CAMDEN — They say memories fade with time. We can only see the big moments clearly when we look back. Our first love. Our first loss. We keep scenes from our lives in focus. Like the green pastures where we grew up, or the old general store we frequented as children.
Places and buildings are temporary, but some stand the test of time. In Possum Bend, Liberty Hall is a remnant of what once was and a silent call to what should be reclaimed.
Built in the 1850s, Liberty Hall has stood strong through the Civil War, the Great Depression and natural disasters while preserving generations of history within its walls. During the Civil War, the family living in the home threw all of their valuables down into the large white columns of the house to hide them as the Yankees approached.
Fast forward 170 years, and Julia and Dudley Handly have opened their home to guests by operating a bed-and-breakfast. They have made renovations over the years, including adding a kitchen, bathrooms and a pantry, but they want to keep the home as original as possible.
Liberty Hall was built by Julia Handly’s great-great-grandparents, Harriet and John Robert McDowell. Every detail of the home was carefully crafted, including the plasterwork. Harriet McDowell crocheted the pattern for the wooden mold used for trim work and a special medallion on the ceiling in the women’s parlor.
The family grew cotton and corn and transported their goods to nearby steamboats on the Alabama River.
The McDowells were “Living in high cotton.”
The couple had a son and a daughter. The daughter did not live to adulthood, but the son, Samuel William McDowell, grew up and married his wife, Julia. They had children, and one of them was Julia Handly’s grandmother, Narcissa. Their son, Angus McDowell, a former sheriff of Wilcox County, inherited the house. After he died of the Spanish flu, the home went to Handly’s grandmother, Narcissa Harris.
Narcissa and her husband had five children, but her husband became an alcoholic and left in 1931.
“She had a beautiful home and beautiful furnishings, but very, very little income, and so some really tough times,” Julia Handly said of her grandmother.
There are photos of the house from the end of the Great Depression showing several windows missing, because Narcissa could not afford to replace them. Through the hard times, Narcissa continued to fight to keep her family fed.
“And she got her children raised, buddy, she expected the best out of them,” Handly said. “The only one that did not get a college education was the oldest son.”
William Peyton Harris Jr. went to Auburn University, where he roomed with Ralph “Shug” Jordan. He didn’t finish college, but he went on to become a successful artist and woodworker. He also popularized the community’s name of Possum Bend.
Henry Franklin Harris was the youngest son, and everyone called him “Demp.” Julia Handly called him “Daddy.”
Julia Harris, the oldest girl, graduated from Alabama College in Montevallo, the modern-day University of Montevallo, along with her younger sisters, Mary Harris and Sara Harris. Sara Harris went on to serve in the United States Women’s Army Corps, the Women’s Air Force, and the United States Air Force, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
“She was in World War II, Korea and Vietnam,” Handly said. “And she was the first female base commander in a combat zone in Vietnam. She was the boss of Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base in Saigon and endured bombings and just all kinds of things.”
After Sara Harris retired in 1969, she inherited Liberty Hall and worked to replace broken windows and get the house in order. She remained at Liberty Hall until she was moved to a nursing home. Sara Harris died at 102 on Nov. 3, 2022, leaving the house to Julia Handly.
Julia Handly, just like her father, worked at the post office. She is now married to Dudly Handly. In fact, they married in the parlor of the home.
“We tied a good knot right there,” Julia Handly said while pointing to the middle of the room.
Dudly Handly, the cook of Liberty Hall, makes breakfast for guests and even makes his own preserves. Julia calls herself the “maid” of Liberty Hall, and she takes special care to ensure guests are comfortable.
The Handlys said it was an easy decision to open up their home to strangers.
“We totally put it in the Lord’s hands, you know, and we’re like, ‘If this is what you want us to do, if this is how we can have income to take care of and improve this home, then we trust you,” Julia Handly said. “And we believe that He sends us the people that he wants us to have here and we’ve met people from all over the world.”
The Handlys say they are like missionaries in their own home, spreading the gospel to visitors.
Liberty Hall is more than a bed and breakfast – it is a real-life history lesson. The home is sure to stay in the family. The couple plans to leave it to their children in better shape than it was when they inherited it.
Until then, they will continue sharing the past with others in hopes they can appreciate what once was and carry Alabama’s history, culture and values forward.
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