Little remains of the old Glendale community on Sand Bottom Road in Monroe County, Alabama

Bethel Baptist Church No. 1

I got the urge to do some exploring last Friday morning and eventually found myself on County Road 30 near Peterman. On a whim, I turned down the old Sand Bottom Road, a dirt road that runs about four and a half miles between County Road 30 and Burnt Corn. As I eased along, I passed Nettles Mill Road, crossed the short wooden bridge over Brushy Creek and was then reminded that I was in the old Glendale community.

Like many such communities, Glendale has faded from the memories of most folks today, but this was once a thriving community between Peterman and Burnt Corn. Glendale was once large enough to have its own post office, which was in operation from 1879 to 1899. Old maps show that “downtown” Glendale was located a short distance east of the Brushy Creek bridge, on the north side of Sand Bottom Road, between the road and what is called McKinney Branch.

Aside from a few scattered homes, about the only landmark near old Glendale that you will find today is Bethel Baptist Church No. 1. This church is located a little over two miles from the Brushy Creek bridge and about a mile and a half from Burnt Corn. According to a sign in front of the church, the Rev. Jerol Preyer is church’s current pastor.

One of my best maps shows two old cemeteries located along Sand Bottom Road, including one at Bethel Baptist Church. However, on Friday, despite my best efforts, I was unable to locate either one of these old cemeteries. My feeling is that they are either behind locked gates, shrouded in vegetation or so far off the road that they can’t be seen by passersby.

Back at the office, the oldest reference that I could find to the Glendale community in archives of the newspaper was in the July 14, 1879 edition of The Monroe Journal. In that newspaper, Editor H.R. Hood told readers that he was pleased to announce that the paper had added a new correspondent from Glendale. At this time, community correspondents were the newspapers chief source of local news, and these correspondents were also usually the postmasters in their respective communities.

In that week’s paper, the new correspondent, who went by the initial “M,” wrote Hood to say that “the application for a post office at Dr. McMillan’s mill, to which you referred a few weeks since, has been granted and the new office established. The name of the new office is Glendale, with W.W. McMillan postmaster. It is eight miles from Monroeville and five from Burnt Corn and will be supplied with mails twice a week from Monroeville until the mail contracts are let out again, when the department promises to keep it on the daily route from Monroeville to Evergreen.”

“M,” who was likely W.W. McMillian, also reported that “crops in this neighborhood, which have been very promising until recently, are now suffering severely from drought. The creeks are getting so low that the boys bump their heads against the bottom whilst bathing. One of them ‘drove off’ a few days since and reaching rock bottom rather unexpectedly, received such injuries as to require medical attention.”

“M” also asked Hood to “stir up the people” regarding the Selma & Gulf Railroad. “It seems to me that nothing can be of greater importance to the people of this county, at least those in the northern and eastern portion of it, than the completion or extension of this road.”

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the audience with more information about the old Glendale 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 so that I can pass it along to readers in the weeks to come.