Lily Flagg's Signal

Whether it’s a relaxing health retreat in nature, a destination to party all night, or a way to attract wealthy investors into town, there’s (apparently) nothing like a resort vacation, and for a short time in the late 1800s, Huntsville was home to one such resort.  The Hotel Monte Sano offered prime examples of luxury amenities for its guests, whether they were there to take deep breaths of mount...

When people talk about LGBTQ history, they'll often mention Stonewall in New York, Harvey Milk in California, or maybe HIV/AIDS protests in the mid-Atlantic region. Rarely does the American South first come to mind, but that's not due to a lack of historical places, events, and groundbreakers. The Invisible Histories Project (IHP, invisiblehistories.org), for whom this live panel was a fun...

Dr. William Henry Burritt was a lot of things: a homeopathic doctor, a car guy, an inventor, a world traveler, and the eccentric brains behind one of Huntsville's weirdest homes. In part two of this two-part show on Dr. Burritt, I'll be discussing his third wife, his second mansion, and the city's first museum, as well as a custom car and herd of dairy goats (not a typo). For more Hunt...

Dr. William Henry Burritt was a lot of things: a homeopathic doctor, a car guy, an inventor, a world traveler, and the eccentric brains behind one of Huntsville's weirdest homes. In part one of this two-part show on Dr. Burritt, I'll be discussing his "origin story" as well as the construction and destruction of the first of his two X-shaped mansions (spoiler). For more Huntsvill...

You know I love a good primary source, and when it comes to early-statehood-Alabama there's no source like travel writer (and convicted "common scold") Anne Royall.  Unafraid to bash the manners of "high society" women, call out hypocrisy in the church, or insult the appearance of those she met, Royall also was responsible for documenting much about 1810s and 1820s Huntsvil...

All aboard, next stop: Chase, Alabama, the home of the North Alabama Railroad Museum. Along the way, we'll be passing through a nationally-famous wholesale nursery, some weird telegraph code words, restored locomotives, a former mayor, some US Postal Service history, the tiny little train depot that could, and so. much. kudzu. For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever yo...

It's the listener request episode! I've been encouraging listeners to submit local history questions these past few months, and in today's show I'm answering some of them. We'll be talking about a watercress salad themed party, an eccentric man's basement, road rage on Memorial Parkway (the autobahn of Huntsville), historic barns, and more! For more Huntsville, Alabama, his...

Downtown Huntsville has been home to numerous buildings over the years, including four courthouses in the middle of the square. From gilded eagles to Greek temples to wild animals on the square to the ultimate space-race era modernism, join me on a journey through the drama and design choices of the courthouses of Madison County, Alabama. For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe whe...

In episode 12, I talked about Virginia McCormick's impact on the Huntsville community for the first three decades of the 1900s, but what I didn't get to discuss as much was her music.  Listening to, playing, and apparently writing music were hobbies of hers, as well as a part of her mental health treatment.  In this barely-an-episode-and-mostly-just-a-song, I'm sharing a sea shanty writt...

She was an heiress, but her best known parties were open to some of the poorest citizens in town.  She was declared legally unable to manage her own interests and finances, but she was a renowned musician, respected community member, and well-loved friend to many.  Local legend calls her a recluse, but she was a frequent attendee to events she hosted.  She only lived in town for a f...

Though the city changed hands multiple times during the Civil War, there was no "battle" for Huntsville.  In April of 1862, American forces were able to walk right into town and take control, but how?  In today's mini-episode, we're talking Civil War diaries, Morse code, the importance of trains, and how one woman's actions impacted an entire town.  For more Huntsville, Alabama, his...

The Lily Flagg's Signal Preserving Huntsville History series is a collection of interviews with local historians, preservationists, storytellers, and other experts passionate about saving and sharing the history of Huntsville, Alabama.  In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking with Reagan Grimsley, Head of Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives at the University of Alaba...

