The Sunday School Tree

About 18 miles outside of Eufaula is the tiny community of Comer, Alabama. There's not much to it: a few old, overgrown buildings, a couple of little churches and a smattering of country houses. Dave had been out there a few times on visitations and had shared with me about the little town that time forgot. So, today I packed the kids in the car, put Peter Pan on the DVR and headed north on Highway 82. I really just wanted to look around, maybe take a few pictures and be back within an hour.

As I pulled off the highway and into the little hamlet of Comer, I noticed a pick-up truck heading towards me, then pulling over to let me pass. When I drove by, I noticed that the lady in the truck was Martha Grant, a sweet member of our church. She rolled down her window and jokingly asked if I was lost, because really, if you don't live there, there is no good reason to be all the way out in Comer. Embarrassed, I told her that I had always wanted to see what it was like. She laughed at me, but then she asked if I wanted to come out to the family property and bring her husband Frank his morning coffee. I agreed. So, she hopped in alongside me in the mini-van and away we went. The Grant's cow pasture

On the way, Miss Martha told me what Mr. Frank was doing in the cow pasture; he was erecting a monument on the site of The Sunday School Tree. The Sunday School Tree, Miss Martha explained, was an enormous Red Oak tree that sat on the property of the old Russell plantation before "The War Between the States." When the weather was nice, Mrs. Russell, Mr. Frank's great-grandmother, would teach Sunday school under the old Oak tree to all the little boys and girls, both black and white together, that lived on the plantation. After the "War Between the Sates," the Russell plantation house burned, a forest grew up over the cotton fields, the old "Sunday School Tree" died and the stump was eventually removed. Miss Martha laughed about how ridiculous it must sound to be erecting a monument to a tree that no longer exists, in the middle of a pasture, surrounded by cow patties. But, really, I thought it was beautiful.

The site of the old Russell family plantation

Working on the monument for "The Sunday School Tree"

The old vault in the Bank of Comer

One of the little churches in Comer

Amelia, Sadie and Miss Martha on the Grant property