A Short Tour of Athens, AL

October 12, 2026

On September 27, I put most of my harvest of the Thai Long Horn peppers and Thai peppers into my vintage Ronco dehydrator.

After breakfast, Bruce asked me what I wanted to do for the day. I wanted to go to Isom’s Orchard and pick apples. On the way, I suggested we stop in historic downtown Athens, AL.

We looked for the road signs on the outskirts of Athens to downtown and followed them to downtown. All the parking was free, but limited to three hours. I am not sure if that applies to weekends or not.

We walked around the town square.

In front of the court house is a bronze statue of Judge James E. Horton, Jr.

Judge Horton became famous across the USA and internationally for the Scottsboro Boys re-trial in 1933. He overturned the jury verdict which was incredibly brave.

The testimony of the prosecutrix in this case is not only uncorroborated, but it also bears on its face indications of improbability and is contradicted by other evidence, and in addition thereto the evidence greatly preponderates in favor of the defendant. It therefore becomes the duty of the Court under the law to grant the motion made in this case.

It is therefore ordered and adjudged by the Court that the motion be granted; that the verdict of the jury in this case and the judgment of the Court sentencing this defendant to death be set aside and that a new trial be and the same is hereby ordered.

Wikipedia.org

During the trial, as part of Judge Horton instructions to the jury were, “So far as the law is concerned it knows neither native nor alien, Jew nor Gentile, black nor white. This case is no different from any other. We have only to do our duty without fear or favor.”

This statement tells you something of the times.

White supremacist threatened his life, as his ruling helped the Jim Crow laws crumble. Judge Horton became known as a courageous, honest defender of the law, willing to go against the tide of the times. It took a long while before he was appreciated in Alabama.

The downtown district of Athens is pretty with several restaurants and shops.

We got to watch a train come through town while we were looking at the old train depot.

As we headed to Isom’s Orchard, we drove along Washington Street which has a short stretch of beautiful old houses.

Once we reached Hwy 72, we continued on to Isom’s. I could see the cotton and soybean fields almost ready for harvest.

I didn’t get a picture of Isom’s, they were very busy and so was I. Turns out, their u-pick for apples doesn’t start until late October. Their apple barn was full of apples and we bought a peck of apples.

On the way home, we stopped by Colbert County Alloys Park. We noticed the RV park was close to full, with some big rigs. Bruce wanted to see the boat ramp access to the Tennessee River. Bruce was hoping they had a two person kayak for rent. They didn’t.

When we got home and the tried the apples, they were nice and crisp when we bit into them. Unfortunately, the texture was mealy. These are not eating apples. Pie maybe? Hand pies even better?

In looking out the front window, I saw a black swallowtail on the verbena.

We had a glorious sunset.