Dugout Lane was agricultural center

In the old days, meaning that time before the early 1960s, when many of the tiny communities in our area seemed to prosper and their residents had more of a home view than a world view, there existed small places like Malta and Dugout which had a big influence on farming on industry.

The exact origin of the name 'Dugout' is clouded with the fog of history but some say it comes from a train wreck that "dug out" a hill or from a dirt pit which operated there at the time of the construction of Highway 31 in the 1920s.

At one time, an agricultural conglomerate from up North held commercial interests in the area. The company went bankrupt, probably as a result of the Great Depression, and the land was broken up and sold. Much of the title history of the deeds from the area trace this company's ownership.

One hundred years ago fruit packing houses stood by the railroad tracks in the Dugout area and entire families worked in the houses. A plant nursery also existed in the area and employed many African American workers as did the potato planting industry. There were several African American families which lived in the area in those days. There was also a bar which catered mostly to an African American clientele. Bars such as this were referred to as "Juke Joints" during this period.

The McMurphy's maintained farming interests in the area and a well beloved employee, who they considered family, named Howard McMurphy, worked the fields of Dugout.

The old bar at Dugout was an interesting melting pot of locals and commerce. It has been said that the owners would accept skinned rabbits, with the exception of one leg being required to maintain the rabbit fur, in trade for beer.

Young men who lived in the area, black and white, would sometimes exchange rabbits for beer. The rabbits were required to have fur on one leg because, prior to this requirement, someone is said to have slipped the owner a skinned cat in exchange for beer.

It has also been said that a farm hand lost an arm in a knife fight in the juke joint. A local resident of the Canoe area said the bar was up and running when he left for the Army in the early 1960s but was completely closed up and gone by the time he returned in the mid-1960s.

Yet it is the it is a fact that Armor Fertilizer Company owned a large peach farm which became the nucleus of what we today call Dugout.

Dugout is located just east of Canoe, Alabama along Highway 31 and runs from approximately the Leon Brooks Hines Bridge and east to just before Bowman Cemetery.

Around the late 1930s, the company divested their holdings to the Federal government.

Armor Fertilizer was based in Delaware. The transfer of their lands to the Federal government allowed for the sale of small parcels to farmers. According to Johnny Bubba Abrams the farms included a farm, barn, outhouse and chicken house on every farm parcel.

The land was sold to small farmers through the Federal Farmers Administration according to Mike Smith, a local resident of Dugout Lane. At least a dozen small farms are believed to have been created through this sale.

The time line for this division is somewhere between the 1920s and 1930s and could be the result of the Great Depression.

Some of the sale off of the Armor holdings occurred around June of 1941 when Mr. T.A. Rumbley began surveying parcels in the area. Mr. Abrams noted that his family moved to Dugout in 1944 when they came by horse and wagon. His father had been a welder in Mobile and was renting farm land from Mrs. Lucille Hall prior to purchasing the farm. Mr. Horn, father to Miles Horn was helpful in getting Mr. Abrams into farming in the Dugout area.

Mr. Abrams row cropped, raised beef, pork and eventually had a dairy at Dugout. At least 21 dairies were in operation in Escambia County during the 1950s time period according to Mr. Abrams.

An example of the farm structures built through the Federal program can be seen when one turns onto Abrams Road. The first white house on the right, although later additions were added, was once owned by the Barrow family and was built through the program.

The H. Sanspree family also owned one of the small farms created in the Dugout community. The Whitehead family owned a home on the left along Dugout Lane.

King Smith’s family, and many local families worked in the fruit packing houses which had a side rail from the railroad track near the Dugout Lane crossing. Blueberries and strawberries were also grown in the area and shipped across the country from Dugout Lane.

A huge plant nursery extended along the western edge of Dugout and was operated at different times by the McCormick’s, T.A. Farrish. As mentioned last week, another large farming interest included the McMurphy family. A Mr. Moulton owned a large peach plantation in the vicinity and his brother Charlie Moulton worked as his foreman. It has been said Charlie Moulton lived on the western end of Page Road.

A large dirt pit operated at Dugout. The local county commissioner, Mr. Stallworth, would provide temporary jobs for farmers in the offseason by paying them to haul and spread dirt along county roads. The dirt was provided from this dirt pit.

It has been said that Mr. Stallworth would leave a shovel in the ground with his jacket on top of the handle to create the impression he was somewhere close around (even if he had left) in order to keep the workers shoveling in that their boss was believed to be near.

An African American cemetery existed on the western fringes of Dugout, it has long since retreated into the undergrowth of the area. An abandoned road ran through the cemetery. This road existed before Highway 31’s construction.

At least two train wrecks occurred in the Dugout area during those early years.

Mr. Nick Etheridge Sr, lived in the now dilapidated white house across the tracks from Bowman Cemetery.

Today only a road sign along Highway 31 denoting Dug Out Lane marks the location of this historic area.

Shadows and Dust Volume III: Legacies is available for purchase in the amount of $30.00+$5.00 shipping and handling to PO Box 579 Atmore, AL 36502 or visit Lulu Publishing.com; Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com OR at the Monroe County Heritage Museum in Monroeville, Alabama or by calling 251 294 0293.