The ghost of Aunt Pokey still takes care of this home

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Greenwood, at the junction of the Old Anniston-Gadsden Road and County Road 25 is the oldest structure of Greek Revival (Georgian) in Calhoun County. Remarkably, the beautiful house remained in the same family for six generations. Jacob Ross Green started the home around 1842 and probably completed it by 1850.

Jacob Ross Green was born about 1810 in South Carolina, a son of Jacob and Fannie Acre Green. He moved with his family to St. Clair County, Alabama about 1820. Green’s father patented many acres of land in the area and later operated a steamship on the Coosa River that transported cotton to Wetumpka. “Green’s Ferry was chartered by an act of the legislature to transmit mail across the Coosa River with Jacob Green as the bonded ferryman. The place became known as Greensport .”¹

Jacob Ross Green married Elizabeth Boyd, the daughter of Judge Samuel Boyd on 3 February 1831, and began acquiring land in the “newly established county of Benton which bordered St. Clair County on the east.”

He purchased and patented land in what is now called the Alexandria Valley in Calhoun County, Alabama. Green built his home on the tract he bought from O. E. Burt and became a successful planter of some wealth.²

He married Nancy Elizabeth Draper and lived in Greenwood with his family until his death in March of 1913. “The census named five of his children, one of whom was Samuel Lafayette Green³ the next owner of Greenwood.”⁴

S. L. Green’s son, S. L. Green, Jr. was the next owner.

Samuel L. Green, Jr’s sister Caroline Elizabeth “Carrie” Green was born 31 May 1870. She married Norris Woodruff on November 21, 1892, and they had two children. Carrie died 24 February 1898. On March 1916, S. L. Green, Jr. sold Greenwood to Norris Woodruff, who later became a wealthy farmer Woodruff married again and had two more children, Vaughn and Mercer.

After Norris Woodruff’s death in 1939, his son Wallace Green Woodruff bought Greenwood from his brothers and sister.

Wallace Green and his wife Ruth Woodruff had five children and lived at Greenwood for 23 years. At his death in 1963, his will left all his property to his wife. Ruth Woodruff. She deeded Greenwood to her son, Wallace Green Woodruff, Jr. on 13 March 1964.

Wallace Green Woodruff, Jr. and his wife Virginia Parks of Sylacauga, Alabama represented the sixth generation of lineal descent of Jacob Ross Green.

The current owner of the home is Dr. Mac Gillam.

“No stately home is complete without her ghost and the reputed spectre of Greenwood is a long-dead nanny named Miss Pokey. Though she was never a proprietor of the place, she has been a formidable resident of the household for many years. “⁵ Miss Pokey reportedly can be heard walking around and slamming doors. She died while sitting at the bottom of the house’s staircase in the 1920s.

In 2017, a ceremony was held to unveil a historic marker placed on the grounds of this beautiful over 175 year restored home. See photographs from the event and the restoration at:https://www.annistonstar.com/slideshows/greenwood-commemorative-ceremony/collection_5f624090-ac6e-11e7-ae1d-976c89b2ae83.html#3

1https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/471f636b-0e65-412a-9c37-9d9efad36389

2https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/471f636b-0e65-412a-9c37-9d9efad36389

3https://www.geni.com/people/Jacob-Green/6000000004328488253

4https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/471f636b-0e65-412a-9c37-9d9efad36389

5https://ahc.alabama.gov/Alabama%20Register%20Properties/Calhoun%20County/AL.CalhounCounty.GreenwoodOCR.pdf

Tapestry of Love: Three Books In One

REVIEWS

The exhilarating action & subplots keep the reader in constant anticipation. It is almost impossible to put the book down until completion,

Dr. Don P. Brandon, Retired Professor, Anderson University, Anderson, Indiana

This is the first book I have read that puts a personal touch to some seemingly real people in factual events.

Ladyhawk

Love books with strong women…this has one. Love early American history about ordinary people…even though they were not ‘ordinary’…it took courage to populate our country. This book is well researched and well written.

Julia Smith

A picture of love and history rolled into one. A step back in time that pulls you in and makes you a part of the family and their world.

Ken Flessas

Each book’s writing gets stronger, characters become real, the struggles and sorrows that laid the foundation for this country.

Addictedtobooks

Not only is the story entertaining, it opens the eastern shore of the early Virginia Colony to the reader as a picture book….I know this story will touch many peoples’ hearts.

B. Thomas

At the age of sixteen, Mary and her husband, whom she barely knows, are forced to escape the only home they’ve ever known and settle in the primitive 17th century world of America where they shape their family’s destiny for generations.

Inspired by actual people and historical events of colonial America, “The Kingdom of Accawmacke” is revealed and secrets about America’s history are discovered in this well-researched series. The story begins in 17th century England during the reign of Charles I and continues a family’s journey to the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland.

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