Cookbook contains little known facts about Peterman, Alabama

My wife and I rode up to the Peterman Historical Society’s “big sale” Saturday, and it should come as no surprise that I found something interesting to talk about. While going through the stuff in the old train depot, I found a neat book called “Recipes & Remembrances from Peterman, Alabama.” Published by the historical society in 1997, this 114-page book contains not only recipes, but also a lot of historical information about the Peterman community.

Aside from all the recipes, the book contains historical photos, family histories, cemetery lists and other historical information. What follows are a few little know facts that I gleaned from the pages of this book.

* The first settles in Peterman came in 1815 and settled on Walker’s Creek, about two miles south of Peterman. This would have been about four years before Alabama became a state.

* The first school in this part of the county was known as the Brushy Creek School.

* In the early days, the Peterman area was called Pleasant Ridge, and the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church was founded in 1896. The Rev. John Williams was the church’s first pastor. Evant Thomas Andress and Calvin Smith were the first deacons.

* Bay City Logging moved into the Peterman area around 1880 and built a logging railroad from the Alabama River through Peterman, Burnt Corn and Pine Orchard. Pat Galliger was the superintendent of the company, which was headquartered near the old George Pacific plant on modern-day Highway 21. Bay City Logging left the area around 1903.

* The railroad came through present-day Peterman in 1900 and the community was named “Peterman” in honor of Mr. Addison Peterman, who was the railroad depot agent in Repton.

* The former Dick Rumbley/Merle Stanton store building served as Peterman’s first post office, and Rumbley was the town’s first postmaster.

* Peterman State Bank was organized in the fall of 1914 with starting capital of $15,000. The first bank president was Jas. K. Kyser, and the banks first board of directors were D.R. Nettles, W.J. Nettles, P.S. Jackson, J.J. Jernigan, C.J. Jackson and J.L. Tatum.

* Due to its location along the railroad, Peterman was once the home to many hotels and boarding houses, including a two-story hotel operated by Anna Jaye Floyd. Another hotel, operated by Mrs. Ben Daughette, was located where Peterman’s post office is today. A two-story Woodman of the World lodge was also located on the east side of the railroad tracks.

In the end, this book contains much more historical information about the Peterman community, so if you are interested in purchasing a copy, you can do so at next month’s “big sale.” Peterman’s “big sale” is usually held on the first Saturday of each month, but next month’s sale will be held on the second Saturday – Sept. 8 – because of the Labor Day holiday.