Smuteye, Alabama
Encyclopedia
Smuteye or Smut Eye is an unincorporated community
in Bullock County
, Alabama
, United States
. It is northeast of Perote
.
Smuteye is located in ZIP code
36061, but residents now use a mailing address in Banks 36005.
Smuteye Pond and Smuteye Lake are located north of Smuteye in Aberfoil.
SMUTEYE - Major Cox squinted in the sun as he looked at the weathered, frame structure with the faded red-and-white Coca-Cola sign bearing the name Smuteye Grocery. The old sign bears the name of the community, one of a dozen or more Alabama places with strange names and rich folklore on how they got their names. The names range from Possum Trot to Bug Tussle to Santuck.
"This old store was the center of things - where men would sit around and drink beer and smoke cigarettes and tell lies," Cox said.
And they did the same thing a century earlier just across the road at a blacksmith shop where the name, "Smuteye," was forged from fire and steel and a homemade ale that the local women called the devil's brew, he said.
Cox, who has a farm near this Bullock County town, said the blacksmith's shop became quite a gathering place for men to talk and drink. The area used to be called Welcome.
"The men folk would stand around the fire in the winter time and drink moonshine," Cox said.
As the story goes, staying close to the fire left their faces smudged with smut, covering everything except their eyes.
"When they got home, their wives would take one look at their smutty faces and know where they had been," Cox said. "The women came to call the blacksmith shop "Smuteye," and soon folks called the community "Smuteye," he said.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Bullock County
Bullock County, Alabama
Bullock County, Alabama is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Colonel Edward C. Bullock of Barbour County. Living descendants of Colonel Bullock include prominent American cinema film actress, Sandra Bullock. As of 2010 the population was 10,914. In 1867, Union Springs...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is northeast of Perote
Perote, Alabama
Perote was a community in Bullock County, Alabama, United States.-Obverse:"Perote, Bullock County""This community, settled during the mid-1830s, was first called Fulford’s Cross Roads, then Missouri Cross Roads when a post office was established here in 1846...
.
Smuteye is located in ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
36061, but residents now use a mailing address in Banks 36005.
Smuteye Pond and Smuteye Lake are located north of Smuteye in Aberfoil.
History of the Name: Smuteye
An excerpt from a 1999 article in the Montgomery Advertiser reads as follows:SMUTEYE - Major Cox squinted in the sun as he looked at the weathered, frame structure with the faded red-and-white Coca-Cola sign bearing the name Smuteye Grocery. The old sign bears the name of the community, one of a dozen or more Alabama places with strange names and rich folklore on how they got their names. The names range from Possum Trot to Bug Tussle to Santuck.
"This old store was the center of things - where men would sit around and drink beer and smoke cigarettes and tell lies," Cox said.
And they did the same thing a century earlier just across the road at a blacksmith shop where the name, "Smuteye," was forged from fire and steel and a homemade ale that the local women called the devil's brew, he said.
Cox, who has a farm near this Bullock County town, said the blacksmith's shop became quite a gathering place for men to talk and drink. The area used to be called Welcome.
"The men folk would stand around the fire in the winter time and drink moonshine," Cox said.
As the story goes, staying close to the fire left their faces smudged with smut, covering everything except their eyes.
"When they got home, their wives would take one look at their smutty faces and know where they had been," Cox said. "The women came to call the blacksmith shop "Smuteye," and soon folks called the community "Smuteye," he said.