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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 387
The land owned by Whitaker was comprised of 350 acres at the base of Madkin Mountain. Much of the land was in slope. On the north side, up to the mountain, the land was rocky and rough. Wesley used it for pasture. Wesley commented that there was a cobbled road around Madkin Mountain to Jordan Lane. The Houses Wesley said there were three or four houses on the land. The Best House. Wesley said: The best house was where we moved my mother and father and the rest of the kids. It had four rooms and a front porch. There was a barn, chicken coop, and a smoke house. A big system was right outside the back door to catch rainwater. It was on the first bench of the mountain. This house was clapboard, flat boards that overlapped. It had a tin roof. It faced to the south. There were two bedrooms in the front, and a hall was between them. The fireplace was in the “west end.” Two rooms were built, one after the other behind the bedroom on the west side. The third room back was the kitchen. The hallway that was between the two bedrooms in the front opened to a porch that ran along the two rooms that extended out in the back. A magnolia tree was near the house. The cistern was in the space right behind the bedroom that had no rooms built behind it. Wesley said the water was hard and soap wouldn't lather. They tried to soften it by using water softener bought from the Watkins peddler who came around. There was a mountain spring nearby where the families also obtained water. The House Where Wesley Lived. Wesley and his wife lived in a house that had four rooms, two and two, and no hallway. It also had a tin roof and was board and batten construction. In regard to the comfort of this home, Wesley said: I'd wear my britches in the daytime, and I'd stuff them under the door to keep the raccoons out at night. I'd get up of a morning and make a fire in the fireplace. Neighbors. Wesley said: The school bus driver lived on a house on the farm. He was Benny Winkler. He had a clapboard house. It had four rooms and a tin roof. It was north of Martin Road, on the north side of an old rock road. 387 - (4420)