By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
The “crowd” at Canoe Civic Center on Saturday morning, June 21, didn’t take up much room. But the wealth of history and genealogy shared by those who were present more than filled every corner of the cinderblock meeting facility.
Kevin McKinley, who serves as the community’s unofficial spokesman and has authored several books on its history, was joined by the Rev. Edna Dixon of Bay Minette, her son Tommy Kirksey of Pensacola, and Darryl Peebles of Stoney Creek, N.C.
Though they came from diverse hometowns, each was either born in or around Canoe, lived there most of his or her early life, or are descendants of some of Canoe’s earliest settlers.
McKinley explained that Canoe’s history is a bit of a tangled web, that the only thing that has remained constant was that almost everything has changed.
“Ten years or so ago, I got hold of a map that the University of Alabama did and the Sanborn Map Company distributed in the 1920s,” he explained. “It was basically a fire-insurance map, so only brick buildings were shown, since they were less likely to burn. All the streets on it had different names than they do now.”
Peebles, who is conducting research for a book he plans to publish soon, talked about the Flood of 1929, noting that his grandfather, Calvin Abner Peebles, contracted pneumonia and died on March 15, the last day of the flood, at age 34. Darryl’s father, Randolph Calvin Peebles, was 9 years old at the time.
Rev. Dixon shook the leaves of several Canoe family trees, and Kirksey recalled when he rode his bicycle from Canoe to Bratt, Fla. to attend school each day. When the State of Florida outlawed out-of-state students, Kirksey’s family discovered they owned property that was only 16 inches outside the Florida line.
“He bought the property, we put up a mailbox, and all of a sudden, we were in Florida,” Kirksey laughed.
Canoe Civic Center contains several reference works, including the multi-volume “War of the Rebellion,” on loan from Admiral Semmes Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) Camp in Mobile. There is also a wall-length bulletin board covered with photographs of former and current residents.
The counter and boxes from the original Canoe post office fill about half a wall, and the last letter postmarked before the local post office closed is on display, as is the last U.S. flag to fly over the facility.
Several other impressive slices of history also adorn the walls, including a display of several dozen bullet shells left behind by Yankee troops who marched through the community.
McKinley explained that not one of the bullets was fired in anger, nor were they tossed carelessly away.
“The Northern Army camped out here (probably on the way to Mobile), and we had just had a flood,” he said. “All the wood was wet, and the pine lighter was soaked, so they emptied the powder out of their bullets to start campfires.”
As the four swapped stories, Vicki Taber, Lena Sexton, Linda Sullivan and Sondra McKinley worked steadily in the background to get ready for the community’s annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser, which was to take place that night.
The history-genealogy session lasted from 9 a.m. until noon, and McKinley said he is considering making such meetings a regular thing at the facility, which currently serves as a polling place and hosts Canoe Civic Club events, a Christmas get-together, and regular meetings of the SCV’s William Carney Camp.
“We might try it once a month, from 9 to 12, and see how it works,” he said. “There’s a lot of history here, and a lot of research material.”