The kind folks at the University of Alabama Cartographic Research Laboratory have offered up this, which is like Google Maps' satellite imagery through a time machine. Scroll down to find places like "Pike Road," "Mt. Meigs," and "Cecil."

You can zoom pretty far in, which I recommend once you get your bearings.

Enjoy!

I have lived in Montgomery since 1994 except whenever I was in Tuscaloosa for school, in which case I was here for holidays and laundry. I have watched Montgomery grow eastward, and I remember how odd it was that I had to go farther north on I-85 than exit 6 to see a friend who lived in some subdivision called Halcyon. AUM (now Auburn Montgomery) seemed so far out back then, didn't it?

Since I was given the EAST beat, I am reminded every day how many people live "out east." For instance, this week, my editor and I met with Jeff Knox, executive director of the Bell Road YMCA. Did you know they have 12,000 members? Twelve. Thousand. It just seems like a huge number, even if their facility is very well equipped to handle it. There are some technicalities about people who might have their primary membership at Bell Road but use a different facility; still, though, I am impressed. And if you haven't been to the Bell Road Y, go check it out. It greatly altered the class of fitness facility I used to consider "the Y," maybe that will happen to you, too.

Hi everybody.

We launched our new EAST section in the Montgomery Advertiser last week. I am the reporter dedicated to the new weekly section, and this blog is a place where I'll post information about your community, or I'll chat with you about east Montgomery. A chat takes two, at least, so please talk back.

East Montgomery is not a small area, and I can't tackle it alone. If you know of an upcoming event that might make a good story, let me know. If there are people or businesses you think deserve coverage, let me know. The section will only be relevant and interesting if you help.

By the way, the way we define east Montgomery is by these borders: the East Boulevard to the west, Atlanta Highway to the north, and the Troy Highway (231) to the south.

I hope you enjoy the new EAST section of the paper, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hilary