Founded | 1986 |
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Location | |
Coordinates | 32°16′15″N87°37′35″W / 32.27083°N 87.62639°W |
Website | www |
The Alabama Rural Heritage Center is a regional heritage organization located in Thomaston, Alabama that was established in 1986, but closed permanently as of January, 2022. [1] It was established by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and local volunteers. [2] The center, now defunct, was headquartered in the old home economics building on the former Marengo County High School campus, which was repurposed by Auburn University's Rural Studio. [3] The center is run by the non-profit Alabama Rural Heritage Foundation, but is no longer operational.
Before closing doors, The Rural Heritage Center housed a combination folk art gallery, theater, restaurant, community meeting place, and a commercial production kitchen. [3] The center produces local food products under the "Mama Nem's" trademark. The recipes for their products were developed with the Auburn University College of Human Sciences through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant.
Alabama is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states.
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for Continental Army Major General Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 200,603 at the 2020 census. It is now the third most populous city in the state, after Huntsville and Birmingham, and is the 128th most populous in the United States. The Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area's population in 2022 was 385,460; it is the fourth largest in the state and 142nd among United States metropolitan areas.
Hale County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,785. Its county seat is Greensboro. It is named in honor of Confederate officer Stephen Fowler Hale.
Marengo County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,323. The largest city is Demopolis, and the county seat is Linden. It is named in honor of the Battle of Marengo near Turin, Italy, where French leader Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Austrians on June 14, 1800.
Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama. The population was 76,143 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a 2020 population of 193,773, along with the Columbus, GA-AL MSA and Tuskegee, Alabama, comprises the greater Columbus-Auburn-Opelika, GA-AL CSA, a region home to 563,967 residents as of 2020.
Opelika is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is 30,995, an increase of 17.1 percent from the 2010 Census where the population was 26,477. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a population of 150,933, along with the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, comprises the Greater Columbus combined statistical area, a region home to 501,649 residents.
Thomaston is a town in Marengo County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 326, down from 417 at the 2010 census.
Auburn University is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, US. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a total enrollment of more than 33,000 students with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second-largest university in Alabama. It is one of the state's two flagship public universities. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity".
Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee was an American architect and a co-founder of the Auburn University Rural Studio program in Hale County, Alabama. After establishing a regular architectural practice in his native Mississippi, Mockbee became interested in the design and construction problems associated with rural housing in Alabama and Mississippi. Soon after joining the faculty of Auburn, Mockbee established the Rural Studio with educator Dennis K. Ruth to provide practical training for architecture students in an environment where their efforts could address the problems of poverty and substandard housing in underserved areas of the southern United States. Mockbee went on to receive numerous awards for his work, including a MacArthur Foundation grant that he used to further the work of the Rural Studio.
The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, and Monroe, Louisiana. VCOM also recently added Bluefield University to its list of campuses. Founded in 2002, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students in June 2007.
Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) is a public university in Montgomery, Alabama. Established by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1967, it is governed by the Auburn University Board of Trustees as a member of the Auburn University system. AUM offers more than 90 programs of study leading to bachelor's, master's, specialist, and doctoral degrees. As of 2018, the university enrolled more than 5,200 students.
Auburn High School is a public high school in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is the only high school in the Auburn City School District. Auburn High offers technical, academic, and International Baccalaureate programs, as well as joint enrollment with Southern Union State Community College and Auburn University. Auburn High School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The Pepper Jelly Festival and Rural Heritage Day, commonly known as the Pepper Jelly Festival, is an annual festival held the last Saturday in April in the Black Belt town of Thomaston, Alabama. The festival is hosted at the Alabama Rural Heritage Center, which is located in the old home economics building on the former Marengo County High School campus that was redesigned and repurposed by Auburn University's Rural Studio. The Pepper Jelly Festival is a celebration of rural life and traditions in western Alabama. Formerly named Rural Fun Day, the event was renamed in recognition of the unique pepper jelly made at the Rural Heritage Center. The festival features music, homemade food, art, crafts, entertainment, and other activities that reflect the culture of a rural Southern way of life. The festival is historically the second-largest held every year in Marengo County, behind Christmas on the River in Demopolis.
Hewitt-Trussville High School (HTHS) is a four-year public high school in the city of Trussville, Alabama. It is the only high school in Trussville City Schools and is named for the early local educator Robert Hewitt. School colors are red and gray, and the athletic teams are called the Huskies. HTHS competes in Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 7A athletics.
The African slave trade was first brought to Alabama when the region was part of the French Louisiana Colony.
Bishop State Community College (BSCC) is a public, historically black community college with campuses and facilities throughout Mobile and Washington Counties in Alabama. The college was founded in Mobile, Alabama, in 1927, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It offers more than 50 associate degree and certificate programs.
Pickensville Rosenwald School was a Rosenwald School primarily for the education of African-American students in Pickensville, Alabama, U.S.. It educated generations of children from c. 1925 until it closed c. 1969.
James W. Rane is an American businessman, and the founder, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Great Southern Wood Preserving, the largest pressure treated lumber producer in the world. He has frequently appeared in advertisements for the company portraying a fictional cowboy named "the Yella Fella" after the company's flagship product of YellaWood. With an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, Rane is the wealthiest person in Alabama.