(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 “Primitive Indian fire pit found in Monroe” was originally published in the Jan. 4, 1973 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)
Throughout the ages, man has associated himself very closely with the making of fire. Fire has aided man probably more than any other one thing since his creation.
For thousands of years, man has warmed himself from the winter winds and has cooked his food with the aid of fire. On occasions, he has worshiped fire as his god. Other times, man has associated fire with the evil of Satan, but always man and fire have journeyed through the pages of time hand in hand. Since man’s discovery of fire and its uses, life has never been the same.
On a trip into the Pine Orchard area, I was shown a primitive fire pit by my friend, Milford Champion, who lives in the area. For many many years this crude structure of rocks lay beneath a light cover of top soil. Then by accident, it was uncovered and exposed once again to man and the elements. The blade of a tractor shaved the covering of dirt from the top of the fire pit without hardly disturbing any of the stones with which it was made.
As we examined the pieces of rock that made up the crude circle, it was easy to see that they had been burned by a thousand fires in the years past. The pit might have been inside some type of shelter, or it might have been on the outside and the fire used to scare the wild animals away from the village during the dark hours of the night. The ground was charred and black beneath the rocks, giving evidence to the fact that many hours of heat had baked the dirt to its rustic color.
As we stood there beside this rustic link to man’s early civilization, I tried to visualize what it was like when our Red Brother squatted beside this fire and ate his food with his fingers. I thought of a tall agile man coming out of the woods with an assortment of game thrown over his shoulder and throwing it down beside the fire to be cleaned and dressed by the women and older members of the tribe. I thought of a fire burning inside a large tepee or wigwam, with people sitting close, trying to stay warm during the “moon of the blowing snow.” I thought too of a young Indian woman singing softly to her infant as she wrapped the evening meal, during the “moon of the red blooming lilies.”
I wondered about the life that had begun beside this fire pit, and wondered too, about the lives that had ended here as the shadows danced on the sides of the tepees. One could almost hear the death chants as the departed soul was prepared for its long journey into The Great Beyond.
As I stood atop this hill and watched Old Sol slowly dip toward the western horizons on this winter evening, I think I felt some of the uncertainty and despair that man felt as he stood there over 700 years back when the cold winds chilled his spine and the pangs of hunger gnawed his belly.
As I descended the hill, I realized that I was singing softly to myself:
The snow is deep and o so white,
The winds howl and moan.
What makes a man leave bed and board,
While his lonely heart grows cold.
[This story also included a photo taken by Singleton that carried the following caption: This primitive fire pit, located in the Pine Orchard area, was used long ago by Indians of this area. Pieces of rock, partly embedded in the earth, make up the crude circle.]
(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 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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