Dressed in black, Nancy Karrick waiting patiently to give a tour of Williams Station Cemetery to this year’s Leadership Atmore class on Nov. 17.

This was the first stop of several the class participated in during its history and culture session. The session was the class’s third of the year.

Following Karrick throughout the oldest cemetery in Atmore, LA learned about some who were buried there, including Minerva Jane Whitehurst, the different burial sites and that at one time, Atmore was home to many doctors.

Throughout the day, LA was exposed to the foundation of the city and what kept it afloat, namely the railroad.

In fact, Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheryl Vickery’s grandfather helped bring enough dirt — 25,000 railroad cars — to build the railway that runs parallel to South Carney and Trammell Streets.

After the cemetery tour, the class learned about turpentine from Joe Gibson. Gibson has been sharing the pine tar’s history for quite some time, and showed the different tools that were used to harvest the sap.

Within Trinity Episcopal Church’s nave, the class then learned about the history of Atmore and the Carney family from Linda Ellison.

The Carneys, who helped build the city from the ground up, contributed a lot.

Trinity was built in the early 1900s and is the oldest building that’s still in use today in Atmore.

Vickery led a hayride tour of the city, which included stops at Herb and Joan Hackman’s house; the First United Methodist Church, where money was raised by women to help pay for the current building; the Heritage Park cabin and Trooper 26 Boy Scout House; and downtown.

After lunch at Gaines Chapel Church on Carver Avenue, Gloria Jones spoke on black history, namely the businesses that were located along Carver.

Jones said at one point in time, those living in the neighborhood had everything they needed along that stretch.

The final stop was at the Poarch Creek Indian Museum, where guide Robert Thrower spoke on the history of the Creek Indians.

Thrower said the Indians lived in high-poverty conditions, and that at some point, Andrew Jackson drew up a piece of legislation that took away 22 million acres of Creek Indian land in Georgia, Alabama and the Florida panhandle. The seizure of land eventually led to the Trail of Tears.

Later in the tour of the museum, Thrower talked about the Poarch Creek Indians being recognized as a sovereign nation in 1984, and what a momentous occasion that was in the Tribe’s history.