Vol. 1, #4

November 2007

(As seen in The Avery Bi-Monthly Newsletter) 

Hope this finds all of you fellow Avery club members doing well heading into another fall season.  Things in this area are still showing signs of the worst draught in 100 years.  As of October 1, we are officially 26” short of our average annual rainfall.  That is one heck of a lot of water that hasn’t been around to water the crops. 

Corn in our area did do pretty well from the farmers I’ve talked with.  The cotton crop was a total disaster.  Lots of farmers weren’t even planning on running the pickers through the fields but had to so they could collect on their crop insurance.  That’s terrible that they have to lose money to make up a little money.

The website is doing well and functioning to expectations.  So far since I revamped the site we have had over 20,000 visitor hits on the site.  At the present we have 120 registered members on the site.  Our search engine rankings have improved and when someone enters B.F. Avery into Google search our site is the number 1 listed site.  It also does well on the Yahoo Search Engine and is listed as the number 1 site there most of the time. 

I have gotten several requests from other website for reciprocal links and have added their links to our links page.  Our site is also a member of the Vintage Farm Tractor Ring that drives additional viewers to the site.

I still need more information on specifications, sales brochures, pictures or anything else that anyone would like to share with the world.  If you don’t have access to a scanner or copy machine, then please get with me and we’ll work something out to get copies made.

As you probably already have read in Connie’s update the Spring 2008 location and dates have been changed.  We have agreed to host the 2008 show here in Florence, AL and are looking forward to welcoming all of you to our area.  We are considering dates in late March or early April after the weather has warmed a bit. 

Florence is located in the northwest corner of the state; we’re approximately 45 miles south of the Tennessee state line and 50 miles east of the Mississippi state line.  Any of you that need parts this would be an excellent time to plan on visiting fellow club member Bill Williams’ parts yard located just about an hour’s drive from the Shoals area. 

We have not worked out any of the details yet on the show but are in process of putting together a plan of action.  As soon as we get some basic information I’ll post it to the website with a menu link on the main menu.  Another update will be included in the next newsletter.

The following is some tidbits concerning Florence and the surrounding area.  These tidbits were excerpted from various websites.

The City of Florence, Alabama was founded in 1818 on the banks of the beautiful Tennessee River in the scenic Northwest corner of Alabama.  Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and two counties, Lauderdale and Colbert, comprise the Shoals area. 

The history of Florence and the Shoals began over 10,000 years ago when Native Americans inhabited the area.  Evidence of their existence can still be found at the ancient Florence Indian Mound.

In 1818, the Cypress Land Company was formed to develop a thriving river town. A young Italian surveyor laid out the town of Florence and named it for his favorite city in Italy — Florence.

The area is rich in Civil War history.  Although no major battles were fought here, there is ample evidence of skirmishes all over the area.   Popes Tavern, located in Downtown Florence, served as a hospital for both Union and Confederate troops - depending on who controlled the area at the time.  It now serves as a museum that highlights Florence's rich history. 

Tuscumbia is the birthplace of  "America’s First Lady of Courage," Helen Keller. On June 27. 2008, the world will celebrated the 128th anniversary of Helen Keller's birth. Deaf and blind from infancy, Helen Keller played a leading role in most of the significant political, social, and cultural movements of the 20th century. Throughout her lifetime (1880-1968) she worked unceasingly to improve the lives of people who were blind and deaf.

The Shoals’ music legacy began with the birth of the "Father of the Blues," William Christopher Handy in Florence.  William Christopher (known as "W.C.") Handy developed his love for music early in life. The following excerpt, taken from his autobiography, tells of a deep and abiding love that started when he was just a boy in Florence, Alabama. It was his grandmother, who "was the first to suggest that my big ears indicated a talent for music. This thrilled me…When I was no more than ten, I could catalogue almost any sound that came to my ears… I knew the whistle of each of the river boats on the Tennessee… Whenever I heard the song of a bird and the answering call of its mate, I could visualize the notes in scale… All built up within my consciousness as a natural symphony. This was the primitive prelude to the mature melodies now recognized as the blues. Nature was my kindergarten… The trumpet playing of Mr. Claude Seals fired my imagination... Almost immediately I set my heart on owning a trumpet. Since buying one was out of the question, I tried making my own by hollowing a cow horn and cutting the tip into a mouthpiece. The finished product was a useful hunting horn but certainly not a trumpet. I decided to content myself for the time being with the hope of a guitar. Work meant nothing now. It was a means to an end. But saving was slow and painful… Setting my mind on a musical instrument was like falling in love. All the world seemed bright and changed… With a guitar I would be able to express the things I felt in sounds, I grew impatient as my small savings grew. I selected the instrument I wanted and went often to gaze at it loving through the shop window. The days dragged… The name of my ailment was longing, and it was not cured till I finally went to the department store and counted out the money in small coins before the dismayed clerk. A moment later, the shining instrument under my arm, I went out and hurried up Court Street. My heart was a leaf… When I came to the house, I held up the instrument before the eyes of the astonished household. I couldn't speak. I was too full, too overjoyed…"

Florence is also home to the state’s only Frank Lloyd Wright designed structure.  An American architectural treasure, this house was built for newlyweds Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum of Florence, Alabama, in 1939. The house is the only structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the state of Alabama, and the only such house in the southeast that is open to the public.

Wright’s Usonian style (named for the United State of America) was offered as a low-cost home for middle income families. With Wright’s plans, a young family could build their own home, fulfilling the American dream of home ownership. This house sits on a two-acre lot, very near downtown Florence and facing the Tennessee River.

The Usonian style house originally contained 1,540 square feet, but when the Rosenbaum household grew to include four sons, the family called upon Wright to design an addition. In 1948, 1,084 square feet was added, containing a larger work space (kitchen), a guest bedroom, storage space and a dormitory for the boys. This seamless addition clearly shows Wright’s concept of a Usonian house that could grow with the family as it grew. The Rosenbaums were the sole owners and occupants of the house until 1999, when it was purchased by the City of Florence. The house had reached a critical stage, due to delayed maintenance, and years of leaking roofs had damaged the joists, ceilings, walls and exterior trim. Termites had also taken their toll and cored many of the walls.

The City developed a plan to save the house, using a capital improvements account funded by a one-cent sales tax. Dozens of volunteers and professionals contributed to the restoration and without this major effort the house might have been lost. This treasure, meticulously preserved, is now a museum, open to the public for this City and the world.

Florence and the Shoals has a population of over 140,000 and offers the experience of a small Southern town, including a generous helping of Southern hospitality, with all the amenities of a large city.  Florence boasts a state-of-the-art conference center, a beautiful marina and harbor, a restored downtown area, a beautiful municipal golf course, a first-class university and a new library that cities many times the size of Florence would envy.

The Shoals is situated on the beautiful Tennessee River and is the closest metropolitan area to the mouth of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The market boasts a convenient port facility where imports can be cleared locally by the U.S. Customs Service. Located just 40 miles from Interstate 65, the Shoals is also home to Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, a full service facility with commercial air service. In addition, the Shoals is located on the Norfolk Southern Rail line and the switching yard for most major southern rail companies is located in the market.

Climate of the Shoals is temperate with an average temperature of 60.7 degrees, an average rainfall of 51.58 inches and average snowfall of 4.6 inches.

FBI statistics released in October of 2000, listed the Shoals metro area 5th among the safest areas in the nation in which to live.
 

Florence, and the entire Shoals area, is the perfect place to live, work, retire, and visit. Won’t you come and see for yourself?

Until next time, I’ll see you on the internet.

Dave Reasons

Webmaster

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