PATRON + Shelby County once had the reputation as being the “moonshingest” county in the state of Alabama.
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*Moonshiningest
The article was transcribed as written and that was the way the word was spelled in the article.
Still is, but in a different form….meth
Back in the early part of 1961 my husband and I purchased 5 acres of ground to build a new home on . It was part of a subdiviosion owned by Real Estate developer Emmette Cloud . The section was called Indian Springs . The hilltop property which we had purchased looked down on the Indian Springs School on Cahaba Valley Road in Shelby County. As the ground was being prepared for the foundation of our new home , our contractor showed us one day something that the bulldozer had dug up …while digging the footings for the foundation. It was definitely parts of a still which had been used for making ” moonshine” at some point in time. We later were told by locals that the ridge we had bought ha done time build known as ” Nat’s Knob ” , and yes “moonshine” had been made there high on that hilltop well hidden away in the underbrush and dense growth of trees. Whomever had been making it, could see the revenuers coming a long time before they could reach the top of the hill , because there was no roadway at that time.We took pictures of the old still before it was carried away with the rest of the debris.That area of Shelby County obviously had quite a history of “making moonshine ” in years past.
Lots of hills and creeks
This was a necessity during the Depression Era because with no jobs available, there was no cash for anything. My grandfather, a good Christian man, had to do this. The Tutwiler Hotel in Birmingham bought all he would make because they knew he used only copper components and the quality was excellent. My mother told me about helping carry sugar through the woods when she and her sister were young kids.
Shelby County may have had the top honor, But Chilton was not far behind. Growing up in Chilton County in the fifties, was an experience of stories rife with moonshiners. Every child in the county knew where the most notorious lived. I long ago left the area, but can entertain people for a long time recounting the most audatious stories.
Lol still is better than store bought stuff
Shelby County really hasn’t changed much
My great grandfather lived in Alabaster they all called him Doc- they had to go up to docs to get their medicine lol.
They did what they had to do to feed their families.
Also read what The Birmingham News had to say about Shelby County Alabama in their August 18, 1929 newspaper …. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alshelby/Columbiana3.html
Sarah
Interesting comments, folks. Glad you shared some history.
read this book” Ain’t going back to no cotton patch” it is a story of moonshine in Blount and Cullman co. Fiction of course….good read very funny…Amazon….
There’s still plenty of Shine in Shelby County.
Chilton County was not far behind.
Some of my ancestors came from Vandiver and Shady Grove area.
My Dad told a story of him and his cousin rambling thru the woods near Haw Ridge (now on Ft. Rucker Reservation, between Enterprise and Ozark.) This was probably before 1920. They stumbled upon a neighbor tending a still. The neighbor had them add some wood to the fire. Afterwards, he commented he sure hoped nobody found out what they did, or they would all go to jail. That episode stayed a secret for many years.