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Thursday, November 8, 2007
SignsYesterday, I had to go to the Pike Road library to get some photos. On the way back out of the community, on Pike Road heading to Vaughn, I noticed for the first time a sign announcing the Merry Community. Right after that sign, really close to Vaughn, another sign: Dangerous Intersection. 1. Merry. From a search of the Montgomery Advertiser's archives, it's only been mentioned once, in a late December, 2006, q & a with Mayor Gordon Stone. Then, he was explaining how Pike Road intended to let communities like Merry maintain their identity within Pike Road. I just have never heard of Merry. Is it a mere collection of houses or more than that? Twelve people? A hundred? 2. Dangerous Intersection. I don't think I've ever seen this street sign. I'm usually pretty careful around the apex of Vaughn and anything, but I guess the sheer number of dump trucks and commercial vehicles makes that intersection worthy of official designation. Eleven years ago, I worked at a tack store there and used to walk across to the filling station for a Coke. On credit.
posted by Hilary Funk @ 3:14 PM
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2 Comments:
Here's the scoop on Merry.
The whole area west and south of the Pike/Vaughn Road intersection used to be called "Scotia," named after the historical Scott family estate on Pike Road close to the intersection. Those with older ties to the area still call it that today.
However, in the 1880s, a railroad line (the "Seaboard") linking Montgomery with Savannah and the eastern seaboard was laid out, and there was a freight and passenger depot at the point where the tracks crossed Vaughn road, about where the Chantilly Parkway joins into Vaughn Road today. Since there was already a station by the name of "Scotia" elsewhere on the Seaboard line, the station at the Vaughn Road crossing was dubbed "Merry."
When the depot was later abandoned, its large sign reading "Merry" came into the possession of Barnett Pinkston, who later put it on display in his country store located on the NE corner of the Vaughn/Pike intersection (the store was torn down a few years ago). For decades Pinkston's was the best-known country store in the area, and since people stopping there always saw the name "Merry," the name stuck and it started appearing on maps, even though older maps showed "Scotia."
Some of these details can be found in the book "Memories of the Mount: The Story of Mt. Meigs, Alabama" by John B. Scott, Jr. (published by The Black Belt Press in Montgomery in 1993). Other details I can vouch for personally, since I spent many years growing up in Scotia, often running up to Pinkston's store to buy fish bait as well as anything my grandmother (Virgnia Scott Martin) needed in the kitchen. I strongly recommend John Scott's book to anybody interested in the history and personalities of the Mt. Meigs and Pike Road areas.
Regarding the "Dangerous Intersection" sign: When I was a boy in the late 60s, it was a big event if a dirt truck drove by. But as the years have passed, traffic has picked up, and many horrific accidents have occurred at this intersection.
- John Hunt
Regarding my last post, I guess I should mention that by "whole area west and south of the Pike/Vaughn Road intersection" I mean the area within a radius of about a quarter mile extending to the west and south of the intersection.
- John Hunt
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