A Perfect Dwelling Place

Heading out of Shoal Crossing and on the eastern edge of town, lies Six Mile Creek. Both bodies of water flow southward into the Tennessee River. Locals know that they can become destructive, even perilous, when the surrounding soil gets oversaturated.

The horse-drawn wagons traveling through or into Shoal Crossing have carved deep ruts in the red clay road. In a downpour, the road turns to red mush and is impassable. With fewer than one thousand men, women, and children living in the town, and on the surrounding farmland, the settlement is small. On both sides of the main road, white clapboard homes with covered front porches proudly rest among the flowers planted by the owners.

As your eyes glance at the side yards, you can see that nearly every one of the homes has some form of a barn and a small vegetable garden. The Army Corps of Engineers employs almost all of the men in Shoal Crossing. They moved here to work at Lock 6, but that changed when President Wilson declared war on Germany in 1917. The President selected the Shoals area of northwest Alabama as the site for two nitrate plants and the construction of a dam across the Tennessee River for power. Men within the community left for military duty every day, but thousands more got construction jobs throughout the area.

In 1918, the only businesses in Shoal Crossing are two stores and a barbershop. The general stores stand in the middle of town, but across the road from each other. Mr. Stevens and Mr. Bicknell, the storeowners, have an ongoing competition for the best prices and the variety of things they sell. In-town people can take a short walk to either store, while the farmers typically come into town on their wagons. For the convenience of their riding customers, and the safety of their horses, each business has a hitching post along the storefront. The stores are surprisingly similar, and either owner can order whatever a customer needs, just as long as there’s money to pay in advance.

Customers can select from the folded stacks of work shirts and trousers, boots and shoes lining the wooden floor, and bolts of cloth or yarn from behind the counter. Foodstuffs like flour, cornmeal, crackers, and hoops of hard cheese are stored in wooden barrels with heavy lids sitting on top. Smaller items like needles, thread, candy, billfolds, and coin purses rest inside the glass display case. By a certain date each month, trusted customers who maintain a running tab must pay their balance in full or risk losing their credit in the store. Neither storeowner allows customers to graze as they shop. Regulars have learned that those few grapes or peanuts they choose to slyly taste always show up on their tickets at the front counter.

Next door to Mr. Stevens’ store, Ed Smithers runs a one-chair barbershop called “Ed’s Haircuts.” The barbershop is so small that only two waiting customers have chairs to sit on inside the shop. The rest must wait outside the door. Since there is no electricity, all haircuts are done with scissors and hand razors in front of the window where there is more light. Farmers and their families load up in wagons, ride into town, and stand around Ed’s place to wait their turn for their fifteen-cent scalping. Mr. Smithers only charges ten-cents to cut the hair of a woman or a child under the age of twelve. Locals aren’t sure if Ed has any special training for his business. Nobody really knows anything about him. He just showed up one day and hung his sign. Most of Ed’s customers look like he sat a bowl on their heads and simply cut away any hair growing below the bowl’s rim. The men and boys describe it as “getting their ears lowered,” especially when it appears that Ed used a shallow bowl.

The churches and schools are the centers of activity for the townspeople. There are two churches for the white families and one for the coloreds. Traveling preachers provide the white churches with their sermons. Roving the countryside, the preachers accept the kindness of the church families for their food and shelter on a rotating schedule. The host families in turn feel honored to have the preacher in their home or, if there is no room, in their barns. The colored church has a permanent preacher who lives in a one-room shanty, built by the members, on the church property.

On the days when school is in session, the colored preacher becomes the principal of their one-room school in the church. One teacher works with all ages in her classroom. They don’t have many textbooks, just the ones the white children have worn out. The colored school doesn’t have a name. The whites go to Shoal Crossing Elementary. Those who make it to high school have to go to Florence, just across Shoal Creek, for classes. A number of the children in both schools in town have to miss days at school so that they can work in the fields or help at home. All children must walk to and from school, some requiring over an hour’s walk each way. Some of the lucky ones can ride a horse or hitch a ride in a wagon.