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tThrough The Looking GlassBy Marget Jean Joneslived to see the industry he pioneered become one of Cullman County’s big cashMay is synonomous with strawberries. And little green onions and turnip greens and English peas and roses and honeysuckle and birdsong and all sorts of delights that make one glad he's alive.But May is especially synonomous with strawberries. Or maybe it is the other way around. Either way, and regardless of whatever one’s reactions to the merry month’s other pleasantries, nobody is ever heard to quarrel with Izaack Walton’s assertion that “Doubtless God could have made a better berry lt;than the strawberry) but doubtless God never did.”Despite all the tempting recipes created in honor of this luscious berry none cancompare with fresh strawberries and whippedcream. One thing is sure: Strawberry time ain’t no time to worry about calories and cholesterol.According to an article in the old Cullman Democrat, a predecessor to the TIMES, Cullman Countians are indebted to Mr. P.H. Kessler, one of Cullman’s early settlers, for introducing the strawberry culture to this area way back in 1880 when he brought the first plants from Newport, Kentucky.Mr. Kessler was also the first to grow strawberries commercially, shipping them as far away as Louisville and Cincinnati. The price ranged from twelve to thirty cents a tray which held the equivalent of the present day crate.It is said that some of Mr. Kessler’s berries were so large it required only nine berries to fill a quart. He and his family and hired hands picked as many as 300 crates per day, working from dawn til dusk seven days a week during the strawberry sea son.Mr. Kessler, whose descendants still live in Cullman, died in 1930, but hecrops. In 1905, Cullman held its first strawberry jubilee and in 1939, the county which has become famous for the production of the delicious red berry held its first Strawberry Festival, complete with a parade featuring more than fifty floats, a fiddlers’ contest, crowning of a queen and climaxed with a street dance.The Festival was an annual event until 1950. With the exception of the war ye»rs when activities were somewhat curtailed, the festival was an elaborate and popular event attended by many thousands each year.Since a day in town was still rare enough to be a special event within itself, the Festival provided a double treat for many farm children, myself included, who can still recall the fun and excitement and wonder of it all.The Festivals are only a memory but the Fame of Cullman County strawberries remains as they continue to be a big cash crop for some farmers.
Newspaper Details
Cullman Times Democrat
Cullman, Alabama, US
Sun, May 10, 1970
Page 19
Full Page
Clipped by
Sharon T.
USA 11 Apr 2018
Other Publications Near Cullman, Alabama
Cullman Times
Cullman Modernistic Times
Cullman Mountain City Gazette
Cullman Alabama Tribune
Cullman Southern Immigrant
