Blocton: The History of an Alabama Coal Mining Town [Hardcover]

Charles Edward Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2001

"Blocton" is a beautiful, 8 1/2" x 11" cloth bound book with 240 photographs, most previously unpublished. The saga begins with two entrepreneurs, Truman Aldrich and Cornelius Cadle, who created the Cahaba Coal Mining Company and pushed a railroad eight miles into the wilderness of Bibb County, Alabama to tap thick veins of coal deep underground. There, they built the town called Blocton. Beside the company town rose West Blocton. The social fabric of the two communities was extraordinary containing a tapestry of nationalities from Italians to Russian Jews, Slavs, and Welsh.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Blocton" is a hefty, handsome volume, crammed with rare photographs and enticing true stories -- Elmo Ellis, Atlanta Constitution, December 12, 2001

I cannot tell you how excited I am over this book. It is a Bibb County treasure -- Jim Oakley, Centreville Press, November 7, 2001

No doubt about it. "Blocton" places Charles Adams and his hometown on the map. -- Ben Windham, Tuscaloosa News, November 4, 2001

About the Author

A West Blocton resident for his first eighteen years, Charles E. Adams was the son of a miner maimed in a Blocton mine explosion and black listed by the company for union activities. Adams served as Conference Director in Continuing Education at the University of Alabama for twenty-eight years. He resides in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 339 pages
• Publisher: Cahaba Trace Commission; 1st edition (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971191301
• ISBN-13: 978-0971191303
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,708,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excelent historical review, March 30, 2002

By 

carey scurlock (West Blocton, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blocton: The History of an Alabama Coal Mining Town (Hardcover)

The book has been in the making for over 20 years. It accurately represents the life and times of a small coal mining town. It goes from boom time through the decline of the town and to the rebuilding of its future. I am very proud to have helped with the book and also proud of its author, Charles adams. I feel that anyone wanting to read a very accurate and realisitic historical saga would benifit greatly in the reading this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blocton: The History of an Alabama Coal Mining Town, April 3, 2002

By 

William E. Israel (St. Petersburg, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blocton: The History of an Alabama Coal Mining Town (Hardcover)

Charles Adams has written a history that everyone who grew up in a small town wishes that someone would write about his or her home town -- a nostalgic journey back in time to the way it was. But Blocton was no ordinary small town. Adams captures the essence of a backwoods boomtown at the turn of the last century -- a colorful and detailed account of an unusual piece of Americana in rural Alabama that was as diverse in its ethnic makeup and its vitality as the melting pot of New York City was at the time. Adams documents an interesting story of a little known and out-of-the-way place where Polish and Italian miners and the Jewish merchants who served them created a community that alternately went boom and bust, that survived strikes and a fire that leveled the town, and then prospered again until the closing of the mines and the Great Depression finally turned it into a sleepy but still proud little town that attracts little attention today.

The book is well documented and is illustrated with many photographs and documents. It favorably reflects the many years of research and effort by its author to capture the substance and spirit of his home town, and it accurately tells an unusual story, because Blocton was not your ordinary little town.

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME!!!, May 16, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Blocton: The History of an Alabama Coal Mining Town (Hardcover)

This book was an amazing read ,and suprisingly keeps you wanting to read more. At first glance you might not think that the history of a small town in Alabama would be the most riveting piece of writing, but the way the history of the town develops will keep you reading hours into the night. Charles Adamas does a wonderful job of bringing the history of Blocton to you in a way that brings out a sense of pride in anyone who is from a small town.It may look like double-diamond difficulty in the length catagory, but so many great books are. If you want a book that reminds you of the amazing history behind every community in America, big and small, then check this one out.