George Singleton writes of Monroe County's many breathtaking views

George Buster Singleton

(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 “Many breathtaking views are right here in county” was originally published in the June 19, 1975 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

Many of us spend a great deal of time running here and there searching for places to go and beautiful scenery to look at. We spend many hundreds of dollars of our money and countless hours of our time in this quest for picturesque surroundings.

Few of us have stopped to realize that at our own doorsteps is some of the most breathtaking scenery in the whole Southland.

As one leaves Monroeville traveling north on Alabama Highway 41, within a few short miles this beautiful phenomenon of nature begins to unfurl.

As you cross Flat Creek, you will begin to climb into the cool air that flows across these pine-studded hills. As you continue to climb, take a look to the southwest and see for yourself the colorful display that nature has provided for our eyes to look upon.

Continue northward and you will find that the highway clings to the high ridges as it winds its way onward through hills and valleys and across the small streams that hurriedly rush to join the waters of the mother river to the west.

Many times when I have become restless and tired of the problems of our society, I seek my favorite spot on the highest hill in the area, and I sit and watch the shadows creep across the glowing sky and listen while nature’s children prepare themselves for the hours of darkness that are soon to come.

If you have never witnessed the coming of night across the dark hills and having not heard the sighing winds through the swaying pines, you have missed one of life’s great moments.

Each time I pass through the hills of Franklin, and I see the majestic beauty before me, I’m reminded of a time not long ago when I stood beside a grave in a small cemetery nestled atop one of the highest hills in the area.

The father of this large family, who had lived in these hills all their lives, had passed away.

As the graveside services was brought to a close, I heard the oldest son of the deceased say: “This is where he would want to be. He loved these hills. He would not have traded these hills for all the oil in Texas.”

As I turned and looked to the west, it seemed that from the distance, the words “Amen, Amen” reached my ears.

[The column above came one week after the June 12, 1975 edition of The Journal, which carried a front-page story about the return of Singleton’s column after an absence of about two years. That story, which carried the headline “Singleton back next week,” read as follows.]

George B. Singleton’s historical column “Did You Know?” will resume next week in The Monroe Journal.

The column, which appeared in The Journal from 1971 to 1973, concerns historical events, legends and places in Monroe County. Singleton writes it and takes accompanying photographs.

Resumed because of interest expressed in the current “Reader Reaction” survey, the column will appear weekly.

Singleton, a chief warrant officer in the Army National Guard who is full-time technician for the Guard’s 778^th Maintenance Co. in Monroeville, is a history and archaeology buff.

Originally from Sweet Water, he has lived in Monroeville for 11 years. He is a member and former president of the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society, which he helped organize.

(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.)