I guess now is as good a time as ever to give y’all a little low-down on our little corner of Alabama. You see, wayyy back during Hoover’s depression, things was really bad down here. Was down right primitive compared to now and to be honest, I wasn’t here back then... but the story goes something like this…
Nobody back then had electricity or indoor water taps or actual-to-goodness bathrooms (ceptin' for outhouses). The roads were mostly old horse trails. But then came Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the CCC and WPA. They came a calling and with them came better roads and all kinds of electrical wires, telephone poles and better water too! What they did was to set up base camps along side RR tracks where they could get supplies in and ship stuff out. For the most part, what they shipped was lumber and this area here was prime for that sort of activity. One of them camps was called ‘Possum Trot’ (I have no idea why they named it that) and they was mostly cutting pine trees and sending it to mill.
Another camp just down the road a piece called ‘Redoubt South’ was where the mill was what cut the trees into lumber. It was built over what was once a fort where settlers used to go to hide from the indians and that is where the name come from.
Every thing was perking right along until the war began in 1941 and all the workers left to go fight the Japs and Germans. The old lumber mill was mostly abandoned and the worker’s camp become a ghost town. After the war, the men folks came home and things began to pick up again. The mill was put back to use and a lot of locals got jobs in the lumber trade. The old worker’s camp was taken up by some of those what were both doing the cutting and working the mill. One day, they decided they had themselves a town and wanted to give it a name and it is here where the story makes a slight turn to the left.
You see, during the war when everyone was off fighting, some of the local youguns got it in their heads to have some fun with some whitewash and the sign what used to say ‘Possum Trot’ became a sign that said ‘Possum Rot’. Yup, they painted over the T and thought they had a hoot on their hands, and I guess they did ‘cause when the newly formed town was looking for a name, they looked at that old camp sign first and well, the rest is history.
From there, the folks who lived near the mill weren’t to be outdone and they decided to make a name too but they weren’t too inventive so they decided an idea honoring the old fort was as good as any. So about 5 miles from Possum Rot sprung Redoubt South. And it is here that I came in 1985 and opened the first hardware store.
Percy Pepper and the rest of his Bothered Pines Mobile Home Estates clan keep me in businesses cause most of the time, they are busy keeping the old park up and running. I also have a steady stream of park residents coming in here for stuff like cinder blocks, copper tubing and duct tape. I really ain't got the slightest notion as to what they do with all of it and I don't really care to gain any particular insights either, but they do make an interesting clientele.
Nobody back then had electricity or indoor water taps or actual-to-goodness bathrooms (ceptin' for outhouses). The roads were mostly old horse trails. But then came Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the CCC and WPA. They came a calling and with them came better roads and all kinds of electrical wires, telephone poles and better water too! What they did was to set up base camps along side RR tracks where they could get supplies in and ship stuff out. For the most part, what they shipped was lumber and this area here was prime for that sort of activity. One of them camps was called ‘Possum Trot’ (I have no idea why they named it that) and they was mostly cutting pine trees and sending it to mill.
Another camp just down the road a piece called ‘Redoubt South’ was where the mill was what cut the trees into lumber. It was built over what was once a fort where settlers used to go to hide from the indians and that is where the name come from.
Every thing was perking right along until the war began in 1941 and all the workers left to go fight the Japs and Germans. The old lumber mill was mostly abandoned and the worker’s camp become a ghost town. After the war, the men folks came home and things began to pick up again. The mill was put back to use and a lot of locals got jobs in the lumber trade. The old worker’s camp was taken up by some of those what were both doing the cutting and working the mill. One day, they decided they had themselves a town and wanted to give it a name and it is here where the story makes a slight turn to the left.
You see, during the war when everyone was off fighting, some of the local youguns got it in their heads to have some fun with some whitewash and the sign what used to say ‘Possum Trot’ became a sign that said ‘Possum Rot’. Yup, they painted over the T and thought they had a hoot on their hands, and I guess they did ‘cause when the newly formed town was looking for a name, they looked at that old camp sign first and well, the rest is history.
From there, the folks who lived near the mill weren’t to be outdone and they decided to make a name too but they weren’t too inventive so they decided an idea honoring the old fort was as good as any. So about 5 miles from Possum Rot sprung Redoubt South. And it is here that I came in 1985 and opened the first hardware store.
Percy Pepper and the rest of his Bothered Pines Mobile Home Estates clan keep me in businesses cause most of the time, they are busy keeping the old park up and running. I also have a steady stream of park residents coming in here for stuff like cinder blocks, copper tubing and duct tape. I really ain't got the slightest notion as to what they do with all of it and I don't really care to gain any particular insights either, but they do make an interesting clientele.
posted by Redoubt at 8:56 AM
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