POWERGRAMS

The confluence of Broad Street and Eufaula Avenue is a gathering point for many of the tens of thousands of visitors who arrive and tour the hundreds of stately homes and buildings that have been preserved or renovated to their appearances of the 1800s. Soon after the Chattahoochee began storing behind Walter F. George Dam in 1963, the Eufaula Pilgrimage was organized to take full economic advantage of towering Kendall Manor, elegant "Eufoura," showcase Shorter Mansion and others. Eufaula is now as much known for its annual April house tour as for its colossal pond. Yet, tourism diversity is looming for the self-described "Bass Capital of the World." "Eufaula has always been known for its beautiful historic throughway; it's been kind of our bread and butter," says Eufaula Barbour County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sallie Garrison, whose office at the James Clark Center is in a restored 1890s railroad depot. "The big wave of the future is the outdoors recreation movement." Just across the street from Garrison's office is the beginning of the Yoholo Micco Trail, a 3.5-mile, 8-foot-wide stretch of pavement with periodic fitness stations, benches and picnic tables for walkers, runners, skaters and bikers. The path named for Creek Chief Eufaula passes by a waterfall and over a railroad trestle spanning Lake Eufaula before ending at the expansive Old Creek Town Park and newly renovated Playground of Dreams, which was built with support from Alabama Power. Eagles, hawks and waterfowl are frequent visitors along this Wiregrass segment of the Alabama Birding Trails. Multiple fishing tournaments each month on the 46,000-acre lake have for many years reeled in tourist cash but are now being supplemented by kayak paddling and fishing events, as well as visitors on all-terrain vehicles riding and hunting in the woods and along the shorelines. "All of those fall completely in line with millennials and the outdoors direction of recreation in Eufaula," says Garrison, an Atlanta native who married and moved to Eufaula in 1994 and has raised with her husband, Ben, eighth-generation Eufaula children. Eufaula today has a population of about 12,000 and in recent years has been named among the 100 best places to retire in America; as one of Eight Fantastic Low-Tax Towns in the U.S.; and as one of 20 "Southern Dream Towns" by Garden & Gun magazine. The city boundary has moved in all directions to bring in new shops and hotels. Eufaula has a respected hospital and medical community. Its airport averages five to eight flights per day. Twice in the past five years, Eufaula High School has been selected among the top 100 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. And then there's what Garrison sees as the clincher: "People who come through here just love that Southern charm." Shorter Mansion A Florida woman walks with her grandson down the stairs of Shorter Mansion, noting to no one in particular: "We could spend all day up there." Were it not for a curious occurrence nearly 60 years ago, she and about 21,000 other people each year might not have had the opportunity to look through the upstairs museum devoted to six Alabama governors, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other famous sons and daughters of Barbour County. Across the road from Eufaula's most imposing house stands a nondescript brick apartment complex. Its rising from the ruins of a previously impressive mansion propelled local people to form the Eufaula Heritage Association (EHA) and buy Shorter Mansion for $33,000 in 1965. "The people who said tourists would only come for a week or two have been proven wrong," says Pam Snead of the million or so visitors who have since paid to admire the two-story white structure that is headquarters for the EHA, of which she has been executive director for a decade. It's hard for visitors to miss the 8,700-square-foot house on North Eufaula Avenue, with its 17 tall Corinthian columns supporting the roof. "So often, I'm the first person to greet someone coming into town," she says. "We're fortunate where we are located." Built in 1883 two blocks west of the river, the original one- story structure was bought by cotton broker Eli Shorter. He married an heiress to the S.S.S. Tonic fortune and together they spent five years and a fortune making it into what visitors tour today for $5 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The 16-foot-high entrance hall with EUFAULA Shorter Mansion is Pilgrimage headquarters. 29

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