Hemphill Homestead

[Diane Merkel]

I love this guy! Please provide information if you can.

Greetings from Idaho! My name is Robert Holmgren and I am searching for the site of what I believe is an old homestead. In 1987 I did a bicycle tour that ended up taking me through your most scenic county, and I stopped and took a photograph of a place by the side of the road, and I am trying now to find that place. It was on a road called 181, and I was headed towards Florala from Holmes County. I took the photo somewhere before the Natural Bridge Sink, so the place may be in Walton County, or Holmes County. But in this picture is nothing but a chimney and a clump of peonies. It is right off the northeast side of the road. It may be in Holmes County, like I said, but I am checking all possibilities. I know that it is a pretty sketchy request, but you never know, it might be a famous place in your parts, like 'Oh, the old So-and-so homestead!" you never know. I am writing about my bike trips, and the more interesting I can make it the better. Happy memories of your area. Maybe you know something of this place.

Two days later after I asked him to send the photo . . . .

It is very nice to hear from you. To tell the truth, I can't find the photo! But I found the place. Here's what I did. I decided to call someone in the area at random. But I wasn't sure how to do that. I use Google Earth a lot, and its street view option, and so I did a search for ''gas station". And just in the area, right where my route went through, was Pridgen's Dixie Dandy! I love the name! Like Piggly Wiggly. And so I called and got Kenny Pridgen himself, and he nailed it. It is the old Hemphill place, just past 8 Mile Creek, and before Natural Bridge, right where I remembered it. Kenny said that the chimney fell down since I was by. So it would not show up in Street View. But in GE I see a clearing in the forest just the right size, and from Street View it looks very much as I remember it. It is the only spot like that along the way, everything else is forested or has a house or old building there, and I am satisfied with the results.

I guess that 181 is a Scenic Route now, and it was the most quiet and beautiful stretch of road on my whole trip. Outside of Westville I came upon two women, one wearing a long dress and a sun bonnet, real old-timey, picking berries from a distinctive looking bush, next to a satellite dish. When I asked them what kind of berries they were, the woman with the bonnet replied "They are mulberries, no, my land, they are May berries!", and she started laughing. That just tickled me! And so after awhile I took a break, and walked off the road a little bit, and right in front of me was that same bush, loaded with berries. I crushed one, and it smelled good, and I ate all I could, they were very good.

Also I found Hemphill Road, just 1 1/2 miles before the clearing, and did some research on Hemphill, but nothing concrete yet. Nothing to tie anybody to the property, or that area. And I found information on Natural Bridge, I guess there was a little community there once, with homes, a turpentine still, a school, and a mill. I bet there have been other kind of stills at one time!

I don't know if you get up that way, but if you go up there in May or June, you might look for some peonies on the right side of the road, in a little overgrown clearing, just past 8 Mile Creek, and that would be the spot! I will eventually find the photos, I saw them a few months ago but where they have got to is a mystery.

Oh, and I hear that the county tried to get funding to buy the Natural Arch property, I hope that eventually happens. But I also hope that the road stays as quiet and scenic as it was that afternoon when I rode by on the way to Conecuh State Forest from Falling Waters.

Diane




HD#73