Martha Barton (D)
(5:15) Mrs. Barton describes her experiences growing up in Florence, Alabama. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/151 |
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Electronic |
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Oral Histories Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Martha Barton (D) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Business districts; Holidays |
| description |
(5:15) Mrs. Barton describes her experiences growing up in Florence, Alabama. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Martha Barton
May 14, 2009
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 4 of 10
Clint Alley: Well, how—the downtown area here in Florence, how has that changed since you were growing up?
Martha Barton: Oh, my goodness! When I was staying with my grandparents and going to school, I had my bicycle in town, and all my friends had bicycles, and we all had roller skates, and we could go anywhere in this town that our parents would let us, riding a bicycle or roller skating. And we spent a lot of time on the UNA campus, skating down toward the amphitheatre.
CA: Those big hills over there?
MB: Course—yeah. Skinned knees, and Pine Street ended and went right down by that steam plant to Circular Road, I think that’s called, I’m not sure now, and we could ride our bicycles down that, and you’d get to the bottom, and you’d be going up a grass bank if you didn’t stop or slow down enough to turn. And there were some that were dare devil enough to do it; I didn’t want to do it. I did skin my knees a lot with skates, though.
CA: Were there a lot of businesses active downtown, down around Court Street?
MB: Yes, Court Street was a busy, busy place! And, ah, the stores were mostly ready-to-wear, shoe stores; there may have been two jewelry stores. We had a bakery on Court Street and oh, boy, that was the most delicious odor! And I can well remember the first sliced bread I ever saw, too. That was something we didn’t do, we didn’t have until this—
CA: Did you see that at the bakery on Court Street?
MB: I think they sliced it, um-hm, but most people, like us, we didn’t buy bread like that, we made our own. And, we used, my brother and I used to be teased because once a week mother would make yeast bread, and she’d make loaves of bread, and we would take a sandwich to school. Well, we were the only kids that had sandwiches, so you can imagine what a creation that was. They had a biscuit, we, we’d have ham or chicken or whatever in it, or jelly. But they had the same thing in it, but theirs was a biscuit and ours was sliced bread.
CA: A sandwich.
(laughter)
CA: What kind of holidays did y’all celebrate in your family?
MB: We always had a big Christmas, the family always got together.
CA: What did you usually get for Christmas when you were younger?
MB: Very small—I got a bathrobe one Christmas that was long to the floor and quilted. That was the main thing I got that Christmas. And in the stockings that we would hang, we would get some fruit, but we might get some pencils and little trinket-like things, like you might put in a stocking today. And Easter was a big day. Everybody had new clothes, and that was the day you put away the dark colors and got out the light colors; you could wear white shoes. That’s not done today.
(laughter)
CA: So it was mainly religious holidays that y’all celebrated, the big ones?
MB: Yeah. Um-hm.
CA: Did y’all do anything big for the Fourth of July?
MB: Well, yes, the community would gather at Jackson Ford. You’d have to know where the Forks of Cypress was, and down in front of the house, was where the ford was, before the bridge was put in there. And out in that big pasture, all the community would gather, and everybody would bring food, and we would have quite a day of it. And a lot of people, ah, would fish in that creek along there, too, not necessarily on the Fourth of July but, and then they would have Coon-on-a-Log down there, which I think is outlawed now.
CA: “Coon-on-a-Log?” What is that?
MB: Put a coon on a log and sic the dogs on it. And it’s in the water.
(laughter)
CA: Un-huh, wow, I bet that was entertainment, wasn’t it?
MB: Not to me, it wasn’t! It was awful!
(laughter)
MB: The dogs swimming in the water, and yapping at the coon, and the coon on the log spitting and snarling at the dogs.
(laughter)
MB: I don’t think that’s allowed anymore. And I guess what took its place was dog fights.
CA: Dog fights?
MB: Some kind of blood sport.
CA: Did y’all have fireworks and things like that on the Fourth of July?
MB: No, no I don’t remember any that we personally had. There might have been a fireworks display somewhere, but I don’t remember any of that.
