Old Brooks House at Lone Star was built in 1828 by Sawyer Brooks

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Brooks house was built in 1828” was originally published in the July 24, 1975 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

If one could decide to try to locate the oldest house in Monroe County, I think the search would probably end in the Lone Star community. Here, nestled under several giant pecan trees, is the home of Mrs. S.M. Brooks.

Mrs. Brooks is 85 years old, but the house she lives in is 62 years her senior. Built in 1828, this house has watched four generations come and go.

“I was born right here in this house. I have lived here all my life,” states Mrs. Brooks. “I have never lived any place else.”

A place to cool

The afternoon was hot as we visited in the hallway. But the cool breeze that blew across the porch and down the hall gave testimony that when Sawyer Brooks built this house, he envisioned the hallway as a place to cool on a hot summer evening.

As I listened to Mrs. Brooks tell of past years at this place, I could see within the walls the peace and harmony that had dwelt here. I could tell from the smile on her face that love had been ever-present as the years came and went.

As I looked at the worn boards in the hall floor, I thought of the many footsteps that had journeyed this way. Some quick and light with joy and happiness, and others soft and slow with sadness that came with news of the passing of a loved one.

I saw the giant limestone chimneys like silent sentinels standing guard over this select place. I saw the well kept flower beds that filled the yard with their lovely blossoms and their soft sweet fragrance.

Yard swept clean

I noticed, too, the absence of grass in many parts of the old front yard, bearing testimony of a time when the yard was swept clean with a broom made from dogwood sprouts.

I marveled at the logs that made up the outer walls, and the long slender pegs that held them in place. I saw the overhead loft where the young children were placed in the early years, so wild animals couldn’t get to them and carry them off, when the grown-ups went to the fields to work or to the spring for water.

I thought of a wonderful night’s sleep that one could get on a rainy eve in one of the shed rooms at the end of the porch. I thought of the comfort and feeling of security one would get lying there in a big soft bed, with the gentle rain splashing on the low roof overhead.

A lot of living

As we said goodbye to this gracious lady and her son, I found myself reciting parts of an old poem that I had learned in school years ago:

Home ain’t the place that gold can buy
Or build up in a minute.
Afore it’s home,
There’s got to be a heap of living in it.

Within the walls, there’s got to be
Some babies born and then,
Right there you’ve got to bring them up,
To women good and men.

You’ve got to love each brick and stone,
From cellar to the dome,
It takes a lot of living to
Make a house a home.

Looking back over my shoulder as the old house disappeared from sight, I was sure this house had succeeded in being a home.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)