I’d like to especially thank the latter for also stocking my first novel, A Witch’s Burden.
In the midst of a recent multi-day drive north to celebrate our niece’s high school graduation, my wife and I found ourselves back in the old stomping ground, Birmingham, whence we moved to Florida many years ago.
Only in town for the night, we headed over to an old favorite restaurant (Bottega, if you’re curious; here’s the link, it won’t disappoint: https://bottegarestaurant.com/ Frank Stitt is a MASTER!). Well, to get there from the interstate via the scenic route, I took us over an even older stomping ground of mine. I’m talking here about the Homewood community, where I cut my teeth, in the first through third grades. Since I hadn’t been back in many years, I thought it might be interesting to drop off a couple of books at the library there.
That library in Homewood has an interesting past, which has apparently just gotten more so in the years since I left. You see, it used to be a church, and not just any church, it was MY church and still the place I consider my spiritual home. The congregation of the Homewood Church of Christ is now out on West Oxmoor Road, but back when I was in Sunday school it was right there at the “library”. I want to say I started first grade in 1975 and therefore significant Sunday schooling around that same time. If you live in Homewood or the Birmingham area and can visit the Homewood Public Library, those rooms downstairs in the back were where the old Sunday school rooms used to be.
So, anyway, in I trooped right there before supper and had the pleasure to meet Leslie West, the head of the library’s adult services. I was a bit surprised to hear from her that I was the first person she’d met who’d actually once attended church there, but I was even more surprised when she told me that the place is now haunted!
I keep trying to tell you folks I’m witchy. Perhaps one day you’ll actually believe me! ~.^
Needless to say I’d not heard that part, but thanks to this story, I’m up to speed. Check it out:
That’s Ms. West there in the middle of the video, the librarian that I met. It was very interesting to watch. I do want to correct the local channel 42 reporter on one of her points, however; she claimed that the building was constructed in the 1960s. That’s actually not true. The correct history of the place can be found here: https://homewoodchurch.org/about-us/our-history . As for the old “farm house” I cannot say; that’s before my time. But as far as the history of the church cum library, I know about as much as anyone else. See, I actually attended the OLD Homewood Church of Christ—the one on Central Avenue—even before this current library, and thanks to online maps, I see even that still stands. Apparently it’s leased office space now managed by Edgewood Partners of Birmingham. Go here (https://www.edgewood-partners.com/ ) and type in “2917 Central Avenue” and you’ll see it. What the current congregation out on Oxmoor says about their/our history simply has to be true; I’m talking about the switch from Central Avenue location to the current library site in 1976. I remember it well and was in second grade when it happened. The thing I most recall was about how the new place smelled. It must have been all the new paint.
If you’re curious about the rest of the story, I even remember when the congregation moved again to its current 265 West Oxmoor location. At the time I had lived in Mobile for many years and had just moved back up to the area.
I can’t speak to the ghost issue, but I did tell Ms. West it sounded interesting. And, again, I do really appreciate her stocking both of my books. I hope the folks there enjoy them.
So, there’s my history of the Homewood Church of Christ, and the haunted library that has now adopted both of my books. I began Sunday school on Central Avenue, finished in the “library”, and later got baptized and married out on Oxmoor Road.