Tucker

The small town of Tucker in Jefferson County is probably mostly known as being the site of one of the state's maximum security prisons. But within the town are several neat older buildings, including some with deep history. As you drive into the middle of town, you pass this old home (which sits behind a store, I'm guessing the people in the home used to run the store back in the olden days).



I drove by the sign warning against stopping for hitchhikers, but did stop in the middle of the road (there was no traffic or escaped prisoners) to get this shot of an old car, left to rust by an old abandoned building.



Just down the road is the old Tucker school. It sits nearly hidden amongst trees and overgrown vegetation, and looks like it's been abandoned for some time. But the school was built in 1915, back when Tucker was a small plantation community. The school had four classrooms, and also a cafeteria in a separate building that does not exist anymore. Of course, the building reflects the time when it was built. The school only served white students, while Black students attended a Rosenwald school that was built in 1925 (which was torn down in the 1972).



The Tucker plantation was established way back in 1871. The plantation mostly grew cotton, and expanded to over 2,800 acres. In 1916, the state purchased the plantation lands and some surrounding acres and used it to build the prison complex. But there are still some traces of that old plantation. The former "Big House" still stands, but it is in rough shape.



It looks like the roof has recently collapsed, which will probably speed up the structural decline of the home. This is the view of the back door of the house, which has a view of prison complex off in the distance.