Free State of Winston

Based on a lifetime of researching and writing about their home county of Winston, the husband and wife team of Don and Amy Dodd have crafted a unique pictorial retrospective that conveys a serene sense of what it was like to grow up in the hills of Winston. Outlining the highlights of this Appalachian county's history, from its opposition to the Confederacy to its slow evolution from its rustic, rural roots of the mid-nineteenth century, two hundred photographs illustrate a century of hill country culture. A sparsely settled, isolated county of small farms with uncultivated, forested land, most of Winston County was out of the mainstream of
Southern life for much of its history. The creation of the Bankhead National Forest preserved almost 200,000 acres of forested land, primarily in Winston, to perpetuate this "stranded frontier" into the post-World War II era. The story setting is scenic--fast-flowing creeks, waterfalls, bluffs, caves, natural bridges, and dense forests--and the
characters match the stage--individualistic, rugged pioneers, more than a thousand mentioned by name within these pages. Winston has long resisted change, has held fast to traditional values, and, as seen in this treasured volume, is a place as unique as any other in America.

Don Dodd is Professor Emeritus of History at Auburn University at Montgomery and currently serves as the curator of the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham. Amy Bartlett-Dodd earned her doctorate in education at the University of Alabama and is an artist and a writer. Both Amy and Don graduated from Winston County High School in Double Springs, and they maintain a second home at Poplar Springs in south central Winston County. The Dodds are the authors of Images of America: Deep South Aviation.