This Old House

One of my favorite assignments this month was the moving, literally, of the old Jones General Store, which was also the Jones family home, in Smiths Station on Jan. 8th. Physically relocating a house isn't all that uncommon, although we don't see it every day, so it's interesting. It's interesting to watch these guys troubleshoot the obstacles that pop up every inch of the way.

And the story of the house was cool, too. It belonged to G.W. (George) Jones, the grandfather of J.D. Enoch, 70, of Smiths. George and his wife Maggie built it in 1910, and J.D. remembers "practically being raised in it as a teenager". It became the family business with the general dry goods store. His grandpa also farmed. Enoch's father had his veterinarian's office there for more than 20 years, then his uncle lived there. It has stood empty for about a year and a half. The Lee County School District has purchased the land under the old house as the site for the new Smiths Station High School. So the Jones General Store had to go.

But instead of demolishing the building, the school district and the contractors gave the old house to J.D. "If I'd seen this house demolished, I'd have regretted it till the day I died," he said. Enoch walked around in the mud as the moving crew waited for the utility crews to do their thing. They lowered some lines, and shut off others so two men - one each in a bucket-truck on either side of the house - could hold high a line and flip it up and over the peaks of the roof as it crept onto the road. Some trick.

Moving the 2,500-square foot structure and laying a new foundation cost more than $50,000, plus the cost of moving the utility lines and who knows what else. It was moved all of about 1,500 feet to land that J.D.'s mother owns according to I.L. Davis movers from Salem, Al.

1,500 FEET!!! That's just one big u-turn!! Yes, one big u-turn -- onto Old Opelika Road, roll a few hundred feet and make a left turn, cross the tracks, take another left turn, creep along a few hundred feet, turn right onto a patch of his mother's land where an outline of the house had been cleared, measured and prepared for the foundation. It took about three hours.

Smiths resident Jack Cook sat in the bed of his pickup and watched. "I grew up around here," he said. "I'm glad somebody's gonna save it. Seems like every time you turn around, they're trying to tear something down." One of the wonderful things about a small town. J.D. gets to keep the family home.

328 days until Christmas,
Robin