Barbara Carruth

Lamar County (Al) (Images of America) Barbara Carruth

Charming, historic Lamar County, Alabama, lies just within hours of such metropolises as Birmingham, Montgomery, and Nashville. The county was established in the nineteenth century on lands once inhabited and hunted by Native American tribes. Known first as Jones and then as Sanford County, the county was named Lamar in 1877, in honor of L. Q. C. Lamar, a senator from Mississippi. Since its founding, Lamar County has enjoyed bountiful farming, hunting, and fishing; myriad recreational opportunities provided by area waterways; and steadfast family values and community pride. In this captivating collection of vintage photographs readers will be transported to the Lamar County of yesteryear, joining the pioneer settlers who came by covered wagon from Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. They came with little more than the dream of moving westward to a promising future, and settled a community that would always be defined by its hardworking, unyielding spirit. The early families who came to Lamar County-who built homes, toiled the land, and established local traditions-are the subject of this engaging retrospective. In their faces the story of the county unfolds, and in their legacy the spirit of the county lives on.