892. Ashville/Pell City, St. Clair County (AL03)

This entire county is full of tricks!  First and most importantly, the county has two county seats which didn’t come up in my preparations.  Consequently, I only went to one courthouse, the one in Ashville.  While I am not required to return (I have one courthouse, after all), I have no doubt I’ll get back to Pell City at a later date since it’s just off I-20 and I’m sure I’ll take that major highway again at some point.  But even the courthouse I found tricked me!  I came in from one side of the courthouse and saw a nice entrance with flagpole and monuments and everything but then went around back and found a much grander entrance.  If I adhered to my own rules, I would have photographed the less interesting side, but we all know I am aesthetic trash, so I chose the grander one!

The closest cache took me to the town cemetery, making it my first official visit to one for the trip.  Looking out over hillside dotted with headstones, I couldn’t help but think of Forrest City as I climbed to the top of the hill and pushed into some light woods in the back.  There I found a good old decon container.  Hadn’t seen one of those in a while, possibly since Manila, but I thought it had to be more recent than that. After consulting the archives, it wasn’t.  I did what needed to be done and then spent a moment in the open air again, the chill in my lungs, sun warming my neck, looking out over the layers of town history recorded in granite or whatever stone they use to make headstones in that area.  One day I should probably read up on headstone and monument materials.  If there isn’t one already, I bet a decent EarthCache could result on the subject.

There was a reason that I traveled through Ashville (other than that it was the only county seat I knew about).  It was the best direction from which to approach my next destination…