Toadstool Garden

After an entire spring and summer of extremely dry weather and pretty much nothing growing in the garden, we have toadstools! A whole little garden of 'em! We've had showers the past few days, and the rain grew grass and toadstools. There were several clusters of these mushrooms all over our backyard.

The Confederate Rose

The Confederate Rose is popular in southern gardens. A type of hibiscus, the large shrub is related to cotton and okra. When it first blooms in late summer, the blossoms are white on the first day, rosy pink on the second day and bluish pink on the third day. It blooms until frost and is killed back with a hard freeze. But it returns in the spring, bigger and more glorious than the year before!

Highway 22 Tracks

Selma once was a busy railroad town and still has rail traffic for freight, which has increased in recent years. This line parallels Alabama Highway 22 toward Orrville.

In 1849, Selma was chosen by the legislature to be a terminus for track leading from north Alabama to the Alabama River. By 1855, tracks reached the Coosa River, paving the way for cotton from "up north" to be shipped to Selma via railroad, then down the Alabama River to the Port of Mobile. Both the Old Depot Museum and the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum feature sections with local railroad history.

Today, CSX, Norfolk-Southern and M&B operate rails in the Selma area.

Valley Creek Presbyterian Church

Valley Creek Presbyterian Church has substantial claim on Dallas County. The eight families that founded the church in 1816 were early settlers who also helped build the community. The oldest Presbyterian church in Dallas County and among the oldest in the state, the church still has an annual homecoming. This structure, featured on a plate exhibited at the Old Depot Museum, was built in 1857 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is a Greek Revival building, and according to Civil War history, an original log structure built in 1821 was burned by the Union raiders in 1865.

Public Baths

Around the turn of the 20th Century, folks couldn't take baths and restrooms for granted. This advertisement was located at the Arthur Crocheron Barber Shop on Alabama Avenue. It seems that travelers often freshened up at local barber shops after arrival in town. There, they could pay to use the toilet or the soap or a towel! The sign now resides at the Old Depot Museum.

Alabama Tale Tellin' Festival

The brochures are out for this year's Alabama Tale Tellin' Festival. The 29th annual festival is October 12 and 13 and held the same weekend as Riverfront Market Day. Selma's "Ghost Lady," Kathryn Tucker Windham, emcees Tale Tellin.' She is well known for her ghost-story, photography and southern-cooking books and has told stories across the nation. She is featured each year at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn. This year's festival features Wanda Johnson, who tells about growing up in Alabama; Bill Lepp, five-time winner of the West Virginia Liars contest; and The Dill Pickers, a string band from Birmingham. If you have your own tale to tell, then meet at the Swappin' Ground at 5:30 p.m.!

Tip Top

Victorian homes have so many interesting features, like this for instance. I love the colorful glass inset on these windows at the very tip top of the house. There is also a balcony and a front porch to wish for. This house is located practically downtown, and I'm sure many Selmians will recognize it even if I show only a small part of it.

Memorial to the Hotel Albert

What remains of the facade of the old Hotel Albert can be found in the courtyard behind the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum. These four columns were saved when the hotel was demolished in 1969. This brick structure also contains paintings that show some of Selma's history, including one in which the hotel is seen in the background, depicting its use as a Yankee headquarters after the Battle of Selma in 1865.

St. James Hotel Lobby

Here is the lobby of the St. James Hotel on Water Avenue. The hotel was originally built in 1837, closed in 1893 and completely renovated and reopened as a hotel and restaurant in 1997. It is operated as a public-private partnership and recently has come under new management. Gourmet Services of Atlanta expects to have the hotel fully operational again by October 1.

Valley Grande Golf

A golfer tees off at the Valley Grande Golf Course last weekend during a tournament to raise funds to fight sickle cell anemia. The 18-hole course is located in Ocmulgee Estates, a residential and golfing community near Selma.