The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-07

Tne great dam 1S now SOmetnlng liKe three-quarters finished and the water above is coming up rapidly, having risen 90 feet. A vast lake is being formed before our eyes, not by the usually approved glacial or volcanic method, but man made, an inland sea, sweeping out where but a short while ago corn stalks rustled in the breeze.
 One of the very interesting places to thus pay the price of progress is Bain- bridge, the 1,S00-acre farm of MT. J. s. Kernachan. A thousand acres of this valuable farm will be caught in the overflow and laid rest beneath 40 feet of water.
 Bainbridge is located nine miles up the river from Sheffield and for years has been the mecca for friends and &C., quaintances of the family. Lets go to Bainbridge" is familiar expression in the Tennessee Valley. Bainbridge is where the oak trees spread, and the crabapple bloom and the wild ferns hide among the rocks. It is where the fried chicken and beaten biscuit naturally grow, and where the cares of the day still initiate the Arabs, and beat it, to let one sleep like new babe and wake next morning to the trill of the mock ing bird and the plaintive song of old black Jerry as he leads the mules to water.
 Bainbridge is q land mark of a cen tury. It is one of the old town sites of the Muscle Shoals section. Back in the early days when the settlers of the Tennessee Valley and the Indians were dictating peace treaties to each other some enthusiastic realtors from the viii lage of Nashville came down and, look ing over the untouched wilderness, SC. lected the present location of Bain- bridge farm ~as the place to build great city. The city Vas to be cot ton shipping point. At that time peo- pie were Hooking into the valley and buying the unclearcd land at fabulous prices to raise cotton that was then bringing 40 cents q pound as result of the demand for it following the War of 1912. The town was laid out and called 'Bainbridge," this being the name of q much loved American commodore who had distinguished himself in the recent war. Hopes ran high, forest coy cred town lots sold for $1,000 apiece and in the clearing homes were built and two brick stores put up. But somehow Bainbridge did not "gO" as q city. Florence was flourishing on her hills across the river, and after Q few years Bainbridge was bandoned. Some tombstones with inscriptions dated 1924 are all that remain of the city of Bain' bridge, little city of dreams where men hoped and planned, and lost. One of the prominent citizens of Bain bridge was Capt. Jack Donelson. Cap tain Donelson was grandson of Col John DOnelsen, who commanded the much-famed fleet of boatsewhich passed through Muscle Shoals in 17S0 on tbC way from Fort Patrick Henry to settle Nashville. After the idea of building c town at Bainbridge had been given up Captain Donelson bought the wholt place and converted it into a plantation where he lived with his family until his bridge came into its own. The forests were hewn, the land was cleared anC the fields were planted in grain aut cotton. A grist mill and. little fac tory were built on the side of stream Life became an easy, pleasant affair with horses and hounds and much hos pitality. After Captain Donelson'i death the property was purchased bI the Kernachan family. The Kernachanl were among the early settlers in tht Tennessee Valley, having come oyel about 1900 from Cork, Ireland. Bain bridge prospered under their regime anC became great plantation, sprawlinl in the sun beside the foaming waters O Muscle Shoals. But during the Civi war Bainbridge met the fate of so man. of our southern plantations, it wa