Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today I walked 16 miles through the fog and humidity. I went near the town of Knoxville (I think I did) and through the town of Eutaw, Alabama.

The weather was the story for most of the day. At 7:30AM I was in a heavy fog at 68 degrees. When in the fog, everything becomes damp on the outside. There is no escaping it. After walking a few miles, the inside of my shirt becomes wet as well. Nothing dries. Nothing dried all day as the fog lifted a little, but the overcast skies and high humidity remained. Oh well, I wash and so do my clothes.

I think I walked near Knoxville. There was a green sign on Route 11 declaring “Knoxville.” I never saw anything else. I did see several places labeled “Knox this” and “Knox that.” Perhaps some of the original Knoxes are still here. Here is a photo of a closed gas station. Something about this style of old place attracts me. I have seen many of these.

And then there was this other closed gas station. I don’t know when it closed, but notice the price of the gas $1.09. When did gas cost that much? Anyone remember? If we can, we can date this place’s closing.

Next on the road was this house. It was hard to take a photo as the house is up above the road. I don’t know if this is something special, but it has a special paint scheme. Some sort of blue and pink. Why do people paint their houses this color?

And moving down the road, here is a Cadillac. A classic convertible. Can anyone identify the year, make, and model? I’ve never ridden in one of these, but would love to.

And then there is Eutaw, Alabama. I don’t read ahead on these towns. I like to be surprised and to learn when I walk into town. I was very surprised. This is an old town. Greene County was formed in 1819 – long before Alabama was a state. Eutaw is the county seat, so it is an 1819’er as well. In the center of town is the old town square. In the middle of that is the old courthouse shown here. It was built in 1869. Amazing.

Now to the not so good news about Eutaw. Look close at the old courthouse. It needs to be fixed. It is vacant. They cut the grass in the town square, but that is about it.

The same not so good news holds for the rest of downtown. I put a photo of downtown on the Wikipedia page of Eutaw. About two-thirds of the store fronts are empty. It doesn’t look good.

The north side of Eutaw doesn’t look good either. Old, little houses falling down.

The rest of town is a different story. Beautiful homes of all sizes and ages on the Route 11 walk out of town. Several large, old churches as well. Really a nice, old town if you stay on the north (west) side. The town of 1,800 people has several dozen buildings on one national historic registry or another. It is quite impressive. It reminds me of the towns in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the old towns of Tennessee.

Few people? If you don’t like the crowds of a city, buy a few acres and build a house in Greene County Alabama. There are 16 people per square mile in this county. That isn’t many. Tuscaloosa County, home of Tuscaloosa and lots of rural areas, has 124 people per square mile. It is a bit odd walking along the road mile after mile and not seeing a church, gas station, or anything. I just looked at Tangipahoa Parish Louisiana where my mother lives and where I went to high school. It has 127 people per square mile. Wow.