Alabama Health Guidance / Cullman

01/20/2026

01/15/2026

Mulberry River. The State of Alabama has one of the most extensive river systems of any other state in the union. Within its borders, Alabama has more navigable stream miles than any other state in the union. Some of these rivers have familiar names such as the Alabama, Tennessee, Coosa, and the Black Warrior.

The river system serving as the border between Cullman and Blount counties is one of two primary branches of the Black Warrior River. One is called the Locust Fork Branch. The other is called the Mulberry Branch. Very few people, however, know how the Mulberry Branch got its name.

It had to do with a man named Joseph Monroe Goffe. Joe was born in Connecticut in 1798. He and his brother George moved to the thriving young town of Tuscaloosa, which in 1826 was the state capitol of Alabama.

Joe became interested in the potential of developing the famous Blount Springs into a spa and resort. He obtained the property in the early 1830s. He established a sawmill and gristmill and used the lumber to construct an elegant three-story colonial-type inn with 40 rooms. It became known as the Goffe House. By 1835, Joe was the postmaster of Blount Springs.

Goffe did well at Blount Springs until the financial Panic of 1837. Unsound national banking practices prompted a financial Depression which lasted several seasons. Creditors came calling and Goffe panicked. He initiated a series of complicated financial maneuvers to protect his property at Blount Springs. Then he disappeared.

It was rumored Goffe took about $10,000 worth of personal property and ten slaves and fled to Texas. Joe apparently died out west in the early 1840s. It took ten more years and intervention by the Alabama Supreme Court to settle his estate.

So, what did Joe Goffe have to do with naming the river? It had to do with worms.

While he was developing his Blount Springs property, he set aside 30 acres and planted it in mulberry trees. Next, he erected a 100 foot by 28 foot building with special shelving.

The idea was raise silkworm larvae whose favorite meal is mulberry leaves. Goffe planned a textile manufacturing enterprise with worms as the primary contributor.

Well, nothing really came of the silk industry at Blount Springs, but the name stuck. The branch of the mighty Warrior River serving as Cullman’s southern border might have been named the Worm Branch of the Black Warrior River.

But as it turns out, the Mulberry Branch has a better ring to it.

From Robin Sterling

01/11/2026

Cullman’s iconic white four-story building has carried more than a century of stories. It was dedicated on April 15, 1910 as the Alabama Odd Fellows Home, created to care for orphaned children and elderly members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. By 1923, the home was caring for 97 children and working 200 acres of farmland, becoming a place of stability for many who lived there.

When the Great Depression hit, the home struggled to survive. It closed in 1937 and the furnishings were sold the following year. For a time, the property sat abandoned and quiet until 1948, when a group of Christians purchased it and created what we know today as Childhaven. The mission of helping children continued on the very same grounds where it first began.

In 1964, the building faced another heartbreak when a fire destroyed the top floor. Firefighters from several cities worked through the night to contain the flames. The lower floors were saved by the concrete structure, and all of the children were safely evacuated. Temporary lodging was quickly arranged so the kids could stay together while the damage was assessed.

Today, the original Odd Fellows building still stands at the center of the Childhaven campus. It is surrounded by cottages and facilities dedicated to caring for children, allowing the spirit of compassion and protection that started more than a century ago to live on.

01/05/2026

At the dawn of the 20th century, American roads looked very different, with steam and electric vehicles competing head-to-head against gasoline cars.

Electric cars were popular in cities because they were quiet, clean, and easy to operate, while steam vehicles were powerful and well-suited for rough roads.

Gasoline engines initially lagged due to noise, hand-cranking, and unreliable fueling, but rapid improvements soon changed their fortunes.

The invention of the electric starter, mass production, and expanding oil infrastructure helped gasoline cars dominate by the 1920s.

Today’s EV resurgence echoes this forgotten history, showing that automotive “revolutions” often circle back to earlier ideas.

01/05/2026

"The Apache are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño and Janero), Salinero, Plains (Kataka or Semat or ""Kiowa-Apache"") and Western Apache (Aravaipa, Pinaleño, Coyotero, Tonto). Distant cousins of the Apache are the Navajo, with whom they share the Southern Athabaskan languages. There are Apache communities in Oklahoma and Texas, and reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. Apache people have moved throughout the United States and elsewhere, including urban centers. The Apache Nations are politically autonomous, speak several different languages, and have distinct cultures.Historically, the Apache homelands have consisted of high mountains, sheltered and watered valleys, deep canyons, deserts, and the southern Great Plains, including areas in what is now Eastern Arizona, Northern Mexico (Sonora and Chihuahua) and New Mexico, West Texas, and Southern Colorado. These areas are collectively known as Apacheria.The Apache tribes fought the invading Spanish and Mexican peoples for centuries. The first Apache raids on Sonora appear to have taken place during the late 17th century. In 19th-century confrontations during the American-Indian wars, the U.S. Army found the Apache to be fierce warriors and skillful strategists...
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12/26/2025

12/15/2025

12/15/2025

12/15/2025

Happy Birthday, Alabama, the GREATEST STATE in the country.

12/10/2025