Bama Planter

Shelby County and Montevallo have lost another antebellum home, the residence of Dr. John Baker Wilson, son of Benjamin and Hannah ( Harless ) Wilson. An ancient oak tree fell, crushing the middle of the house. The owner felt the cost of repair would be too much. No one had lived in the house for years. The land was originally the site of Jesse Wilson's log home, on the bluff above the Big Spring near the house. The house was possibly built by Jesse's son William A. Wilson sometime in the 1820's. He moved to Coosa County about 1832. The family cemetery eventually became the Montevallo City Cemetery. Jane Wilson McQuirter ( Mrs. Francis McWhirter/ McQuirter) was buried there with a tombstone in 1820. Her tombstone is the oldest in the cemetery. Jesse Wilson wife Elizabeth also died in 1830 and is buried there along with another daughter. Jesse Wilson, credited as Montevallo's first settler and founder, died suddenly at his second farm near Selma and is buried th...

Thanks to my cousin Cassie for snapping this photograph of my house late afternoon yesterday.

Hay Taliaferro . Oil on Canvas First quarter 19th century. 27 1/4" x 21 1/4" sight, 33" x 27" OA.

I was able to purchase 105 tin ceiling tiles ( 20 x 24 ) from an old building, probably 1880's. A few will be used to make a backsplash behind my grandmother's Hotpoint stove that I still use. I hope to replace the new copper tins that should never have been placed in a pegged 1850's pie safe by cutting some squares and using an iron punch to make a pattern. Finally, the drinking gourd crop was successful. I hope to end up with about thirty in all. When the summer ends, the green gourds either rot or turn rock-hard. There is absolutely nothing that can be done. Mother Nature makes the decision.

So, I planted 60 feet of sunflowers last summer, all yellow, ordered from a lady in South Carolina. Right in the middle of the row, this red sunflower plant decided to appear, proving there's a rebel in every situation !

I have done more with the wall since I sold the green cupboard two weeks ago. I took out the miniature oil portraits from among the silhouettes. One can finally see the biscuit/pastry table now. The elderly couple oil portraits are from Alabama Black Belt country, so named for the rich dark soil. The chair on the left is a ca. 1680 mushroom chair from Massachusetts. The Windsor chair on the right dates ca. 1790-1820. The little black leather key basket on the table is from antebellum Virginia.

I said good-bye to the green cupboard in the center of the photo. My friend Regina has taken it to her house and I think it will be happy there ! I am choosing one piece at the time to pass on to someone else who will love it as much as I have. My purpose is not for drastic change, but I do think that the log walls are too concealed at the moment. This didn't happen overnight. It was a 15 year process. If I can manage to part with two or three more pieces, I am sure the room will look much better. The room seems small but is 20 ft. x 30 ft., yet with all the pieces, it is a bit cramped. I guess I am moving toward quality not quantity. Plus, I think I need a change. I bought some very nice dark olive green paint to redo the doors and windows. I realized I had not painted the front room in 10 years. I think a few color changes are due. The back room was painted about 1993 and is also due for a face-lift. I did a quick count and there are about 1,200 books in the house. I ...

I'm trying not to return to my days of clutter.

I filled the space on the left wall between the plantation cupboard and the green stepback.

Some of my jacquard coverlets on a pastry cooling stand at the foot of the downstairs bed; MY OWN hog dressing bench ! , and some mortars on a Pennsylvania bucket bench, with a bit of local pottery. Photo taken in this morning's light. Skies are blue today with highs in the mid-60's in Alabama.

I looked at about ten houses for sale in Marion in 1992. This was one of them, Mrytle Hill, built in 1840 with the side entry door, Charleston Style. I decided it was just too much house for me and bought an 1835 cottage instead. This house is for sale again. It is a beauty.

THE COLONIAL PORTRAIT I purchased has arrived and he is in great condition. The size is 22" x 28" . He will be fine in a black frame.

