Dr. Marty Olliff's monthly series continues with a look at a thriving industry in the Wiregrass in the early 20th century.
Although the Wiregrass is known for commercial-scale peanut and cotton agriculture, those were late comers to the region’s economic life. Hunting and bottom-land gardening fed the original Native American inhabitants, and white settlers merely added droving of rangy cattle and hogs to the mix.
Eventually, naval stores and small-scale logging supplemented the new inhabitants’ incomes,…
Dr. Marty Olliff continues his series by spotlighting an American Independence Day celebration by troops in World War I-era France.
One hundred years ago, American doughboys were on the Western Front in World War I. From April 6, 1917, until the Senate passed a resolution formally ending hostilities in 1921, the U.S. was officially at war with Germany. U.S. troops, however, were only in France in significant numbers from the Spring of 1918 until Fall…
Dr. Marty Olliff's monthly series turns its attention to a Wiregrass farmer demonstrating how tools were once made.
Modern hand tools’ handles are made on an industrial scale, often in small factories by machines running for hours at a time. This means they’re relatively inexpensive, readily available and easily replaceable (because the tool-making industry has created size standards).
But not long ago, when farm folks in particular had more time than cash, tool…
Dr. Marty Olliff's monthly series continues with a focus on the Wiregrass Archives' documentation of local historic churches.
Local history is a funny thing. Unlike Great Britain, where local history is the subject of scholastic interest, in the U.S. it’s usually the concern of avocational historians who might not be trained in academic theory but who really know how to do the “spade work” required to dig deeply into the past of a…
