prime kick.

SUPing got its start in the 1960s but remained a surfing-related pastime.

Then, in August 2007, the first ever stand up paddle board race – a 7-mile event held against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountains – was organized on Lake Tahoe. Now an annual event, that race draws some 400 participants and 4,000 spectators. Further attesting to its popularity as a sport and pastime, paddle boarding has an internationally circulated magazine – Standup Journal – published out of Maine.

Tommy and Susan, who live on Smith Lake, found paddle boarding a great way to have fun, relax and, at the same time, get in a good workout. They say paddle boarding is great core exercise, building you up from the hips and abs to your arms.

They figured it would catch on locally if they started a business. After some research, they became authorized dealers for YOLO Board, which has offices in Destin and Sand Diego.

You’re wondering, right? OK… YOLO stands for “You Only Live Once.”

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graduate of Cullman High School with a few years of college under his belt, Tommy – along with his brothers David and Greg Brown – has owned American Classics, a T-shirt licensing and wholesale operation in Hanceville, since 1994. That’s still his real job, Tommy says.

“The paddle boards are something we just enjoy doing,” he explains. “It hasn’t turned into a job yet.”

Their shop is located about 15 minutes from their Crane Hill lake house and only a few miles from Smith Lake Park. The Costs are open Thursday through Saturday and by appointment.

A lot of their job entails delivering and picking up boards that people rent for the day or weekend.

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Susan Cost carries her 28-pound stand up paddle board down to the water start at Smith Lake Park. YOLO brand boards, which start at $985, are generally 12 feet long and 31.5 inches wide.

Perhaps the only drawback to their business model is that they stay too busy to get out paddle boarding together. They’ve only managed it a handful of times this year.

They added to their work by organizing the Paddle at the Rock races in July. Behind Lake Martin, it was only the second paddle board race venue in Alabama. Starting at Silverock Cove, races were 1, 3 and 6 miles long, and 39 racers participated.

As another sign of growing popularity in North Alabama, the Costs have sold boards to people who have

Boards are quite buoyant. You still want to turn into the wake from passing boats – most boaters give you a wide berth – but waves don’t bother you much, Tommy says. Wind, however, can be rough. paddled down the Tennessee River from Huntsville to Decatur. And, in May, Sean Miller of Decatur paddled a board from Chattanooga to the Alabama-Mississippi line – 250 miles – to raise awareness of water quality and the efforts of the Tennessee Riverkeepers.

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addle boarding may be catching a wave of popularity on Lewis Smith Lake, but it’s still new enough to attract curious comments, many of them from boaters.

“Can you put a motor on that thing?” is one of the questions Sandy has gotten while out on the water.

Others include “Is that fun?” and “Is that hard?”

The respective answers are no, yes and no.

Sandy laughs, “I had one guy holler out, ‘My boat can outrun you!’”

To that, there is no answer other than to say there are a slew of ways to have fun on the lake.

Hank, the Jack Russell, would say SUPing is one of them. Just ask him.

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You get a circulation of 10,000 direct-mailed to targeted households and available free at businesses and high-traffic areas countywide

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