Little remains of the old Renson community in Monroe County, Ala.

Site of the old Renson community in Monroe County, Ala.

I got the itch to get out and do some riding around last Thursday afternoon, and, on a whim, I struck off north of Monroeville on State Highway 21. Just outside of the Monroeville city limits, I turned east onto Skinner’s Mill Road. A little over half a mile later, I pulled over at the railroad tracks near Limestone Creek, about two and a half miles from Monroeville’s downtown square.

I stepped out of my truck for a closer look at the railroad crossing and while standing there, I remembered that many old maps show that this location was once known as the Renson (or Rensom) community. Just west of the tracks, I could see the remnants of an old wood-frame building that people say was once a company store. Today, it’s shrouded in trees and bushes, and at first glance most people would probably think that it’s an old house.

The only reference to “Renson” that I’ve ever been able to find in old editions of The Monroe Journal was in the March 30, 1961 edition of the newspaper. That edition carried a sizeable advertisement announcing that the S.P. Timber Company would be opening for business on April 10. “We Will Be In The Market For Dense Logs… Will Cut Special Items,” the ad said. Across the bottom of the ad, it said “Frank Smith and Howard Patterson at Renson.”

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find out how the Renson community got its name. If I had to guess, I’d say that it was named after someone associated with the railroad. This is true for other locations up and down the line like Repton, Peterman and Beatrice.

From the railroad crossing, I walked down to the wooden bridge over Limestone Creek. As I stood there, something big and loud, probably a deer, bolted unseen through the thick bushes on the bank, about fifty yards upstream of the bridge. After that, silence fell over the creek’s gray waters, swollen from Tuesday night’s rainstorms, and I wondered how long it would take those same waters to flow through the woods before eventually emptying into the Alabama River at Claiborne.

Some readers might be familiar with the old tradition of tossing a coin off the Skinner’s Mill Road Bridge to pay the toll that may or may not have been required of local travelers at some point in the deep past. I fished a quarter out of my pocket and thumbed it far out over the water. It plunked into the creek, and I imagined hundreds (maybe thousands) of similar coins resting silently in the mud and gravel beneath the bridge.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience with more information about the Renson community. I’m especially interested in any old ghost stories, local legends or Indian lore from this part of the county. If you know of anything along these lines, please let me know.