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| Mountain Laurel |
The Good Lord certainly knew what He was doing when He made the wild mountain laurel. Wednesday, the 18th of April, was a perfect day to journey into the high hill country and view the wondrous beauty of the wild mountain laurels now in full bloom. Their primitive beauty had just begun to dot the red clay hills of the Red Hills area. Here and there across the high ridges, the full blooms of this primitive beauty had begun to burst forth, making way for all that grew along the high ridges to spring forth in all their beauty.
Many of the places where the mountain laurel had been so beautiful in the spring of 1996 had been damaged quite some months ago when a tornado swept across the Red Hills area. But, these beautiful and hardy hill flowers will not be destroyed. As one examines the damaged area, one will see that the strong mountain laurel is slowly breaking through the red clay where once stood a large and beautiful flower. As I stood there and looked at the struggle for survival of this beautiful flower, I was reminded of a beautiful country girl struggling to help her family to survive there in the rough hill country, but yet retaining the wondrous beauty of a red head mountain girl, standing there on the side of a steep red clay hill.
I am aware of the many beautiful flowers that abound throughout our area. The roses, azaleas, violets and many more. But, I have never seen any flower that will compare with the glorious mountain laurel or the most beautiful goldenrod that blooms during the fall months of the year. I believe our Creator didn’t allow these two beautiful wild flowers to blossom during the same time of year because both were so beautiful until He chose to have each bloom at different time of the year. Both blooming at the same time would be more beauty than so many of us country folks could take.
Parking my transportation, my wife and I walked over and began to examine the pinkish red and purple blooms of the mountain laurel in detail. It didn’t take but a minute to see that these were created by the Master Painter himself. With all of our know-how, we are yet unable to create anything so beautiful and perfect as these blooms that were before us. I was reaffirmed once again, that only He was capable of creating something so beautiful and so perfect.
What was so amazing, was that those that were most beautiful and perfect, was the ones that grew in the worst places there on the hillside. A perfect and most beautiful mountain laurel grew majestically and proud on the steep edge of one of the worst looking gullies to be found there on the hillside. Standing there observing the glorious wild laurel, I remembered the old staying “that beauty is to be found anywhere.” This I believe with all my heart.
But, the wild mountain laurels were not the only beautiful thing to be found there in the Red Hills country. Scattered around throughout the area, the wild honeysuckles were struggling also to make their comeback after the terrible tornado has seriously damaged the hill country. There, among the underbrush that had survived the tornado and the logging crews that had harvested the damaged timber, the wild honeysuckle was also determined to survive there on the red clay hillside.
As we made our way across the red clay hills, I thought of the early families that had lived at one time here in the hill country. I thought of the many stories told to me by my good friends who had families here who had dug a meager living out of the clay hilltops that surround the hill where I was standing. With plenty of time on our hands, we visited several old home places that wait almost unknown in their forgotten locations around on the hills in the grown up areas.
We visited again, the old community cemetery there in the high country. This was the third visit to this old burial ground within the last few weeks. Regardless, to the times coming here, I always seek out the burials of the old Confederate soldiers that sleep here. Such names as Wiggins, Stabler, Tolbert and two or three more are buried here. These men chose to join the cause of the South in the terrible Civil War and then return to their beloved hill country, and be buried there to await the final roll call.
As we finished our tour of the old cemetery and home places, we returned to the area where the beautiful mountain laurels were in bloom. Pulling off the dirt road aways, we sat down to meditate a bit and enjoy our surroundings. We had hardly gotten seated when off to our right sounded the gobble of a wild turkey. Thrilled at the call of the wild turkey gobbler, I found myself wishing that no hunters were in the area to cripple or kill this wonderful creature. I got my wish, because the wild gobbler called out at least six or seven times more. The breathtaking beauty of the blooming mountain laurels and the calls of the turkey gobbler was something almost beyond describing. Sitting there, listening to the calls of the wild gobbler and enjoying the wondrous beauty of the blooming mountain laurels, caused me to feel sorry for those who were not a witness to what I was enjoying. Looking across the red clay hills at the primitive beauty before me, I knew once again that what we were witnessing wasn’t here by accident. The hands of my Creator had set the stage with the beauty and sounds around me. I was glad that we had come. As we headed our transportation back toward home, the words of an ancient Indian prophet came to mind.
O’ Great Spirit, give me strength
That I may stroll across the land
And marvel at Thy Creation.
Let me go
Where the wild flowers grow
And sway in the gentle breeze.
Let me smell the fragrance
Of the wild honeysuckles,
As I rest in the shade
Of the lofty cottonwood tree,|
While listening to the lullaby of the winds.
(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.)
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