We Stopped for Family… and Found a Story Still Waiting | Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery, Hartford, Alabama

Weathered blue historical marker at Shiloh Baptist Church in Hartford, Alabama, telling the story of the town’s earliest church as it stands quietly beside the modern white chapel.

There are stops you plan for…and then there are the ones that find you anyway. This one wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a quick pull-off. We were in Hartford, Alabama, chasing names—Dusty’s family names, to be exact. The kind you carry in your head, half-remembered, hoping they’ll recognize you when you finally arrive. … Read more

500 Silent Souls: Camp Springs Cemetery, Henry County, Alabama

Historic fenced burial plot at Camp Springs Cemetery in Henry County, Alabama, with weathered headstones and rural Wiregrass landscape under an overcast sky.

There are places that announce themselves the moment you arrive—grand gates, bold markers, legends whispered before you even step out of the car. Camp Springs Cemetery isn’t one of those places. It sits quietly in Henry County, Alabama, surrounded by open sky and Wiregrass soil, asking nothing more than that you slow down. Nearly 500 … Read more

Orlando to Alabama Road Trip #1 – Day Three Itinerary

Roadtrippers map showing the Day Three driving route from Dothan, Alabama through southwest Georgia and back, with multiple cemetery, museum, and roadside attraction stops marked along the way.

Promises kept. Curiosities followed. Hearts lightened. Day Two of our first Alabama road trip was a careful balance of wandering and personal business. Day Three leaned into that rhythm even harder—finishing what needed to be done first, so the rest of the day could belong to curiosity, color, and the open road. We had two … Read more

Orlando to Alabama Road Trip #1 – Day Two Itinerary

Map of Day Two of Alabama Road Trip #1 showing stops 6 through 14 around Enterprise and Dothan, Alabama.

The first day of our first Alabama road trip was all about getting to Dothan with a few cool stops along the way. The second day of our Alabama Road Trip was part explore Enterprise, Alabama and part business. Dusty’s mom passed away a year before this trip and Dusty made a promise to her … Read more

Claybank Church: A Log Cabin Sanctuary With Stories In The Walls

Claybank Log Church & Cemetery

Alabama Road Trip #2 | Side Road Saturday We were headed to chase ghosts, if I remember right.A haunted house, a tip, a rumor. But then a brown sign blinked past our window: Claybank Log Church. Dusty and I locked eyes.The brakes answered before we did. There’s something magical about unplanned stops—the kind that don’t … Read more

Little Nadine’s Playhouse Mausoleum

Small mausoleum known as Little Nadine’s Playhouse at Oakwood Cemetery in Lanett, Alabama, featuring a child-sized structure with a low roof and solemn, story-filled presence.

If you’ve ever wandered into a cemetery expecting silence and stone, you might be surprised by the sound of your own heartbeat quickening. That’s how it felt the first time I stepped up to Little Nadine’s Playhouse Mausoleum in Lanett, Alabama. It looks like something lifted straight out of a childhood storybook: a tiny brick … Read more

Dothan City Cemetery

Dothan City Cemetery

You’d think by now I’d know better than to tempt fate with a cemetery and a clue. But there we were—twice, actually—following faint directions and full hearts straight into the arms of Murphy himself. The first time, Dusty and I were chasing a letterbox. A simple one. A quiet one. Supposedly tucked away under the … Read more

Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church – Malvern, Alabama

Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church

Tucked beneath the Alabama sky, off a quiet backroad in Malvern, stands a little white church with a whole lot of soul. Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church, established in 1874, may not look like much to those speeding past—but for generations of locals, it’s been the kind of place that anchors a community. Weathered wood. Hand-built … Read more