admire old church sanctuaries. Recently on a warm July Dixie day, I had some real estate business in New Market. After meeting with my clients, I turned on the same street that I have driven hundreds of times before in the little town of New Market, AL. There are a few old storefronts that date back longer than I can remember. But what always fascinated me on that little sleepy street is the small white church structure on the west end. It is a quaint little structure with no sign on the building, but there is a sturdy metal black yard sign that reads in Old English style, “New Market Presbyterian Church.” There is an arch shaped window above the double door entrance. There are three windows on each side of the small building, each having an arch that compliments the arch at the front entrance. History tells me that the congregation was established as early as 1840. Some members of the small group are of the fourth generation to worship at New Market Presbyterian Church.

New Market Presbyterian Church has surely not survived without calamity. The first structure was destroyed by fire prior to the Civil War. A second facility was erected, a two story structure but succumbed to a tornado in 1884. Legend has it that several folks in New Market heard the church organ playing “Nearer My God to Thee” as it sailed into the sky.

Such structures scattered throughout the North Alabama landscape serve as monuments to the importance that our forefathers placed in a necessity to have a close relationship with our Creator.

New Market, AL

Submitted by
Jimmy Hill
RE/MAX Alliance Madison
Madison, AL

See full insight here…

‘m old enough to remember when it took forever to get from Mountain Brook Village to Downtown Birmingham, before the Red Mountain Cut was made and the Red Mountain Expressway was built. My family lived nearby and I can remember going to the site and hunting for fossils. I’m not sure when this was exactly (maybe I was 9 or 10), but contractors broke ground on The Cut in February 1963 and the Red Mountain Expressway opened in 1970, so our fossil hunting expeditions took place sometime after they made serious progress cutting through the mountain. That quarter-mile slice into Red Mountain revealed what represents a 440 million year geological time span. 440 million years is really, really old! Below is a fascinating article about Red Mountain, the expressway and Birmingham yesterday, today and a look to the future.

Birmingham, AL

Submitted by
Ann Allen
RE/MAX Advantage South
Birmingham, AL

See full insight here…

p here, we have an uncanny ability to spot what we call “Fudgies.” A Fudgie is, of course, an out-of-town visitor collecting cherries and fudge while asking things like, “Do you get much snow up here in the winter?”After a few summers up here, some of the repeat visitors get better at blending in, but we locals know what to look for. We look for socks with sandals, sunglasses tan lines, and shopping carts full of big-brewery beers and chips that aren’t Better-Made.

The thing is, we’ll gladly take the title away from you. There are few things an “Up North” local wants more than to share the landscapes and hospitality of the places we call home. In Elk Rapids, we’d love nothing more than to call you a neighbor and forget all about those sandals-and-socks days. It’s a lifetime membership to a community that takes pride in its history and future and we want you to have it.

Included in the membership are innumerable perks:  free advice on which lures work best on which lakes, big smiles from all your neighbors everywhere you go, and the irrefutable knowledge that we have some of the finest craft breweries in the state on our doorstep. Inside of every Fudgie is a potential friend and neighbor. So, we’ll take the title away and share the paths less traveled with you because we love it here, and we want you to love it, too.

Elk Rapids, MI

Submitted by
James Eberle
RE/MAX of Elk Rapids
Elk Rapids, MI

See full insight here…