Goin' up the Country, Boligee, Alabama, and the Tombigbee River

“Chicago of the South.” That’s how it was described to me when my friend from college, Tom Lavender, first told me about his hometown of Boligee, Alabama. It had everything to become a booming metropolis, a river, a railroad, and later, an Interstate highway. 

Situated in Greene County, about halfway between Tuscaloosa and Demopolis in West Central Alabama, Boligee is eleven miles from the nearest town, Eutaw, where you can purchase food, and supplies and find a place to eat not called the Boligee Cafe. These promising agricultural towns have seen better days when cotton was king and towns throughout the South were thriving.

The Interstate system made many of these communities off the beaten path obscure. Stately homes have fallen into disrepair. The once agricultural centerpiece has given way to large timber, cattle, and catfish operations. A few enterprising locals have created new industries and have become the economic engines that sustain life in these farm communities.

This past week, Tom invited Tony Atchison and me to come stay at his camp house in Tishabee. We drove up, arriving at about 4:30 pm in time for the sunset. As we opened the door, we were greeted with the announcement that Nick Saban had retired. It took us all a minute to absorb the news. Everyone knew this day would come, but it was unexpected, nonetheless.

To the unknowing, a drive through rural Alabama can appear bleak at this time of year. Fields and pastures are cut with crop stubble and tan grasses of winter. A few cows stare blankly as we pass by and many catfish ponds dot the landscape. We drove through Demopolis, where the Tombigbee and the Black Warrior Rivers merge into one and become the Mobile River leading to the Port of Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Barge traffic and recreational boats use these waterways which can take adventurers to the far reaches of  North America. If you have the time, money, and know-how you can see America on these interconnected waterways. I met someone a few weeks ago who is taking a year off with his wife to do just that. 

Tom’s camp house is on the Tombigbee River. His family has been on this land for decades, dating back to the time of pre-Civil War. He knows everyone within a 50-mile radius and beyond. He and his wife Sunee have their primary residence in Tuscaloosa on the Black Warrior River across from the University of Alabama, where you can often watch the University’s rowing team practicing in the early mornings. Sunee is originally from Greensboro, Alabama, 40 miles south. These are people of the land.

This was Tony’s first visit to Boligee to see Tom’s property. We both were excited to see the new home under construction overlooking the river that Tom and Sunee’s son, Chad, and his wife are building. Designed by architect Robert McCown from Mobile, it is shaping up to be a beautiful home with simple but elegant lines and spectacular views of both the River and the surrounding green fields and pine forests.

After a tour of the new house, we spent the evening with a cocktail, absorbing the coaching news and enjoying grilled salmon. Tom built a second camp house along the River next to his to accommodate his friends and family. This is where Tony and I bunked.

People come and go throughout the day and evening, including Tom’s friends, Brad, a former State Trooper, and Blake, who regularly hunts the wild hogs at night using infrared field glasses and scopes. Wild Hogs are the bane of the landowner’s existence, especially if they want to hunt turkey and quail in season.

The next morning, we caught up on the latest news of Nick Saban’s retirement and the subsequent search for a new coach. Lots of rumors were circulating only to be debunked quickly. Rick Johnson, a Forester walks in. I’ve known Rick for years. He has a timber-cutting job just down the road and he wants us to come check it out.

As we head down the two-mile road to the gate on Tom's property, we see hundreds of white-tail deer and several large flocks of wild turkeys feeding in the planted fields. I don’t recall ever seeing so much wildlife and I’ve been coming here since college. Palmetto thickets and hardwoods surround the acres of planted pines. 

Tom loves this land and spends much of his time maintaining nice roads, bush hogging underneath the pine forest, and doing prescribed burns every other year, which is good timber and wildlife management. He has also declared war on the destructive wild hogs who root up the land. Hogs reproduce every five or six months, so it’s an ongoing battle. Harvested hogs are donated to charities that feed the local community. 

The trees are dying and need to be cut to salvage any value. The cut trees are sorted accordingly as “saw-timber” or pulp timber. Saw timber brings a much higher price, but timber prices are down across the board because of too much supply. We are fascinated watching the big equipment and the skills of the operators who load the trucks that head to either the sawmill or the paper mill. It’s a capital-intensive business.

We then head to show Tony the town of Boligee, but first, we stop by Tom’s childhood friend, Joel Colgrove’s horse farm, Triple C Performance Horses. We are blown away.  There are manicured pastures with hundreds of beautiful horses, a horse barn that would rival Churchill Downs, a covered arena larger than the Robertsdale Arena, exercise yards, riding yards, and anything and everything needed for modern equestrian competition. 

What started as a hobby, has become an enterprise for the Colgroves, a local family in Boligee. We watched a traveling Ferrier from Texas who stops by every 5 or 6 weeks to take care of the horses. Several horses are saddled and waiting for riders. 

Cutting horses are trained to cut (isolate) livestock, especially cattle, from herds. Most are quarter horses, with intelligence, speed, and ability to make quick starts, stops, and turns. They are beautiful animals.

Our next stop was for lunch at the Boligee Cafe where we were joined by Joel’s son, Curt Colgrove who operates a massive industrial boring company called REM. The Cafe serves as a central meeting place where people can catch up on the latest happenings. Not much escapes scrutiny and you get to know the lay of the land quickly. 

From there, we head back to Tom’s camp house and hop in the four-wheeler to ride through the woods checking hog traps. On the property Curt leases for hunting from Chad Lavender, Tom throws some corn into the trap to attract hogs. We head down to Tom’s cousin’s camp upriver. He owns Bayou Billy’s restaurants in the Destin area. 

Back at the camp house, we get in Tom’s truck to visit Thornhill, an antebellum home owned by Brock Jones. near Forkland. He has completely restored the home, a schoolhouse, and a couple of other houses on the property. As we arrive, Brock is trimming limbs from old Live Oaks. The property is stately and Brock is a walking history book. He knows all the dates and history of Tom’s family as well as he knows his own.

We venture over to an old fire tower that Brock purchased in Florida, had re-galvanized, and erected on a hill not too far away from the mansion. We climbed to the top, just to say we had done it, and were glad we did. The views were incredible just as the sun was beginning to set and clouds were forming. We ended our visit at a little family cemetery a short walk from the house. 

Thornhill has had a few weddings from time to time and Brock has allowed historical groups to host events there. He lives in Tuscaloosa but spends lots of time taking care of the land. That’s a common theme. People from all walks of life throughout the state have purchased property to escape on weekends to hunt, fish, and entertain friends. 

Along the way, we ride by lots of catfish ponds. Like timber prices, catfish prices are down. “Too much supply, and foreign fish imports,” says Tom. “Plus the price of feed is high.” He was instrumental in helping another Tuscaloosa friend purchase property, and build and manage catfish ponds. Tom brokered the property. Tom’s primary business is brokering large tracts of land throughout central Alabama. He’s had his hand in a lot of transactions over the years.

As we headed back to his camp house, I thought that of the many times I’ve visited, this may have been one of my favorite experiences. We enjoyed grilled oysters and gumbo from Ahi Seafood that evening. By the time Tony and I arrived back in Mobile the next day, the rain had cleared and The University of Alabama had hired Coach Saban’s replacement. We had a great visit to Greene County, experienced so much, and felt pretty good about the future of Alabama football.