Rock Run Alabama Ghost Town

[Gypsy Heart]

2)ROCK RUN COMMISSARY and the home of J. M. Garvin, Superintendent of Rock Run Furnace. 1890

 

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[DiggerBug]

Gypsy, your hittin' close to home there! My Granddaddy who was born in 1886
(he was 50 when my dad was born) as a young man used to drive a delivery
wagon from Piedmont to this commissary.

My 1998 pic is almost like your current one.


1965 taking my Grandaddy down memory lane...

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Very cool addition of photos Diggerbug! Please add more if you come across them....these are fantastic!

 

[tonytygr]

Gypsy, I know you are in the Cullman area, if you take the first Hartselle exit off of interstate 65 and turn right on highway 36 after 5 miles or so you will come to a historic marker on your right that tells of an old hotel just across the highway. have you ever researched this

thanks

Tony

 

[Kevenater]

That would be Valhermoso Springs, it was a resort a long time ago. They supposedly had some kind of "fountain of youth" spring there. If I remember right it later became the post office there and later burned down. I've planned on going over there for years but haven't yet....... I know of so many cool interesting stories around here but never get out and do anything anymore hardly. The wagon train used to run through the back of my neighbors land and they had a station there and I havent even went over there and detected. That place has to be loaded!!!!!!! I need a detecting buddy!!!! I don't have near as much fun by myself....

 

[TimC (North Alabama)]

Hey Guys, I'm in Cullman too just off hwy 157 about a mile and am up for a good hunt anywhere as long I'm off and the wife don't have anything for me to do. Have ya'll ever detected down at the end of Hwy 69 where the road runs into smith lake, there's a swimmers swinging rope there that has given up a lot of clad and a couple of sterling rings.
I have thought many times about going to the springs and have been there many times but without the detector, just to walk around. The air has a strong smell of sulfur which is just one of the 7 mineral springs flowing.

 

[chefrider]

Hey gang, glad to see more sod searchers close by, I would be glad to get up with someone. Got to go out of town this weekend but I'll check this thread Sun. nite. PM me or just post here and I'll get back to you.

 

[tonytygr]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Unfortunately I don't have any free time currently but I hope that changes soon. I am about an hour from Cullman in the Chelsea area approx 20 miles SE of Bham. If you guys get together please let me know about your hunt. I have never been to the springs themselves I would think they are downstream from the historic marker sign. As near as I can tell the hotel was located across the road and it looks kind of grown up right now. However with it being winter now would be a great time to go! Where would you ask permission to search this field? Would you just park at the historic sign?

Thanks again for the replies

 

[DiggerBug]

O.K. guys, Gypsy doesn't live down here. Nana40 and I live in west Blount Co.
I asked my father about the springs in Hartselle and he said he had been there and called the name but I don't remember what it was. Kevenator, I belive your right it being Valhermoso Springs.
I wouldn't know who to ask for permission. I'm not familiar with the area or the people there.
Nana, myself and our detecting buddy Terri would be willing to meet up for a hunt somewhere if ya'll are interested.
Kevenator, if you don't mind hunting with a bunch of girls we'll help you clean out your neighbors property.

 

[chefrider]

Digger Bug, look in your PM. Chefman.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Value of Beauty" The restorative qualities of the mineral springs here attracted settlement in the early 1800s. Variously known as Chunn Springs (after Lancelot Chunn) and Manning Springs (after Robert Manning), the spot was named for early developers of the resort where a hotel and surrounding cabins were erected between 1818 and 1823. By 1834, when the first post ofice was established, it was called White Sulphur Springs. Jean Joseph Giers acquired the hotel and surrounding property in 1856, renaming it "Valhermoso Springs." Into the 20th century, travelers from all over the world came to the hotel and springs seeking relief from rheumatism, insomnia, consumption, and ailments of the skin, kidneys, stomach, and liver. The hotel closed in the 1920s and was destroyed by tornado in 1950.

 

[xplrer]

I live in the area also (north Alabama) and have visited the Valhermoso Springs area some due to my job at Terminix. I have never been to the actual spring site but would love to get together and gain permission to hunt with whoever wants to do some xploring and detecting. You can email me at:
[email protected]

Let's get together and plan a hunt.

 

[tonytygr]

disregard my previous post, if you guys get a hunt together please notify me and I will find a way!

 

[Kevenater]

Hey diggerbug, I'd love to go detecting with a bunch of girls!!!!! lol Me and Nana used to talk on here some bout detecting. I haven't talked to her in forever!! I'll have to tell her hey soon. I need to do some research bout the wagon train and talk to the guy that owns the land. Another neighbor told me bout the guy telling him about it so I don't know details yet. I'll try to get free sometime before too long and we can go somewhere at least. I know several old homeplaces that no longer have houses on them, maybe we can check them out. I'll let u know when I get time to go. Xplrer I'll also get up with u and chefman too. I've been wanting to go for awhile but the house remodeling is taking forever since i'm doing it myself. yall take care!!

 

[Nana40]

Let's go huntin' ya'll!

 

[warsawdaddy]

If you get permission for the Chun Sprgs,I might just come down and watch you guys strip it out.Sure it's not covered with kudzu?

 

[vthepresident]

Nana and diggerbug, I believe I followed in your footsteps yesterday. My wife stumbled across a geocache while we were detecting, and I saw your screen names in the log books. What a surprise to see them on here too! I hope you found more at the site than we did.

V

 

[Nana40]

Nana and diggerbug, I believe I followed in your footsteps yesterday. My wife stumbled across a geocache while we were detecting, and I saw your screen names in the log books. What a surprise to see them on here too! I hope you found more at the site than we did.

V

How 'bout that! You must have been at the springs. Another member here, James in Alabama, found it too!

Nana

 

[notimetowait4u]

Hey, you have two more here from Alabama. Wetumpka to be exact. So if you need a few more coils on the ground, let us know.

 

[tonytygr]

so Nana, you hid a geocache there? what are the springs themselves like?