Sunday, October 12, 2008

Carla Waldrep to portray “Aunt Jenny” at Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club Meeting


Louisa Elisabeth Jane Bates, better known simply as “Aunt Jenny” was an important early resident of the Bankhead National Forest area. Carla Waldrep will portray the life of the Cherokee Mountain Woman at the November 4th meeting of the Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club. Aunt Jenny was born in 1826 and lived to be 98 years old. She raised many children, served as a midwife, and was considered to be a medicine woman or herb doctor. Her husband and oldest son were killed in attacks during the Civil War, and this lead to a sequence of events that ended with the deaths of many of her children. Carla Waldrep is the Librarian of the Haleyville Public Library and a member of the Haleyville Historic Society. Her presentation will be part of the Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club meeting in the Bernice Hilton Walker Building in Double Springs on Tuesday, November 4th at 7:00 p.m. The program is free, and members of the public are welcome.