'Happenings in Old Monroeville' are must-reads for local history buffs

Today is the 88th birthday of my former next door neighbor, George Thomas Jones of Monroeville.

Having had the pleasure of knowing him for about a decade, I’ve come to appreciate that Mr. Jones is a man of wide experience. He moved to Monroeville from Jasper in 1926 at the age of three when his parents became the owners of the local Ford dealership. He went on to study at Emory University and the University of Alabama before serving as an Army infantry officer in WWII and later in the Korean War. He went on to become a respected and successful family man, leading Monroe County citizen and businessman.

He’s also one heck of a writer.

Many of you who live in southwest Alabama will know him from his weekly columns in The Monroe Journal newspaper. I’ve always enjoyed his columns, many of which describe days gone by in Monroeville and elsewhere in Monroe County.

Fans of his columns will be more than a little interested in a pair of outstanding books called “Happenings in Old Monroeville,” Vols. I and II, in which Jones has collected some of his best columns from over the years. Volume I was published in 1999, and Volume II was published in 2003.

The cover of Volume I features a photo of the Old Monroe County Courthouse by Vince Coston. Columns in this 184-page book cover the early settlement of Monroeville, early festivals, early newspaper carriers, famous visitors to the town, early sports teams, local bands and clubs, descriptions of the old county jail and the county’s pre-Civil War courthouse, the history of the Monroeville Fire Department, former restaurants, football hero Lee Roy Jordan, old swimming holes, Monroeville’s Harper Lee, local railroad history, former theaters and hospitals as well as discussions of local military heroes.

The cover of Volume II features a photo from the days between 1949 and 1962 when Vanity Fair Park and Lake were used as a public swimming facility. The book also features a forward by Charles J. Shields, who would go on to publish an outstanding biography called “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee” in 2006.

At 280 pages, Volume II contains 107 of Jones’ columns, including those that cover highly entertaining subjects like the search for the oldest house and business in Monroeville, important black leaders, the visit of Marquis de Lafayette to Monroe County in 1825, Monroe County’s first bank, the history of the Hybart House, the history of The Monroe Journal, colorful characters like Ardis “Shorty” Culpepper, early law enforcement efforts, early elections, pioneering photographer Max McAliley and Monroe County’s first radio station.

I could go on and on about Mr. Jones and while I really like my current neighbors, I really miss the days when Mr. Jones and I shared adjoining yards. He’s one of the finest people I’ve ever met and one of the finest citizens Monroeville has ever produced.

For those of you interested in reading or buying copies of Mr. Jones’ books, I believe that copies of them are still available for sale at The Monroe Journal at 49 Hines St. in Monroeville and possibly in the gift shop at the Monroe County Heritage Museums inside the Old Monroe County Courthouse on The Square in downtown Monroeville.

In the end, how many of you have read one or both volumes of “Happenings in Old Monroeville”? Which of Mr. Jones’ columns is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.