The Reluctant Famulus # 82 July/August 2011 Thomas D
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TTThhheee RRReeellluuuccctttaaannnttt FFFaaammmuuullluuusss 82 The Reluctant Famulus # 82 July/August 2011 Thomas D. Sadler, Editor/Publisher, etc. 305 Gill Branch Road, Owenton, KY 40359 Phone: 502-484-3766 E-mail: [email protected] Contents Introduction, Editor 1 Old Kit Bag, Robert Sabella 5 A Tribute, Editor 7 Rat Stew, Gene Stewart 8 More Old News, Editor 10 Hopewell Culture, Al Byrd 11 Stargazing, Matt Howard 16 Ocean’s Seven, Sheryl Birkhead 18 Still More Old News, Editor 20 Harmonie, Leigh James Martin 21 LoCs 23 Artwork Sheryl Birkhead Covers, 15, 29, 39 Aidan T. Blohm 22 Don Blair Collection 21 (insert in large picture) Helen Davis 11, 12, 13, 14 Kurt Erichsen 5, 8 Brad Foster 35 Alexis Gilliland 23, 27, 37, 41 Indiana Historical Soc. Lib. 22 Internet 2, 3, 4, 7 Terry Jeeves (bless his soul) 25, 31 A. B. Kynock 16 Rotsler (bless his soul) 17, 33 Unknown 21 (large picture) The Reluctant Famulus is a product of Strange Dwarf Publications. Many of the comments expressed herein are solely those of the Editor/Publisher and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of any sane, rational persons who know what they are doing and have carefully thought out beforehand what they wanted to say. Material not written or produced by the Editor/Publisher is printed by permission of the various writers and artists and is copyright by them and remains their sole property. Permission is granted to any persons who wish to reprint material presented herein, provided proper and due credit is given both to the author/artist who produced the material and to the original publication in which it appeared. TRF maybe obtained for The Usual but especially in return for written material and artwork, postage costs, The Meaning of Life, , and Editorial Whim. TTThhheee RRReeellluuuccctttaaannnttt FFFaaammmuuullluuusss Introduction: In the Oddest Places America is a beautiful country with natu- isn’t much of interest to tell about them. ral scenery as varied, beautiful, and breathtak- They were just plain folks. ing as that of just about any other country in There was another somewhat more nota- the world. Some of the scenery, such as the ble man who settled in that area a bit over a Rocky Mountains on the West coast are awe- decade before my ancestors and a year or so some in its splendor. New England has its after Alabama gained statehood in 1819 notable mountains, coastline, and other attrac- when it was still Indian Territory. tions. Tennessee and North Carolina have the [Editor. A bit of clarification might be in Smoky Mountains and Virginia the Blue order here. When the man first settled in Ridge Mountains. Of course there are also Alabama, it was Indian Territory ceded to the Appalachian Mountains. All in all there is the U.S.. When the new county of Benton no part of this country without at least some (amed after Senator Thomas Hart Benton) measure of beauty even if it doesn’t compare was formed in 1832 it encompassed an area with the Rockies and certain other breathtak- extending to the Alabama/Georgia State line ing scenery. Then there are places in Ameri- and so included the Borden property. Over ca which while worth seeing because of their the years, Senator Benton decided slavery natural beauty might not seem particularly was wrong and the Union must be preserved. noteworthy or compelling but which, for a This didn’t sit well with the residents and so time, held the promise of becoming some- they renamed the county Calhoun after Sena- thing more and offered a surprise to visitors. tor John C. Calhoun, staunchly pro-slavery Last issue I mentioned that I was born in and secessionist. On December 6, 1866, the my grandparents’ home in rural Calhoun county of Cleburne (amed after Confeder- County, near Piedmont, Alabama. The word ate Major General Patrick Ronayne Cle- piedmont means “foot of the mountains” burne.) was formed from parts of Calhoun, (more or less). The city of Piedmont, Alaba- Randolph and Talladega counties. The Bor- ma is aptly named, for the Appalachian den land ended up in Cleburne County, as Mountains run through Georgia and into did some of my ancestors even though they Alabama. Not surprisingly, then, there is never moved an inch; a somewhat common mountain scenery of sorts, either small moun- occurrence since the beginnings of this coun- tains or large hills. Still, it is an attractive and try.] varied landscape and in the past has drawn According to historical accounts, “The settlers from the east and north. Among them earliest settler on the Borden property, soon was my great-great-great-grandfather Thom- after Alabama was admitted to the