Brantley Switch in Conecuh County was once known as Keyser

Old store at Brantley Switch in Conecuh County, Ala.

I got the itch to get out and do some riding around last Thursday afternoon, so I struck out west on the Loree Road. About 11 miles later, I pulled over in front of the store at the crossroads at Brantley Switch. The sun was shining bright when I switched off my truck and stepped out into the humid air.

Those of you familiar with Brantley Switch will know that, aside from a few scattered homes, the store there is the community’s most prominent landmark. Now closed, the sign on the side of the old store reads “Jasper’s Grocery & Package Store.” Items that could be purchased when it was in operation included ice cream, fishing poles, t-shirts, bait, cigars, beer and many other life necessities.

My thoughts had been drawn to this community in recent weeks thanks to an old map that I saw at the library. Most people today know this place as Brantley Switch, but at one point in its past, it had a different name: Keyser. Records reflect that Keyser was a variant for Brantley Switch and could be found on county maps going back as far as 1951.

Looking through old back issues of The Courant, the earliest reference to Brantley Switch that I could find was from 1921. In the April 6, 1921 edition, it was reported that “Mr. and Mrs. Irving Hamilton and baby of Brantleys Switch visited their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. J.A.J. Morris last Sunday.” Other old references to this community list the name as “Brantley’s” Switch.

The “Switch” part of the name has always been interesting to me because it reminds me of the old railroad days. I grew up in Frisco City, which was named after the Frisco Railroad, and railcars were commonly “switched” from one train to another on the sidetrack there. Perhaps an old lumber railroad or rail spur once passed through what we now call Brantley Switch.

Another explanation may have to do with old stage coaches. The roads that intersect at Brantley Switch are old roads, and it’s highly possible that stagecoaches once used these roads, especially County Road 15, which runs north and south through Brantley Switch. It’s possible that the stage wagons would stop here and “switch” out for fresh horses on their way to the next stop.

Of course, every time I pass through Brantley Switch, I can’t help but think about all of the times that my old friend Butch Adams and I used to sit at the crossroads on Wednesday afternoons. Butch and I would go there in his truck and wait on Robert Bozeman to meet us there with the papers hot off the press in Monroeville, where we still get our papers printed today. Countless times, Butch and I would sit there, rain or shine, hot or cold, and listen to Paul Finebaum, back when he was still in Birmingham.

I learned a lot from Butch. He was always quick to share his special homespun bits of wisdom, and he knew a good bit about local history and people throughout the county. He’d worked at the newspaper longer than I’d been alive, and he’d been all over the county during his days as a newspaperman and photographer.

I’m sure that many of you in the reading audience also have your own tales to share about Brantley Switch. With that in mind, please let me know if you know anything more about the community’s history or how it got its name. I’m especially interested in any old ghost stories, local legends or Indian lore from this part of the county, so let me hear them.