My family is descendants of the Brooks, Brown, Bates, Waldrop, and Riddle Families that settled in the Black Warrior Mountains that make up what is now the Bankhead National Forest. I once read that it was a shame that the name of the land was changed to honor a white politician and I will have to second that! It will always belong to our Indian ancestors! Jenny Elizabeth Brooks Bates Johnson AKA "Aunt Jenny" is my great great great great grandmother! I am so proud to be able to know my family history and am still learning about it. I can't wait to be able to pass all of this knowledge down to my daughter. We can't rely on the internet always being there for us because one day it isn't going to be! One of my favorite places in Bankhead is Indian Tomb Hollow- I was heartbroken when I got into it and seen the clear cut the greedy lumber company did to that sacred place. It being known to be the place of a very significant Indian war between two different Indian nations. Not to mention burial grounds to so many of our ancestors!!! I cannot believe that anyone would carelessly clear cut an area without as much as researching or taking into consideration how important that land is people and history. But money is the only thing on a lot of peoples minds..enough ranting...this place is so awesome! The Indian marker tree was like nothing I have ever seen. If I remember correctly one pointed directly north and the other was nearly directly south.
I was so angry- still am that some punks carved profanity on nearby trees...when I say profanity I mean it...someone deserves an ass kicking for doing that but I'll leave that to the Indian Spirits and Karma ;)
We hiked Gillespie Creek out and seen old whiskey still sites that the revenuers had busted up.
The ax marks can be seen from the revenuers in the old barrel.
We seen a couple of small waterfalls along the way out and a spring! I love getting water from the forest...hopefully it doesn't have any of that N A S T Y fluoride in it. I specifically drive out to Bankhead and fill up gallon jugs for drinking water at home!
Small waterfall along Gillespie Creek
We seen a carving in a tree of a compass that me and Thomas have seen in the forest before. It's really neat to find the same thing like that the same person did...And It's really amazing to think at what how many people use to occupy and use the land that we know today as the forest.
Thomas, Justin, and Leroy enjoying the Indian Marker tree
