A city in a wet county, when I was a lad.

The surrounding territory was filled with dryness. As teenagers, we desired something with which to wet our whistle. This meant a trip to Madison County, or all the way into Huntsville, if we wanted the hard stuff.

Either way, it was a perilous adventure. In between us and the beverages of delight was the sheriff’s patrol from Limestone County, AL (major city and jail, Athens). They made their living pulling over folks who were transporting illegal beverages from Madison County to anywhere, as long as it went through their jurisdiction.

There were back roads and transfer schemes and all the illicit gamesmanship that prohibition must have meant on a nationwide scale at one time.

The hard part, if you desired the harder liquors, was going to the State Store (yes, not the Liquor Store, but a liquor store run by the State of Alabama) and trying to find an adult to go in and get it for you. It often wound up with your money in a wino's pocket as he ran out the back door.

It's all wet there now, but that was over the dead bodies of many, many good Baptists.