union, as Sadler and his family. They came from was John A. Borden. He entered his land at South Carolina by way of Tennessee and into Huntsville and became the possessor of one Calhoun County around 1832 or so and set- thousand acres west of the spring, lying tled near a place called White Plains, in the along Terrapin Creek, a rich lowland which Choccolocco Valley and remained there the flooded each year. At a bend in the creek he rest of their lives. But this article is not about built a large grist mill to grind his wheat and them—something I’m certain will make corn. Nearby, Mr. Borden built the well- many of you thankful—because there really known Borden dwelling. The open hallway 1 extended the length of the structure,with liv- composed of twelve men from Atlanta, New- ing rooms on each side. With wide fireplaces nan, and Carrollton, Georgia, bought the land and many-paned windows, it sat snug and from the Wheeler family and had assembled comfortable, facing south, with three sides on a knoll above the spring a two-story hotel protected by the mountains which towered to replace a small twenty-room structure above and around it. In which had been used ear- later years the Borden lier. dwelling in proved to be ”The hotel had been an interesting feature be- formerly owned by the cause of its location. The Fruithurst Company, a long avenue of old ce- corporation which in dars, so old that the 1894 secured large hold- trunks were divided, ings of land in the east- which led to the old central part of Cleburne homestead created as County as the site for a much curiosity and inter- Aerial view colony of Swedish vin- est as did the house. yardists who came from Minnesota for the ”After Mr. Borden, Arthur Alexander purpose of raising grapes for the making of bought 160 acres which included the spring wine. The vineyard colony established the and the land around it. Mr. Alexander’s son, town of Fruithurst, which was incorporated Matthew, purchased 400 acres surrounding in 1896. The hotel building, established origi- the acreage owned by his father. Matthew nally as a clubhouse for prospective land buy- Alexander married Annie Borden, daughter ers, was short-lived, for within a few years of John Borden. the company went defunct. “Then came Calvin M. Wheeler, who “The Borden-Wheeler Company pur- bought the spring property, which was chased the clubhouse and employed J. C. increasing in value because Bass of Carrollton, Geor- the spring was becoming gia, to dismantle the well known for its ‘magic structure, move it six- qualities’. Mr. Wheeler mar- teen miles to Borden ried Sarah, the daughter of Springs, and reconstruct Arthur Alexander. So from it as the Borden-Wheeler these three, Borden, Alexan- Hotel. The moving was der, and Wheeler, come most accomplished with the of the families living at Bor- use of mules and wag- den Springs. (To which I am ons. The Borden-Wheel- related in one way or anoth- er Hotel, consisting of er.) close up view one hundred rooms, was a marvel of southern “Borden Springs was one of the most architecture, and immense for so small a romantic spots of Alabama. It lies in a valley place. It was a structure with wide porches, between mountains that lie unbroken for four- and its many windows caught the sunlight teen miles on either side. Borden Springs is from all points. located on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, “The hotel with its broad wings was sur- ninety-two miles from Birmingham and sev- rounded by mountains covered with pine, enty-five miles from Atlanta, in Cleburne maple, oak, elm, sweet and black gum trees, County near the Georgia state line. Shortly ash and the ‘grandsire gray-beard,’ with his before 1900 the Borden-Wheeler Company, long, snowy locks. Among the trees were 2 great blocks of limestone, with their chang- guests,but the resort was unable to attract ing veins of color. There was soon a village patronage in numbers sufficient to support of cottages around the hotel, built of rough such lavishness. The rates were reasonable lumber, much screen- for the times, at $15.00 ing, and creosoted in per week or $50.00 per brown and greens to har- month, American plan. monize with the back- It became known as a ground of the trees. week-end resort and ren- Every cottage had elec- dezvous. Approximately tric lights, running forty em- ployees were water, and maid ser- retained through each vice. week, a- waiting the “So much was said large crowds on the about the magic proper- week ends. Rates for the ties of the spring that the management adver- weekends were somewhat higher. Perhaps tised the water as being ‘a close second to nowhere in Alabama were there better or Ponce de Leon’s famed ‘Fountain of Youth’.