The Collinsville Knights of the Round Table

Jack’s serves as a major meeting place in Collinsville. (Photo by Nathan Simone)

By Nathan Simone / COMMUNITY REPORTER

Every town has that early morning meeting spot for the local bigwigs. A place for the movers and shakers to have a cup of coffee, slap some gravy on a couple of biscuits and get local news the way it was disseminated for centuries before the printing press: conversation.

Jack’s, conveniently located on Highway 68 approximately a mile outside of town, is that special place in the moving political, social and (sometimes) economic gears of Collinsville. Toward the back of the restaurant two circular tables are consistently staffed in the mornings by the “Knights of the Round Table.”

From 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., the “first shift” of men can be found talking and eating at one of the circular tables before the “second shift” arrives sometime around 8 a.m. to join them at the adjacent table. Sometimes, they all arrive at once. Characters abound.

Roger Dutton, owner of Cook’s Barber Shop on Main Street, also affectionately refers to the group of perpetually conversating older men as “Liars Club International,” a play on the popular secular service group, Lions Clubs International. “You can get your informal schooling in Collinsville two ways,” Dutton jokes, “with a bachelor’s at Jack’s or an associate’s at the gas station up the road. Take your pick.”

Myles Smith, 79, is a community partner with Auburn’s Living Democracy program who attends most of these meetings to keep up with neighbors, friends and acquaintances. Smith has known many of the men sitting around the table for more than 50 years, some from his graduating class at Collinsville High.

Smith said that Auburn’s current Living Democracy fellow, sophomore Mary Beth Snow, has been well received in Collinsville and at the early morning meetings. “You’re not going to find a person more friendly than Mary Beth,” Smith said. “We were lucky to get her.”

While Smith was talking about tough topics in Collinsville, including prejudice of some toward the Hispanic community, a lighter conversation happens, just for a second, that defines the aura of the town at 7 a.m. A man in his 20s, eating with a friend or relative (the lines are often blurred), gets up to leave and nods to one of the men sitting at a round table.

“Where you going?” one of the Knights asks, simply being friendly. “Don’t know, just going,” the man says, before walking away. And I can’t say that many of us would disagree with the answer, depending on the day.

Despite the hustle and bustle of daily life, Collinsville seems to be an oasis of calm that chugs along like the daily rail cars that pass by the library. Everyone is busy with something, but always willing to stop for a minute to converse, help out or simply take a deep breath.

All of the Knights of the Round Table admit that, although more Alabama fans live in the region, there are a few who support Auburn. Charlie Rowan, 83, is one of these scattered Auburn fans. Rowan sat down with a cup of coffee and recounted the time that he got into a severe automobile accident at age 66, the reason why he has little to no muscles in his abdomen. Rowan went on to explain that, while he was in the ICU, the doctors told his wife that even a young man wouldn’t survive his injuries. They were simply too severe.

“My wife looked at them,” Charlie said with a thoughtful smile, “and said ‘Yes he will. You don’t know Charlie.’” He was in a coma for four weeks. On the fifth week, he woke up. Little yet intensely personal stories like this just seem to pop up unannounced at Jack’s.

Myles Smith and Mary Beth Snow (Photo by Nathan Simone)

A 9-year-old named Clint bounced over to our table to hear the tale of Rowan’s recovery and about his love for Auburn football.   As Clint excitedly talks about this and that, his grandmother, a devout Alabama fan, comes over to tell him that it’s time to get going.

Clint then tries to get the impossible to happen. “Why would I say something silly like that?” his grandmother says, and men within ear shot nod their heads in jovial agreement.

“Come on grandmamma, say ‘War Eagle!’” Clint exclaimed. “Say it!” Finally, to the dismay of the knights, the words were uttered.

“Waaar Eagle!”

Know your history (and build it too)

Collinsville High student Deanna McKinney explores “Little Collinsville.” (Photo by Nathan Simone)

By Nathan Simone / COMMUNITY REPORTER

Many of us aren’t lucky enough to live in a small town that can trace its history back to its founders and original families.

But for Collinsville, members of the Collinsville Historical Association have made preserving the history of the town a collaborative effort since 2003. Housed inside the Collinsville Community Center, a former National Guard armory, is the Collinsville History museum.