In honor of the last month of the Huntsville Times's print editions, join me on a journey through the early 1900s newspaper business, a bizarre stone "wedding cake" style house, and Jacob Emory Pierce, the founder of the Times and the root of an impressive number of local legends, scandals, and court cases. NOTE: I found a new source and thus more insight into Pierce's potential pettiness after pu...

What started as my quest to bust a local myth led to an even more interesting story of outlaws, betrayal, and a so-called "trial of the century" that could rival any episode of Perry Mason.  In this episode, we're going on an adventure through a Muscle Shoals robbery, an often-overshadowed sibling named Frank, newspapers fawning over a gang member's eye color, and the closest to "true crime p...

There's no mode of transportation that brings up feelings of nostalgia quite like street cars, and good news: Huntsville had its own electric street car system for over three decades!  Hop on for a ride through local rail history, overly optimistic news articles, and one of the coolest parties the city has ever hosted. For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscribe wherever you get y...

In this episode, part two on Huntsville's mill villages, we'll be talking about the big shots (a.k.a. the guys who got streets names after them) who started the many mills in town, as well as the day-to-day lives of people who worked in these facilities and lived in the surrounding villages.  Join me in this season finale as I talk about lots of rich people from Massachusetts, fancy toilets,...

There's a lot to talk about regarding the history of Huntsville's mills.  So much, in fact, that this will be a multi-part series!  Here in part one, I'll be talking about mill life in the early 1900s, including how images of children working at Merrimack and Dallas Mills were part of a national campaign to improve child labor laws.  There will also be fun facts about antique batter...

A storm damaged spire creatively repaired, church bells missing due to miscommunications, Civil War legends about horses, a building relocated brick by brick across town, explanations behind lots of historical designations, and more await in the story of downtown Huntsville’s only National Historic Landmark: the Episcopal Church of the Nativity. For more Huntsville, Alabama, history you can subscr...

You had to know it was coming: an episode about the era when the Rocket City started making rockets. Rather than a same-old discussion on who designed and flew the rockets, I instead wanted to focus on how the space race changed Huntsville as a city and some of the "by-products" of the population (and rocket) booms.  Join me for a discussion of archaeology, architecture, awful traffic, an att...

What combined the rapid-fire news blurbs of Twitter, the advertising-disguised-as-commentary of Instagram influencers, the political-leaning news of that link your conspiracy-theorist-uncle just sent you, the social updates on people you don’t know of Facebook, the sensationalized murder stories of a true-crime podcast, and the urgent sounding yet dubiously scientific healthcare advertisements of,...

Signal's Lily Flagg: she set a world record in Huntsville in 1892. She had elaborate parties thrown here in her honor but was invited to neither. She was disqualified from a competition at the Chicago World's Fair for being too good at what she does. She had multiple streets, businesses, a podcast, and a neighborhood named for her.  Oh, and she was a Jersey cow. For more Huntsville, Alabam...

The Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll is one of my favorite reenactment events, as it's a time that thousands of Huntsville residents come out to see local historical figures "come alive".  As one of the sixty or so costumed character actors at this year's stroll, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about my character - Mrs. Bessie K. Russell - and walk you through a day at the stroll. F...

The Lily Flagg's Signal Preserving Huntsville History series is a collection of interviews with local historians, preservationists, storytellers, and other experts passionate about saving and sharing the history of Huntsville, Alabama.  In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking with Heather Adkins,  Manager of Special Collections at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (HMCP...

Who was Huntsville's first mayor?  When I looked online, everywhere I found said the leader from 1812 to 1816 was "unknown," and that just wouldn't do.  The search for the answer to this seemingly simple question lead me down a rabbit hole of historical figures, terminology (was it "president" or "mayor"?), and eventually to the discovery that the internet and other modern writings are s...

I knew an older fellow who once used the phrase “looks like the southbound end of a northbound horse” to describe things that were just a little bit... off in appearance. Horses are one thing, but what about houses? What if your house was supposed to face south, but the person in charge of building it had no idea how to read the blueprints and ended up having the house built facing north? Then wha...