Jackson County AlArchives History .....The House Of Happiness, Scottsboro, Alabama ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elhura Kenady Smith elhura@scottsboro.org March 6, 2010, 10:17 pm HOUSE OF HAPPINESS Scottsboro, AL A summary by Elhura (Ellie) Kenady Smith The House of Happiness was founded in 1923 in Scottsboro, AL as a mission of the Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Alabama. Its purpose was to provide medical, educational, material assistance and religious instruction to impoverished families of the highland area of North Alabama. Children and their needs were a primary focus. Temporary residential care was given to a number of children needing such care. The House of Happiness received its name shortly after inception when a young girl named Rosa pronounced on her first night there that this was “shore a happy house”. In 1923, Augusta B. Martin came from Montgomery to explore area needs and to set up an early mission that would serve the area until 1953. Miss Martin stayed for several years and in 1925 saw the program move from a house in Scottsboro to a small shack nine miles west of town in Sauta Bottom. The original purchase of 160 acres included the shack, a barn and an occupied tenant house that was later to become a school and a church. In time, a large and more permanent log home was built just beyond the shack up the side of July Mountain. Birdsong Spring at the foot of the mountain supplied water by virtue of bucket and pulley to the house 200 feet above. The work of the mission was vast and encompassed meeting basic needs of many impoverished families, offering a kindergarten and other schooling opportunities for children and adults, providing an Episcopal chapel for Sunday afternoon services, and even acting at times as an early child welfare intervention program. At such times, Miss Martin worked with resources across the state to locate permanent homes for House of Happiness children. In one of her last reports she stated that one hundred thirty children had been cared for at one time or the other at the House of Happiness. Miss Martin was a tireless worker and teacher, intrepid in her search of and service to those in need, often arising in the middle of the night to respond to some sickness or other emergency need. Families assisted were not only from Sauta Bottom, but often came from many miles away. Dr. Hugh Boyd, a Scottsboro physician, was well known in the area and provided medical services to the families coming to Miss Martin’s attention. Throughout its history numerous workers and volunteers were recruited to carry out the work of the House of Happiness. Many came from afar while, after warming to the program, youth and adults from Sauta Bottom pitched in to help in various ways. Community men harvested logs from the property for construction of the large, one and one-half story log edifice that was to become the permanent House of Happiness structure. Donations of food, clothing, shoes, bedding, other necessities and financial support were received from across the diocese and from as far away as New York City. A piano for the school was sent by a lady from Demopolis, AL. The House of Happiness farm provided some provisions. Barter and sharing within the community was a common way of life. Although free to anyone in need, a stick of firewood or exchange of labor would yield a voucher with which a family could purchase clothing or other items available at the House of Happiness. Miss Martin remained at the House of Happiness until approximately 1933 when health necessitated her permanent departure. Miss Nellie Barnwell of Mississippi who had worked at previous times with Miss Martin had returned to Scottsboro and served as acting director while hoping for Miss Martin’s return. Miss Barnwell was named Director in December, 1934. In the summer of 1934, Captain Charles Leslie Conder of the Church Army, an evangelical arm of the Episcopal Church, came to assist with religious outreach. He became Director in January, 1936, at which time the work of the House of Happiness became that of the men of the Church Army. Captain Conder and wife, Mary, were followed by Captains Moss, Kast, Thomas, Austin and Wheat. Under the Church Army the House of Happiness no longer provided residential care but continued to provide a viable social service and community program until 1953. Miss Martin died in Montgomery, AL in 1964. Miss Nettie Barnwell went on to serve a mission in North Carolina and died in Mississippi in 1971. During its thirty years of existence, the House of Happiness property came to encompass the barn, a small farm house at Birdsong Spring, the community church/school building, and a privately-owned community cemetery. Refinements had been made to the original log structure and an enclosed sun porch, compliments of a donor, and a worker’s addition had been been added to the main dwelling. Early in her tenure, Miss Martin had been asked by the Board of Education to teach at the nearby McCutchen School. She later persuaded the Board of Education to provide for a teacher at the House of Happiness School, or Happy Hollow School as it came to be called. An addition was made to the rear of the original tenant house for school and church purposes. The school continued to operate under the auspices of the County Board of Education until about 1939 when roads improved and children could travel to larger area schools. In its peak year of 1931-32, Miss Martin reported Happy Hollow School to have an enrollment of 127. In later years, the House of Happiness became not only a resource for families in need, but a beloved community center, providing a place of social interaction for the many youth of Sauta Bottom. Friday night socials were for many years a common part of community life. In a 1938 report, Captain Conder spoke of Sauta Bottom. At that time there were eighty families living in the area of which eighteen owned their farms. Another thirty-one were tenant farmers and thirty-one were day laborers. In 1938 there were seven automobiles, five radios and two telephones in Sauta Bottom. Around 1953, when the Church felt its mission to the area was complete, the property was sold to a neighbor, Thurmond Richie, who had purchased the first forty of the original one hundred sixty acres in 1951. A later owner was Beatrice Smith Abercrombie Callahan, a community girl who attended the House of Happiness School and later became a teacher in Birmingham. Upon her acquisition, the farm and buildings became rental property. The house and barn burned in separate accidental fires in the 1960’s. As of 2010, Smith heirs retain ownership of the original property, including Birdsong Spring, the House of Happiness Cemetery, and an additional five acres just below the school that was purchased from the County Board of Education. Sources: The House of Happiness Story, Compiled and written by Campbell Long, Selma Printing Service, 1973; Records on file at the Scottsboro-Jackson Heritage Center, 208 S. Houston Street, Scottsboro, AL; and Smith family knowledge. Additional Comments: Photos of the House of Happiness can be found under US Gen Web Photographs for Jackson County. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/jackson/history/other/houseofh339gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 7.6 Kb