Alabama woods offer history lesson…
Finding relics of Alabama history can be as easy as going for a walk in the woods.
The pictures below, taken by Rex Free of Moulton (in Lawrence county), are a good example
of a time when a constant battle was being waged between moonshiners, the makers of
illegal whiskey, and agents whose job was to put them out of business.
As a Boy Scout, Rex enjoyed hiking all over the forest, something he still likes to do as an adult.
About two weeks ago–while on an overnight camping trip in northwest Alabama’s
Bankhead National Forest–Rex and three friends ran across an old moonshine site,
complete with two vats:
Above, Don Bishop, one of Rex’s camping buddies, looks over the remains of what used to no doubt
be a lucrative money maker…
“The forest is full of history, hidden beneath most of the leaves and dirt,” Rex says.
“Every now and then, you come up on a site of history that is still hanging on. It puts
you back when all of the forest was private property and whiskey was a big money maker.”
Moonshine stills were often built in the woods, close to water, which was a necessary
ingredient for making whiskey. Night time operation in the woods offered better chances
of escaping detection from federal agents, known in the 1950s as revenuers, who would
destroy any stills they found. Some of the stills bear “axe” holes, evidence of the
revenuers who would bust up the stills using an axe.
Some of the stills would have carvings in the trees nearby, in an attempt to scare people
away from the site, Rex says. “Some of the trees we found still have these marks.
They might be an ugly face, or ugly face and hands carved to try and scare someone off.”
Photos by Rex Free
Category: Uncategorized