Retired educators updated on Overton Farm progress

The Franklin County Retired Educators Association (FCERA) recently welcomed former circuit judge Sharon Hindman Hester to speak about Overton Farm and the events taking place there.

She discussed restoration work at the historic Hodges property and efforts to support school programs and community activities at the site.

More than 4,000 students in grades K-12 have participated in programs at Overton Farm during the past three years, Hester said. As a member of the FCERA, it is encouraging to see Overton Farm once again serving students and the community. Experiences outside the classroom can bring history and local heritage to life in ways textbooks alone cannot.

I have enjoyed visiting over the years. One visit that stands out is when the Russellville Cultura Garden Club met there. When we arrived, Hindman had a wagon set up for us. Her husband drove it, and she was dressed in a bonnet and costume.

She carried us around the property and told us the history as we rode. We saw the farmhouse and other parts of the property while she explained different things that had happened there. It was a very interesting tour, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I remember going out there on a field trip when I was in high school. Later, my girls went out there with their classes.

School groups visit the site for outdoor learning activities focused on local history, agriculture and life in early Alabama.

Hindman also shared a background on the history of the site.

Overton Farm dates to the early 1800s and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The 1819 log cabin farmstead near Bear Creek reflects early settlement in the region and preserves elements of rural life from Alabama’s territorial period.

Abner Overton, a traveling tobacco merchant from Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased 160 acres along a bend of Bear Creek in 1817, two years before Alabama achieved statehood.

Overton and his wife, Judy May, began building the homestead with a oneroom log cabin constructed in 1819.

The family gradually expanded the structure to five rooms, although only two remain today, separated by a dogtrot breezeway.

The west room once had a stone chimney on the gable end, although the chimney no longer stands.

The Overton family farmed the land for more than a century.

In 1969, the Tennessee Valley Authority purchased the property as part of the Bear Creek Water Control Project. TVA later converted the site into the Bear Creek Education Center, where local students learned about rural history and farming traditions.

Northwest Alabama State Junior College restored the farm in the 1970s and used it as an educational center until 2013.

Judy Baker, a retired teacher, recalled chaperoning school trips there years ago.

“During the 1980s I enjoyed chaperoning many trips with my daughters to Overton Farms,” Baker said. “It was a beautiful facility with numerous outdoor educational activities for them to explore. I can’t wait for it to be fully restored for our children to experience again.”

I am glad to see Overton Farm continuing to serve our community.

Places like this give people of all ages opportunities to learn, gather and spend time outdoors, and students can benefit from those experiences as well.

President Sandy Gibson gave the devotional and blessed the meal.

The meeting took place at the Weatherford Centre in Red Bay, where Community Spirit Bank provided a barbecue luncheon.

Gibson presided over the business meeting.

Each table received community service cards and discussion included our local service project collecting canned goods.The state service project involves gathering pop tabs.

The Alabama Retired Educators Association will hold its state meeting March 31 in Montgomery. The Franklin County chapter plans to send up to six delegates.