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    Athens and Limestone County
    Athens and Limestone County
    Athens and Limestone County
    Ebook183 pages56 minutes

    Athens and Limestone County

    By Kelly Kazek

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    Athens and Limestone County were founded in 1818, the year before Alabama became a state, making Athens one of its oldest cities. The quaint, picturesque downtown square in Athens, the county seat, is the heart of the community. Athens and Limestone County are studies in the ongoing tug-of-war between tradition and progress. Athens is traditionally a railroad and cotton town—once ranking among the state’s largest cotton producers—but since the aerospace boom of the 1960s, it has increasingly entered the orbit of the technology center of nearby Huntsville, home of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and Redstone Arsenal. These days, Athens is home to many manufacturing firms, and local civic groups are focused on revitalizing downtown and bringing tourists to Limestone County.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 13, 2010
    ISBN9781439626320
    Athens and Limestone County
    Author

    Kelly Kazek

    Kelly Kazek is an author, journalist, blogger and award-winning humor columnist. She has written two books of humorous essays and ten books on regional history. She lives in Huntsville, Alabama, and travels the South's back roads, seeking out quirky history for her blog at KellyKazek.com and It's a Southern Thing (SouthernThing.com).

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      Book preview

      Athens and Limestone County - Kelly Kazek

      support.

      INTRODUCTION

      COMMUNITIES OF TRADITION AND FUTURE

      Each fall, visitors to Limestone County are greeted by dozens of snow-like fields of cotton, although the acreage dwindles from year to year. The flatness and absence of trees in subdivisions and commercial developments are telltale signs that the acreage once grew cotton. While cotton gins are disappearing from the landscape, churches have held steadfast to their places as spiritual centers of the county’s small communities.

      Train whistles are still heard at regular intervals throughout the day, although the cars now carry freight and not people. A stop downtown takes visitors back to a time when businesses on the square were the only places to buy goods or get a hot meal. Although strip malls are plentiful throughout the county now, downtown still holds its charm. Local school bands and choirs perform on the courthouse steps, or politicians hold speeches there, just as they have done for decades. It is a place where weekday lunchtime at popular meat-and-three diners might find cotton farmers, elected officials, lawyers, clergy, college professors, and NASA contractors discussing civic affairs over fried okra or chicken and dumplings. Limestone County and its seat, the city of Athens, are studies in the ongoing tug-of-war between tradition and progress. But it has been, for the most part, a slow-moving and nonviolent battle. Athens is traditionally a railroad town and cotton town—ranking among the state’s largest cotton producers—but since the aerospace boom of the 1960s, it has increasingly entered the orbit of the technology and industry center of Huntsville, home of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and Redstone Arsenal. In 1934, Athens became the first Alabama city to get its electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA began building its first nuclear plant in Limestone County in 1966. Limestone County, named for a creek that runs through it, is bordered by the Tennessee River to the south and the state of Tennessee to the north. The Elk River runs through the western portion of the county. The county is located along major transportation arteries: the Tennessee River, Interstate 65, and U.S. Highway 72. Redstone Arsenal and the Huntsville International Airport are just a half-hour’s drive away.

      Another boost for the many manufacturers now located in Athens is that the intersection of I-65 and U.S. 72 occurs at nearly the halfway point between Birmingham and Nashville. The natural beauty of the area and man-made attractions combine with its location to make Athens and Limestone County newly discovered tourist destinations. Visitors can choose from trips to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge or along biking, kayaking, and birding trails. They can take drives past well-preserved antebellum homes, the campus of the state’s oldest university, or to the quaint and prospering downtown square. It is a place rich in musical history and is giving rise to many artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers as the arts become a focus of local civic groups. Athens and Limestone County were founded in 1818, the year before Alabama became a state, making Athens one of the oldest cities in Alabama. The county has been home to two Alabama governors, Thomas Bibb and George Houston. A third, Joshua L. Martin, practiced law in Athens. Athens is the site of one of the most pivotal moments in the Civil War, when Gen. John Turchin was court marshaled for allowing troops to pillage the city after its capture in May 1962. Local lore states that the headmistress of the college (then an all-female academy) saved its buildings from being pillaged by Union troops by producing a letter from President Lincoln. In addition to Athens, with a population of about 26,000 people in 2009, Limestone County has several small, incorporated towns, including Ardmore, Elkmont, Tanner, Lester, and Mooresville, a burg of fewer than 60 souls. The entire town of Mooresville, with its many pre–Civil War homes and buildings, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The colorful history of Athens and Limestone County is told with photographs on these pages. They illustrate, better than words, the motto on the masthead of the local newspaper, the News Courier: A Community of Tradition and Future.

      One

      INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE

      ROBERT BEATY. Along with partner John Carriel, Robert Beaty bought 160 acres of Limestone County land in 1816 and founded the city of Athens, which would be incorporated as seat of Limestone County in 1818. The men donated property for public buildings, such as a jail and school. (Courtesy of the Limestone County Archives.)

      BEATY MASON MANSION. This photograph of the Beaty Mason mansion at 211 South Beaty Street in Athens was taken in 1934, more than a century after it was constructed by Robert Beaty in 1826. The home was deeded to Athens State University in 1958 by an anonymous donor and is now the residence of the university’s president. In 2009, the university began raising funds for renovation of the home and made plans to restore the formal gardens and create a reception area. Some of the home’s antique furnishings were taken to Limestone Correctional Facility to be restored and refurbished by inmates there. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Historic American Building Survey.)

      BEATY MASON MANSION SLAVE QUARTERS. The original slave cabin in the side yard of the Beaty Mason home will be restored

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