POWERGRAMS

In 2018, newcomers Kurt and Leigh Pfitzner bought a 2-acre undeveloped lot that was once occupied by Creek Indians but now is part of downtown. With the help of locals, they've built a large pavilion and plant berms, cleaned the creek that runs through it and named it all Pennington Park, after a longtime local schoolteacher. "Our hope is that Pennington Park will add to the continued revitalization of Dadeville's historic district," he says. Creation Plantation has been a fun playground for children since the 1990s. Keebler Park next door, however, was undergoing "kind of an identity crisis" three years ago when Dianna Porter took matters into her hands. She along with Dadeville High School students and community volunteers, began sprucing up the grounds around the half-mile asphalt track, pavilion and picnic tables. Experts from Auburn University and the National Park Service made recommendations local folks have followed. So far, more than 60 tree varieties have been identified and 30 of them marked with informational tablets. An azalea trail has been started. Rain gardens to halt erosion have been erected. Park wildlife enhancements have been made. A butterfly statue by artist Nicos was donated and placed. Art in the Park exhibits of local artists are happening. And last April, more than 500 people attended Earth Day ceremonies. "That kind of tells you it's a healthy environment now," Porter says as a chipmunk runs from a brush pile gathered by students. "We're trying to improve the park while not doing too much to its natural state." Tallapoosa County was created on Dec. 18, 1832, from pieces of the Creek Indians' Okfuskee Trail. Soon afterward, gold prospectors infiltrated the hill country, opening at least 35 mines, with three of them just outside current Dadeville. Exploits of some miners are recalled in Peggy Jackson Wall's "Alabama Gold, A History of the South's Last Mother Lode." The Dadeville First Baptist Church has been holding Sunday services for 182 years, replacing its first sanctuary, which was destroyed by fire in 1910, with the current building on South Tallassee Street. The original bell saved from the blaze can be rung from atop a brick pedestal in front of the white-steepled structure. The local Grafenberg Medical Institute was the first to train physicians in Alabama but closed after a decade when its founder died in 1861. Today, Lake Martin Community Hospital, with 46 beds and 26 physician specialties, has about 200 employees. For 22 years, Dadeville had its own Coca-Cola bottler, which supplied not only all of the county stores but sent more than 300 cases a day of 6.5-ounce bottles to the thirsty men building Martin Dam between 1923 and 1926. Dadeville had a Carnation Milk plant for nearly 20 years, producing powdered milk during World War II, and then cheese, until the business closed in 1961. Jobs lost to cotton mill and other factory closings through the years have been made up through new car parts plants, such as Kwang Sung and Sejin American, with about 300 workers each. The Sprinturf plant has about 100 workers manufacturing artificial playing surfaces that have been installed across the nation, including at UNLV, St. Johns and, in Alabama, at Hoover, McGill-Toolen and Sylacauga high schools. DADEVILLE DADEVILLE 24 24 It's off-season at Alabama Power's D.A.R.E. Power Park but the lakeside beach will be ready for visitors when the weather gets warmer. Part of the climb up to Smith Mountain's fire tower.

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