Natural Respite Amongst A Confederacy of Dunces
October 11th, 2009
A scene from the Wind Creek State Park campground on Lake Martin…
Under the Microscope
by Glynn Wilson
WIND CREEK, Ala. — In the early morning hours before even the ducks awake, while the noisy campers are still asleep in their gas guzzling RVs and the lake is so calm it looks like a blue-green sheet of glass, that is the best time to contemplate the past, the present and the future. There is nothing like a hiatus into nature to put the mind on the right track.
It’s just too bad that our ancestors who fought with each other not far from here on the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River in the early nineteenth century didn’t have the communications skills to negotiate a better future for themselves and this place.
Although I suspect it would not have mattered to General Andrew Jackson what anybody said. He was a hard-headed son-of-a-bitch who was determined to defeat the Creek Nation, represented by 1,000 Red Stick braves, and to run the Native American population out of the American South. It’s just too bad about 600 Cherokee didn’t know better than to fight on his side.
In case you’ve forgotten your state history, Alabama became a state in 1819, carved out of 23 million acres ceded to the United States government in the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August, 1814 after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The land was initially ceded to the Cherokee Nation as an ally of the U.S., but after Jackson became president in 1829, he pushed through Congress and signed the so-called Removal Bill, sending all the Native Americans he could round up on the “Trail of Tears” to live on reservations in the Oklahoma territory.
Chief Junaluska, the Cherokee Chief who led 500 braves in support of Jackson and who saved the general’s life in the battle, would say later, “If I had known that Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would have let him die at Horseshoe.”
If only…
Almost 50 years later, in the absence of the wisdom about the land of the Cherokee and Creek people, Alexander City in Tallapoosa County was named in honor of the Savannah and Memphis Railroad President Edward Porter Alexander, a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg for the Confederacy, another losing battle.
Over the past few years, due to declining employment at the Russell athletic equipment company, the town’s population has dropped from 15,008 in 2000 to 14,957, according to 2005 U.S. Census estimates. Like many small towns in the South, it is the victim of a major highway bypass, in this case Highway 280, and the phenomenon known as “brain drain.”
About the best thing the town has going for it is proximity to Lake Martin, a 39,180 acre lake with 743 miles of wooded shoreline, formed after the completion of Martin Dam by Alabama Power company in 1926. At that time, it was the largest man-made lake in the world, according to the town’s promotional Website.
Lake Martin is one of the more scenic artificial lakes in the state, and remains a popular recreation area for swimming, boating, fishing, water skiing, camping and yes, golf. Not to mention the kingly estate of HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy. The lake is known for having clear water with some locations having visibility of 15 vertical feet.
Wind Creek State Park itself is the largest state owned and operated campground in the U.S. with 626 sites, spanning 1,445 acres along the shores the lake. It is one of the few state parks in Alabama that turns a profit, although not enough to support a naturalist. It is also nearly devoid of mosquitoes, perhaps an artifact of the power company’s shoreline eradication program.
The campground is fairly well shaded, the bath houses are nice and in good shape, and there are a number of interesting hiking trails with an array of wildlife, especially birds such as red-headed woodpeckers, a healthy population of yellow-shafted flickers (otherwise known as the Alabama Yellowhammer, the state bird colaptes auratus linnaeus), along with numerous blue birds and yellow birds. On this trip I also saw a healthy population of great blue herons and Canadian geese, along with a hawk or two. I saw no deer, but there were tracks in the mud on my campsite.
On the negative side of things, I go to state parks to escape solicitations, among other things, so I really don’t appreciate being harassed by a group of teenagers trying to get me to attend their gathering of Campers for Christ. That last thing anyone wants on a camping escape is to have fliers crammed in your face by kids in blue T-shirts.
The park also has no free high speed Internet connection, and the only place in town I could find with a working WiFi hotspot was a noisy, fly-infested McDonald’s on 280. If there is a county health department, here’s a heads up. The place ought to be shut down and fumigated.
If I don’t get the swine flu just from touching the tables in the place I will be surprised. I wouldn’t touch the food and can’t believe so many locals allow their kids to eat and play there. It was crowded every time I visited over three days.
No wonder Alabama makes the top five list for obesity in one of the fattest countries in the world.
On the other hand, the town is also home to the Central Alabama Community College, which surprisingly has a small but interesting Physics department. I didn’t have time to meet professor K. W. Nicholson, but I think I would like to.
On one of his Web pages, he introduces students to “ridiculed discoverers” and “vindicated mavericks,” and quotes Jonathan Swift. As a pioneering Web publisher who has been the subject of scorn and spam from the right-wing attack machine, I can relate.
“When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.”
A lone Eastern blue bird [sialia sialis] checking out the view from a pine tree on Lake Martin…
Comments
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Tags: Alabama, Alexander City, Andrew Jackson, Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Cherokee, Creek, Lake Martin, Wind Creek State Park
October 12th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Especially for those of us with Cherokee and other Five Civilized Tribes ancestry, the memory of Andrew Jackson is not a fond one. My Native ancestors — Cherokee and Choctaw — managed to “pass for white” in the rural South back when it was technically illegal to be an “Indian” off the reservation. Many people with significant Native American ancestry did the same thing.
It was only in the latter half of the 20th century — after laws making it illegal to be a Native and off the reservation were repealed — they began openly acknowledging their roots. We have several recognized Tribes in Alabama now as a result, including Choctaw (Mowa Band), Creek (Muskogee – Poarch Band) and two Cherokee bands, I believe, as a result. I am not sure if there are any recognized Chicataw groups in Alabama.
It is no accident, and a cause for great shame, I think, that Hitler thought the way the US had handled its non-white Native population in the 19th century was a great idea and it partially inspired his concentration camp scheme for Jews, Gypsies and other “non-Aryan” people he victimized. Except for scale, all the things Hitler did to them the US government did to Native Americans, beginning with the sorry actions of Andy Jackson.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:31 am
In addition, we are a poorer people culturally as a result of losing that heritage.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I agree with you that Alex City’s population has declined due to Russell’s scale back of employ. But I do think that 50 person drop over 15,000 is not that bad. I also don’t think it has to do with any sort of brain drain or highway 280. As Alex City looks forward to a post Russell future, 280 and Lake Martin will combine to help it out.
By the way, I think your photos are great. If you’re on Flickr, please consider adding them to the I Love Lake Martin Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/lake-martin/
October 12th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
It’s not a matter of what anybody “thinks” or “believes” as a matter of opinion. It is a matter of what we “know” as a matter of fact. As small towns are bypassed by interstates and major highways, they lose business. As the new generations of young people go away to college, they move to bigger cities where the job and cultural opportunities are greater. Those are facts.
Thanks for the compliment on the photos, but I won’t be sharing them on flickr or any other mass site where a few programmers make all the money. I am in the business of building the economy for the Web Press here, not promoting any specific lake or town.