While no more than a few rooms in size, what the museum lacks in space it more than makes up for in meaningful content.

Mary Beth Snow, a sophomore with Auburn University’s Living Democracy program, is mentoring a group of Collinsville High School students this summer. Her mission, in part, is to help them discover Collinsville through public work and striving to be engaged citizens.   Snow wants them to care about their community and help it grow as well. So it happens that on Thursday, May 29, Snow decided that it would be a great idea for the group to visit the museum. Snow’s group on this particular day included Deanna McKinney, Lynda Pedro and Naomi Cummings,  girls of different backgrounds, ages and interests.

(From left) Deanna McKinney, Lynda Pedro and Naomi Cummings explore the Collinsville History Museum with Rebecca Clayton. (Photo by Nathan Simone)

On our way to the museum, the girls joke about each other’s quirky habits. Pedro is known as the “and then” girl because she always follows lists of potential activities with “and then…”, Cummings is a self-professed “read-aholic” who spends the majority of her free time either in the Collinsville Library or at home reading any number of books. “I’m reading four Harry Potter books at the same time,” Cummings said. “And watching the movies to see how it differs.”

Snow said she immensely enjoys having a group of kids to talk to and address problems with and wants to instill in them a sense of responsibility and love for the place they’re from.

“I want these kids to know that there’s nothing wrong with loving where you’re from and wanting to stay there,” Snow said. “Growing up doesn’t mean moving away.” After trips and having fun, Snow said she has talked to her high school group about “brain drain” in rural Alabama and the effect that acts like shopping locally can have on a community.

“I’ve had discussions with them about serious topics, about how shopping in your community keeps dollars that eventually gets used in other ways,” Snow said. “It’s just something you don’t really think about until someone else prompts the discussion. I certainly didn’t when I was their age.”

And so their trip to the museum is part fun, part historical research and part personal discovery.

Rebecca Clayton, Gail Moore and Martha Barksdale are all women who volunteer at the museum when it is open Thursdays from 1 – 4 p.m. All of them were born and raised in Collinsville and, if only gone for short periods of time, have all returned.

Clayton said that the museum presently has items from more than 100 donors. As we speak, Gary Bowen, chief of police in Collinsville, enters the museum with an old rotary phone. “Found that downstairs,” Bowen says. “Looks like 1920s, maybe 30s.”

One of Clayton’s favorite pieces housed within the museum is a movie marquee, originally located on the  movie theater that now houses the Collinsville Public Library. Other artifacts housed within the museum include antique beds, high school yearbooks, old newspaper clippings related to a variety of wars and Coca-Cola bottles stamped with “Collinsville, Ala.” on the bottom from when Collinsville had a bottling plant.

Myles Smith, a community partner with the Living Democracy program, said that since its opening fourth-grade students in Collinsville usually receive a tour of the museum and the town.

“We take them to the museum and show them around downtown,” Smith said. “Just try to give some background on where they are.”

Myles Smith, Collinsville community partner with Living Democracy, as he appeared in 1954. (Photo by Nathan Simone)

A highlight of the trip is discovering the 1954 Collinsville High School yearbook, with Smith’s picture inside. Everybody exclaims “oh my gosh, it’s Myles!” and gathers around to look.

While our group is further exploring the museum, Clayton points out a miniature model of the former glory of the Cricket Theater, currently being renovated downtown.

“If you like that, there’s more where that came from,” Clayton says.

By then it’s closing time (4 p.m.) at the museum, and we’re invited just a step away from Gail Moore’s house, located off of Highway 68, where “Little Collinsville” is housed inside a large metal shed. “Little Collinsville” is a collaborative effort by Gail and Charles Moore to re-create miniature models of Collinsville buildings from the 1940s and 50s. It features buildings of importance to Collinsville in beautiful crafted detail.

A spot near a reproduction of a Baptist church has a fully functioning well (think a teaspoon of water at a time) and a replica of an historic African-American church stocked inside a preacher and congregation member figurines.

Many residents, said Moore, aren’t aware that “Little Collinsville” even exists. “People have heard about it, but most haven’t visited it,” Moore says. “We welcome everyone to take a look.”

More information about the Collinsville Historical Association and museum can be found at gemofthevalley.net