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An Editorial Opinion of The Greenville Advocate

The Alabama Historical Commission added a Butler County venue to its Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in November. The Georgiana Opry House joined the ranks of places commemorated for their part in our state’s history on Nov. 19, 2024, becoming another one of the many area landmarks regarded as important in the legacy of our local communities and across Alabama.

The “GA-ANA” Opry House, formerly the Georgiana Theatre hosted a 16-year-old, then little-known, Hank Williams, Sr. just eight months after its opening. Its long legacy of fostering young musical talent is one of the many reasons the Opry House was named one of the 38 Butler County venues on the state register.

Lowndes County boasts 24 historic landmarks on the statewide register. Among them are churches, like Old Hayneville Baptist Church, places of education, like Lowndesboro (Colored) School, and civil rights movement campsites — the Rosie Steele Complex and the Bill and Roberta Gardner Farm Complex. The newest, the Viola Liuzzo Memorial Site in Lowndesboro, was added in March 2023 to honor a woman who gave her life so others could enjoy the right to vote.

Ten Crenshaw County sites have gained the honor of a place on the landmarks register. Among them are bastions of education across the county: the Crenshaw County Training School in Luverne, the Ivy Creek School in Rutledge and the Mulberry School House in Brantley.

Rich in history, with a long legacy of breaking glass ceilings in the realm of education, faith and equality, local landmarks represent the people who built them, worked in them and served their neighbors through them.

We applaud the community members who work tirelessly to preserve and commemorate our landmarks, and who, by doing so, keep alive the spirit of those who labored to build our cities and towns.