November Meeting
Thursday, November 8, 2007 7:00 p.m.
Homewood Library, Room 101

Historic Coke Ovens Park at West Blocton, Alabama


Presentation By: Elizabeth Salter

Truman Aldrich founded Blocton and West Blocton and organized the Cahaba Coal Mining Company on the promise of fortune from the coal and coke to be made from the Cahaba Coal Seams. These materials then fed the steel and iron industry in Birmingham, Tannehill, Brierfield, and the surrounding areas. West Blocton’s "Beehive Coke Ovens” were built in the 1880s and 90s as the rich seams of coal were discovered, turning out blocks of coal that weighed over a ton a piece. The Blocton Coke Ovens-were and remain as four batteries (banks) of 467 coke ovens that at one time produced over 600 tons of coke a day.


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December Meeting
Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:30 p.m.
Samford University, Brooks Hall (building 38)
Bring your favorite Potluck dish and come hear our special guest storyteller

Program: “TRUE FISH TALES"


Presentation By: By Biologist Dr. Bob Stiles

After supper, Dr. Robert ("Bob") Stiles will regale us with stories that really happened "along the way" during his thirty-five years of travels to and from remote aquatic destinations. Samford professors always are meticulously honest and objective, even in retirement. Plan to believe everything you hear because Bob would never risk his celebrity status as a great professor.


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