HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (TENNESSEE VALLEY LIVING) - Huntsville is a city that is rich with a fascinating history. We here at Tennessee Valley Living not only value the history of our local community, we also love learning about it!
SueAnne Griffith hosts the Lily Flagg’s Signal podcast where she talks about some of the quirky characters, interesting milestones and stories behind places we see every day in Huntsville. She first started the show as a way to dive into some of the stories she’d heard growing up as a Huntsville native. The more she read, the more she realized this city has a fascinating past and new she had to share it with others.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive from people here in Huntsville” said SueAnne. “Though, there have even been listeners from as far away as Britain.”
SueAnne tries to balance stories that people may be somewhat familiar with with some that are not well known but nonetheless interesting. Since starting the podcast, she’s been able to interview local historians and preservationists about their work and studies.
“Places like the North Alabama Railroad Museum, Burritt on the Mountain, Huntsville Utilities, Nativity Episcopal Church and both the UAH and Huntsville-Madison County Libraries have all been incredibly welcoming in sharing their time with me,” said SueAnne.
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The first story SueAnne shared was about the Lily Flagg cow, which inspired the name of her podcast. Lily Flagg was a Jersey cow who set the world record for butter production in 1892. She became world famous, had multiple extravagant parties thrown in her honor (though sadly she wasn’t invited) and was eventually disqualified from the World’s Fair butter competition for being “too good at it.” Multiple places in Huntsville have been named after her, including a road.
Nurse Johnnie Dent was the first Black woman to be awarded the Nurse of the Year award in Alabama. During her lifetime she did a lot of outreach in rural communities regarding vaccinations and other public health needs. She worked at a clinic out in Triana, Al and it will be opening soon as a museum to commemorate her work in the community.
From 1900 to 1931, electric street cars ran through Huntsville from Dallas Mill all the way down to Merrimack Mill. When it first opened, city dignitaries in a brass band rode up and down the streets in one of the trolleys.
Up on Monte Sano at Burritt on the Mountain, Hotel Monte Sano used to sit. Constructed on a bluff overlooking the city of Huntsville, the hotel opened in June of 1887. It boasted 233 rooms, and could accommodate a max of 500 people. Some of the guests included members of the Vanderbilt and Astor families. The hotel closed after 13 years but while operating, it was coined as both a health resort and a party destination for the rich and famous towards the end of the Victorian era.
What is now Huntsville utilities, began as Huntsville’s water works, turned 200 years old in February. It is the oldest waterworks this side of the Appalachian Mountains. It all started with hollowed out cedar logs pulling water from the Big Spring downtown. A log can still be seen on display in the Huntsville Utilities building in downtown Huntsville. The water actually comes from a cave system that runs, amongst other places, under the courthouse. So yes, this means that the entire downtown square is sitting on a cave.
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The third season of the show started on July 10 and it will include a new episode every Monday for around the next three months. It’s available through Spotify, Apple and just about anywhere else you might listen to your podcasts!
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