Historical marker describes unique Wilcox County town of Pine Apple

'Downtown Pine Apple' historical marker beside town hall.

This week’s featured historical marker is the “DOWNTOWN PINE APPLE” marker in Wilcox County, Ala. This marker is located next door to the Pine Apple Town Hall, on the west side of Broad Street in downtown Pine Apple.

This marker was erected by the Alabama Tourism Department and the Town of Pine Apple in November 2010. There’s text on both sides of this marker, and both sides are different. What follows in the complete text from the marker:

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“DOWNTOWN PINE APPLE: The Town of Pine Apple was settled by 1816, originally named Friendship in the 1820s and later designated Pine Apple by the United States Post Office in 1851. Pine Apple was incorporated on Feb. 24, 1872. The following commercial ventures served the community from this area: automotive agency, bank, barber, blacksmith, boarding house, butcher shop, cotton gin, drug store, eggery, feed store, feed mill, fertilizer plant, furniture store, garage and service stations, general store, gift shop, grocery stores, hair salon, hotels, ice house, insurance agency, livery stable, mercantile stores, newspaper, quail hatchery, radio station, restaurant, sawmill-planer mill, seamstress, spoke and handle factory, tannery, telephone exchange, wheelwright and woodshop. Pine Apple also had a calaboose, churches, Civitan club, doctors and dentist offices, fire department, Matheson Library, Masonic Hall, Moore Academy, New Century Club, Pine Apple Depot, post office, public pool and bath houses, and tennis courts. Pine Apple experienced the War Between the States, the burning of the town in 1903, and the Great Depression, and sent sons to war in support of this country. (Continued on other side)”

“DOWNTOWN PINE APPLE (Continued from other side): Pioneers, founding families, and entrepreneurs active in the civic and commercial life of Pine Apple include: Adams, Anderson, Beard, Blackmon, Bloxom, Bonner, Brantley, Burch, Byars, Carter, Chapman, Chappell, Coleson, Compton, Cone, Cobb, Cook, Crawford, Donald, Ezell, Feagin, Fields, Finklea, Frazier, Fuller, Gaston, Gellenthin, Gillian, Girlie, Gravet, Grimes, Guillot, Hale, Hardin, Harris, Harriss, Hawthorne, Heath, Henderson, Hester, Holloway, Huggins, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Kennedy, Knight, Kyser, Lamkin, Lloyd, Lobman, Lynam, Majors, Maness, Matheson, Maxwell, Mayo, McCrory, McNeil, McWilliams, Melton, Mills, Monk, Moseley, Nall, Norred, Oakley, Owens, Patterson, Pierce, Powell, Preyer, Ptomey, Rikard, Ruth, Sharpe, Shy, Sister of St. Joseph, Smith, Snowden, Stallworth, Stanford, Steen, Steiner, Stone, Strickland, Stuart, Suggs, Thompson, Tucker, Wall, Ward, Watkins, Watson, Watts, Webb, Weeks, Williams, Williamson and Winters. Over the years, Pine Apple became a regional center for agricultural, recreational and timber activities. At the time of the dedication of this historic marker, elected officials included Mayor Chris Stone and council members: Lewis Anderson, Harold Grimes III, Tim Steen, Birdie Mae Stallworth and Joyce H. Wall.”

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The historical marker described above is one of several in the Pine Apple area. Be sure to visit this site in the coming weeks as I plan to talk about those other markers in the near future.

In the end, visit this site next Wednesday to learn about another historical marker. I’m also taking suggestions from the reading audience, so if you know of an interesting historical marker that you’d like me to feature, let me know in the comments section below.