POWERGRAMS

Broadnax and East Lafayette for 39 years, while Renfroe's Market has been providing local groceries since 2008 near U.S. Highway 280. New businesses downtown inside old businesses include The Tiny Rabbit, in the former Bank of Dadeville building, and the upcycle boutique Sweet Pickins. Pearson's Place Flowers' owner Donna McCain opted to keep the former business name when she moved her new one into a pharmacy building. "I'm not ever changing that name because everyone knows sweet Mr. Pearson," McCain says while minding her popular boutique that also sells jams, jellies and cakes from nearby New Water Farms. In 2006, Alabama Heritage magazine named the Lewis Young "Red Roof" House built in 1900 as one of six Places in Peril statewide. Capped by a "witch's hat" corner turret and high roof punctuated by gables and dormers, the historic house is finally being restored. Eleven plastic sign letters of the old Ben Franklin store on Broadnax Street now reside along the back wall of the Tallapoosee Historical Museum. That building was donated by the Bank of Dadeville, while the society purchased the adjoining building. On this day, 14 members of the Lake Martin Dulcimer Club are practicing, seated among museum exhibits. "What I like about this museum is that when people bring things in, the items are catalogued, noting how it was used, who used it, where it came from. Things aren't just randomly collected," says Dean Bonner, a volunteer who authored "I Talk Slower Than I Think," among other books and articles. Bonner says his great-grandfather helped build Martin Dam. The museum is packed with relics dating back to the native Indians, the latter pioneers who settled the area and the people and things that have shaped the county. Military memorabilia honor the 158 local soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in wars leading up to the modern era. One display marks the March 20, 1945, crash of a B-25 into Lake Martin just outside Dadeville that killed the three military occupants. Among many local books are those by Johnson Jones Hooper, who authored the 1858 best-seller "Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels" and lived in the Dennis Hotel before it was demolished. "Mark Twain was a fan of Hooper," Bonner says. "Twain used Hooper's writings, with permission, for a scene in 'Huckleberry Finn.'" Many of the old mansions and historic homes around the square have been converted into law offices, such as for the Oliver and Treadwell firm. Attorney Faye Edmondson has offices in a restored building on North Tallassee Street. Last year, the former Ginkgo Manor was reopened as The Mitchell House on Lake Martin, with the tall-columned, two-story mansion open for weddings, parties and civic events. Bob's Fine Food occupies a former corner gas station across from First United Methodist Church. Lake Martin is enticing out-of-state visitors. 23 The Mitchell House

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