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Farming For A Better Future, page 432
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Nebo Cemetery
This cemetery is also referred to as Bell-Nebo
Cemetery. According to Ms. Peggy Allen Towns, this cemetery is the first African American cemetery in Morgan County. The location marked on the map is the original location of the cemetery before it was moved to the Finley Island Road along with the Nebo Church.
Ms. Towns indexed the Nebo Cemetery and submitted
an application to the State of Alabama, resulting in
the cemetery being placed on the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register. It was the first black cemetery in Morgan County to be listed, the seventh cemetery in Morgan County and the 145th cemetery listed statewide. Ms. Town's interest in the cemetery stems from her mother and father, Myrtle Marie Lyle Allen (1934-2000) and George Washington Allen, Sr. (19222014), who are buried at this cemetery.
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Nebo Church*
Also referred to as the Bell-Nebo Church, this church served the historic African American community of Nebo. According to Ms. Peggy Allen Towns, the land for the original church was donated to the community by Mr. Finnel, a white landowner with hundreds of acres in the town of Trinity and along the Tennessee River. Ms. Towns' father, George W. Allen Sr., served as Chairman of the Deacons Board after he united with the Bell-Nebo Church.
The church was moved to Finley Island Road along with the Nebo Cemetery once the original land was purchased by the 3M Company.
(Below) “Negro Baptising, Tennessee River, Decatur, Alabama.” Postcard, Circa Early 20th Century (Morgan County Archives, Decatur, Alabama)
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Nebo School*
The community of Nebo had a school located between the church and cemetery on what was known as Nebo Lane. The school was not long lived. It was not on the land books through 1937 and does not appear on the 1936 USGS/TVA topographic map. It is noted on the 1950 USGS topographic map. However, by November 1956, the 3M Company was already mapping landownership in preparation of moving forward with acquisition of land in the community of Nebo.
From at least 1920-1956, the land for the school was
owned by an African American farmer. By the time the land was acquired by 3M, the two acres for the school was owned by John and Lela Booker, who had owned it since 1930.
34 ■
New Jones Chapel
This church is one of three in the planned African American community of Cedar Lake. Located off Ray Avenue the church has served the community since at least the 1930s.
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Priceville
The town of Priceville is located southeast of Decatur
along Highway 67, about halfway to Somerville.
Although the town is marked on an 1888 map of North Alabama, it was not a separately enumerated district in the 1900 census. It is possible that the area was captured in the districts comprising the surrounding towns and city of Decatur, Hartselle, and
(Above) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map, Decatur Quadrangle, of West Half of Priceville
While the overall population of Priceville steadily rose between 1910 and 1940, the number of African American households declined from a high of 39% to a low of 20%. Despite the decline in population, the percentage of landowning farmers held at about 17%. During the early 20th century, Priceville was home to 11-14 African American-owned farms - or about one out of every three African American households.
Throughout the early 20th century, there were 10 African American landowning farming families that lived in the Priceville area. Most families had a single family member that owned a farm for a decade or two. But there were four families - the Aldridges, Garths, Hamptons, and Ryans - that owned their farms from 1910 to 1940. The Garths had four family - (4960)