Former Vinemont Principal Dr. Jane Teeter talks about community history during last year’s school event. (Photo courtesy Jacqueline Hill)
VINEMONT – Over two days this December, Vinemont Elementary School (VES) will hold its eighth annual celebration of the history and heritage of the Vinemont community. “Come Home to Vinemont” will focus on students on Friday, Dec. 7; and on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 students, parents and the community will be welcomed.
VES Principal Kim Brown told The Tribune, “This two-day event is part of our Bicentennial grant. Our project focuses on the unique history of Vinemont, its residents past and present, their contributions to our community, and the agricultural influence on our community We built our project around service to our community, outstanding community leaders, our agrarian past, our community history and remembering what makes our community special. We also decided to build upon the 50th anniversary of Vinemont High School with a theme of ‘Come Home to Vinemont.’”
Brown continued, “There will be many events to highlight the history of the community and the school. We will have a historic museum, special musical guests, Native American presentations, agricultural presentations, bus tours highlighting the history of Vinemont, tours of the middle school and high school, a car show and a parade. We will also be providing a hot dog lunch for our guests.”
Retired VES Principal and community historian Dr. Jane Teeter and music historian Dr. William Mann, who have presented previously, will both return to take part in this year’s school and community events. Teeter will teach the history of Vinemont using original period maps showing the ambitious plans land speculators and developers had for the Alabama Vineyard and Winery Company (which helped give Vinemont its name) and will lead participants on tours around town.
According to Teeter, “Once known as Holmes’ Gap, Pinnacle (because the town marked the highest point on the railroad line for hundreds of miles) and then Vinemont, the area has a rich history with colorful stories.”
Among Teeter’s favorite tales she enjoys relating to the kids is the documented stranger-than-fiction tale of the one-room Vinemont jail built close to the railroad tracks, until a few mischievous boys decided to tie the building to a passing train.
Mann is the former assistant curator for Living History Programs and resident music historian at Old Alabama Town in Montgomery, and will be presenting popular 19th-century music on instruments including the Appalachian dulcimer and reproductions of mid-19th-century banjos and guitars.
Plans for Saturday’s community celebration include numerous opportunities for visitors, such as quilting, period instrumental music, Civil War history, sacred music history, Native American history, Redstone Arsenal history, Cullman Electric Cooperative history, beekeeping, farming history, wagon rides, car show and school tours. At 1 p.m. the event will conclude with a parade.
You can help!
If you’ve got artifacts from Vinemont’s history that you’d like to show off, if you’d like to take part in the parade or car show, or if you’d like to participate in other ways, planners would like to hear from you. For more information, email Brown at kbrown@ccboe.org or Sandra Sandlin at ssandlin@ccboe.org.
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