These pictures are of the old warehouse at the railroad tracks in Gold Hill, Alabama, on SR 147. This structure has been here for more years than I have been on the scene. And looks basically the way it always has, except than somone has started to remove the roof tin from the back section. I am sure it won't last much longer now, which is why I decided to picture it while I could. The first yard sale of the contents was several years ago and I was very interested to see what was there. Although there is less stuff than there was at the yard sale, the inside looked a great deal like it does now, a disorderly array of cast off used building supplies. The door is left unlocked now, inviting a look around.I guess the assumption is there is nothing there anyone will want.
At the time of the yard sale it was stated that the foundation at the back corner had given way, so maybe there was no real way to sensibly save this historic icon. I do feel sad about it though. Maybe it is just my basic dislike of change and an underlying assumption that whatever replaces it can't possibly be as good or as intriging.
What little I know of its history came by way of Robert Heath, a recently deceased but lifelong resident of Gold Hill. He said it was a warehouse (he never used the word depot) that was used to store freight that came in by train. It was then distributed to surrounding areas, I suppose by wagon.
The Gold Ridge sign visible on the west side of the tracks at the crossing came about because train freight would frequently be mis-routed because of name mix-ups between Gold Hill and Grove Hill. Changing the name helped freight move more smoothly. Thankfully the name change only applied to the railroad tracks and we still have our original name. If anyone can offer any more historical data about Gold Hill and environs, please let me know, and I will try to post it. The people with first hand knowledge are largely gone now.
It seems to me that before the “yard sale” Reggie Terry told me that he was hired to take a crew into the warehouse to clean it out of all usable construction supplies. He may have already been working for Cleveland Brothers by then. He said that during that time they uncovered numerous old receipts and invoices that dated back 75+ years. I believe that he said these documents were all for the WC Bradley Company. As a matter of fact I thought he said that someone in that area told him that this is where WC Bradley got its start.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you got some pictures!
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