Looking Back: 45 years ago, a man ran through Atmore

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, August 29, 2018

In 1973, 45 years ago, a man running to call attention to the cause of cancer, stopped over in Atmore. He was running from Ardmore, Tenn. to the Gulf Coast and he had collected $35,000 before he arrived in Atmore. Greenlawn Motel put him up for the night and Albert’s Restaurant fed him a good meal. He was hoping to get a total of $70,000 by the time he got to the coast.

The Ninth Annual Atmore Saddle Club Inc. was to be held on Airport Road. Among other things, they had a man, Ralph Fisher, who trained buzzards.

Now, that is a new one to me. Why would anyone want to train those nasty things? I guess it takes all kinds.

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Brush Arbors are a thing of the past, and they are seldom seen today. The New Home United Pentecostal Church built one for its upcoming services.

If you are too young to know what a brush arbor was, they were temporary churches where people would gather and spend days, and sometimes weeks, attending services and camping out.

The little church that I attended when I was young began as a brush arbor in the early 1800s. Later my great, great, great grandfather gave a piece of land to build another church. I remember another church there when I was a little girl, but I don’t know just when it was built.

A shortage of some food items had people worried. Meat was one of the items listed as being short causing some officials to warn of the danger of cattle rustling. Some places had that to happen.

There was a disturbance at Atmore State Prison Farm, lasting some 30 minutes. Several people were stabbed, including a deputy.

I noticed the fashions being worn and can’t believe just how ugly they were. Apparently the style of mens pants were bell bottoms with cuffs on them. They came in solid colors and plaids. Put that together with the stacked heel shoes they wore, it was indeed a sight to be seen.

The town of Loachapoka’s 17 buildings were added to the Historical List.