This shows some quilts being aired out on the porch of my house in Shelby County, Alabama. The house is log and was built by my ancestors Benjamin and Hannah ( Harless ) Wilson in 1816. I am generation 7 from them.

This is my great great grandmother Mary Ellen Roebuck Cunningham. Her father and grandfather owned 5,000 acres of what is now Birmingham, Alabama. The Yankee Carpetbaggers purchased the plantations ca. 1870 and built the city of Birmingham on them and ( according to my family ) "destroyed the best cotton land in central Alabama ."

This photograph shows my family at home about 1898. My great grandfather James A. Cunningham 3rd from left. My gr gr grandfather Ben Cunningham 1st on right. He was in the 2nd Alabama Cavalry with Gen. Joe Wheeler. Left to righ: Richard N. Cunningham, Cousin Laura Moragne Davis, James Alfred Cunningham, Ida Cunningham ( seated ), William Speller Cunningham, Velma Cunningham " Auntee" , Ben Jr. ( died 1926 in auto accident), Craig Denson ( child on ground), Lucretia ( Ludie) Cunningham Denson ( Selma, Alabama), and their father Ben Cunningham Sr. born 1843. Their mother had passed away in 1891.

This photograph shows the Cunningham Plantation Home built 1825. This is my great aunt Susie Mae outside the house about 1920. It wasn't until the 1960's that the original porch was removed and replaced by six columns. The Old Planter Joseph Harrison Cunningham would sit on the top balcony and use a spy glass to watch the field hands. HIs son John was the overseer in the late 1850's. The addiction tacked on to the back corner was the room where my grandfather and his three brothers slept as children. The three brothers all died in the 1918 pandemic. My grandfather was the oldest and survived. Photo from my cousin Cassie.

FINALLY I found a frame to fit my ca. 1770 colonial portrait. The frame is from the 1850's but FITS the painting, so it will be fine. I got it from my friend Jack ( whose father founded Jack's Hamburgers in the 1960's . )

"THE HEADLESS DUCK" ( my pic on the left ) . I'm bidding on a duck head in our primitive group. I hope to win him tonight! I hope no one else needs a duck head without a body ! Update: I won. It's on the way in the mail.

I HAVE A HAPPY PAGE with most posts about primitives, flowers, old houses, and oil paintings. I don't do politics, wars , religion, or anything else that would draw criticism. I live in a happy Smurf land on here - although I have some pretty strong opinions. BACK IN THE 1980's, I taught Sr. Economics. One of the coaches taught Government. Both courses were for seniors in high school . At that time, I was a full blown Reaganite ! My, how the years have changed me ! The coach was a big Democrat. He would get the students and fill them with the "liberal" ideals of free education, free lunches, right to welfare, public housing, etc. etc. Then for the next 9 weeks, Seniors came to me for Republican Economics, a totally different approach! I taught the stock market, bonds vs. cd's, real estate investments, silver vs. gold as a hedge against inflation, etc. etc. By the time I had the last word, they wouldn't give a dime...

The season is changing and it's porch sitting time again. The 98 degree days and 90 degree nights are done again. I can back off the grass and only cut it twice a month to keep the mower battery going. I can work on sidewalks, fencing, digging the sunflower/okra/zinnia bed to a new length ( 40 feet ) to extend the 20 ft. I had this year. I have four trees to plant and three azaleas. And, a ton of sticks to pick up. I'm already gathering magnolia pods from my friend Janice's trees and freshly fallen pine cones from my neighbors' forest. The walnuts are falling, so that is a job in itself. The green hulls have to be stomped off with a heavy set of boots and then boiled in linseed oil to make the best wood stain. Then the walnuts themselves need to be cracked with a hammer. ( Squirrels are crazy to tackle walnuts but they usually try a few anyway. They bury two or three and forget where they buried them; that's how walnut trees get planted ) . I shall continu...