What’s in a Name?
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It was a road trip that took us first to Bullock County. Just 12 miles south of Union Springs on Highway 239 and County Road 14 you come to a community known as Smuteye.
The heart of Smuteye basically consists of a stop sign and an old grocery store that is no longer in service. But these crumbling remnants of the past, aren’t stopping the community from moving to the future.
We met up with retired Army veteran and writer Major Cox.
“It was home. I enjoyed being here,” said Cox.
We got a tour of the farmland that he and his wife inherited. The same land where his ancestors worked as slaves.
“This cabin was built in 1837,” said Cox.
And the cabin he was born in 75 years ago.
We also met the horses and hog on the farm.
He tells us the rural community was first called “Welcome” but in the 1900s would get a nickname that would stick.
We’re told it came from an old blacksmith named George Pope located across from the old Smuteye grocery.
It’s was a meeting place where men would gather around the fire pit.
“If they started wiping their eye, smoke would get in their eyes. The men would get smutty eyes. So they came home and bring that tell tell sign of being over there carousing with old man Pope and drinking his moonshine with smutty eyes,” said Cox with a laugh.
And Smuteye it’s been ever since.
The next place on our tour would take us to Wilcox County.
Just 23 miles west of Greenville and 25 miles southeast of Camden sits a tiny town lined with antebellum homes.
It’s the historic town of Pine Apple. And even though it may be small, it actually has a a mayor and town council.
“A great place to raise a family. It’s a little out of the way from the bigger towns. Most of us here wouldn’t have it any other way,” said mayor Chris Stone.
We’re told Pine Apple has about 175 people.
But it wasn’t always that way.
“It used to be a bustling little community. On Saturday afternoon you could hardly get through here with mules and wagons and cars. You wouldn’t believe it now though,” said Harold Grimes.
Grimes was born in Pine Apple 84 years ago.
We’re told the town was orignially called “Friendship,” but when they wanted to get a post office in 1851 they were told there was already a Friendship, Alabama and would have to get a new name.
While there may be several stories on how they got the name, Mayor Chris Stone says it came from the trees.
“Pine tree and apple tree by a well in the middle of town. Therefore, Pine Apple. And one of the major confusions to this day is if you tell someone you’re from Pine Apple or they are writing your address down as one word– it’s two words,” said Stone.
Even though it may be two words… You’ll definitely see “pineapple” symbols all over town.
A sign that means “welcome” for a town that is still rooted in friendship.
“Low crime, everybody gets along,” said Grimes.
Our last stop on our road tour would take us to maybe a little better known town just northwest of Wetumpka in Elmore County called Slapout.
“To me, it’s a normal name. To most people, I guess that never hear it, it’s hard for them to believe it’s a name of a town,” said Keith Holley.
Holley has lived in Slapout his whole life.
His father and a friend started The Boy’s Store in 1966.
But the small community that basically consists of a the store, a school and a bank wasn’t always called Slapout.
It was first called Holtville.
Holley tells us in the 60’s that name began to change.
“Oscar Peeples had a store up here. People would come in the store and ask for different items and stuff. He would always say he was “slap out” of it. He just said it so many times that people just called it “Slapout” because you couldn’t get nothing,” said Holley.
While its widely known as Slapout, there is still some confusion when you look at a map or GPS.
“One side of the street is Wetumpka zip code. Another side is Deatsville. We have Holtville High School. The name of the town is Slapout and we’re all on Lake Jordan,” said Holley.
But nevertheless, the tiny nicknamed town has made its mark over the years.
Especially last year, when a certain resident made it big on “American Idol.”
Jessica Meuse says she loves calling Slapout home.
“I like it because it’s a family oriented place. People are really spiritual and they are full of faith and I like to surround myself with that and positive energy. And people are nice here,” said Meuse.
“See, that’s how you know you are from Slapout, when a tractor just drives by on the main road,” said Meuse watching a tractor driving by.
They say souvenirs from the rural town sell pretty well reminding you that Slapout is “the place you otta be.”
But at the end of the day, it’s not about where you’re from or the name of your town.
We’ve learned it’s all about the people there that call it home.