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| title |
Martha Barton (D) |
| titleStr |
Martha Barton (D) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLoral_hist151 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/151 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/oral_hist/id/151 |
| _version_ |
1782468788230291456 |
| spelling |
Martha Barton (D)Business districts; Holidays(5:15) Mrs. Barton describes her experiences growing up in Florence, Alabama. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryMartha Barton2009-5-14sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishIs part of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library collection.Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Martha Barton
May 14, 2009
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 4 of 10
Clint Alley: Well, how—the downtown area here in Florence, how has that changed since you were growing up?
Martha Barton: Oh, my goodness! When I was staying with my grandparents and going to school, I had my bicycle in town, and all my friends had bicycles, and we all had roller skates, and we could go anywhere in this town that our parents would let us, riding a bicycle or roller skating. And we spent a lot of time on the UNA campus, skating down toward the amphitheatre.
CA: Those big hills over there?
MB: Course—yeah. Skinned knees, and Pine Street ended and went right down by that steam plant to Circular Road, I think that’s called, I’m not sure now, and we could ride our bicycles down that, and you’d get to the bottom, and you’d be going up a grass bank if you didn’t stop or slow down enough to turn. And there were some that were dare devil enough to do it; I didn’t want to do it. I did skin my knees a lot with skates, though.
CA: Were there a lot of businesses active downtown, down around Court Street?
MB: Yes, Court Street was a busy, busy place! And, ah, the stores were mostly ready-to-wear, shoe stores; there may have been two jewelry stores. We had a bakery on Court Street and oh, boy, that was the most delicious odor! And I can well remember the first sliced bread I ever saw, too. That was something we didn’t do, we didn’t have until this—
CA: Did you see that at the bakery on Court Street?
MB: I think they sliced it, um-hm, but most people, like us, we didn’t buy bread like that, we made our own. And, we used, my brother and I used to be teased because once a week mother would make yeast bread, and she’d make loaves of bread, and we would take a sandwich to school. Well, we were the only kids that had sandwiches, so you can imagine what a creation that was. They had a biscuit, we, we’d have ham or chicken or whatever in it, or jelly. But they had the same thing in it, but theirs was a biscuit and ours was sliced bread.
CA: A sandwich.
(laughter)
CA: What kind of holidays did y’all celebrate in your family?
MB: We always had a big Christmas, the family always got together.
CA: What did you usually get for Christmas when you were younger?
MB: Very small—I got a bathrobe one Christmas that was long to the floor and quilted. That was the main thing I got that Christmas. And in the stockings that we would hang, we would get some fruit, but we might get some pencils and little trinket-like things, like you might put in a stocking today. And Easter was a big day. Everybody had new clothes, and that was the day you put away the dark colors and got out the light colors; you could wear white shoes. That’s not done today.
(laughter)
CA: So it was mainly religious holidays that y’all celebrated, the big ones?
MB: Yeah. Um-hm.
CA: Did y’all do anything big for the Fourth of July?
MB: Well, yes, the community would gather at Jackson Ford. You’d have to know where the Forks of Cypress was, and down in front of the house, was where the ford was, before the bridge was put in there. And out in that big pasture, all the community would gather, and everybody would bring food, and we would have quite a day of it. And a lot of people, ah, would fish in that creek along there, too, not necessarily on the Fourth of July but, and then they would have Coon-on-a-Log down there, which I think is outlawed now.
CA: “Coon-on-a-Log?” What is that?
MB: Put a coon on a log and sic the dogs on it. And it’s in the water.
(laughter)
CA: Un-huh, wow, I bet that was entertainment, wasn’t it?
MB: Not to me, it wasn’t! It was awful!
(laughter)
MB: The dogs swimming in the water, and yapping at the coon, and the coon on the log spitting and snarling at the dogs.
(laughter)
MB: I don’t think that’s allowed anymore. And I guess what took its place was dog fights.
CA: Dog fights?
MB: Some kind of blood sport.
CA: Did y’all have fireworks and things like that on the Fourth of July?
MB: No, no I don’t remember any that we personally had. There might have been a fireworks display somewhere, but I don’t remember any of that.
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