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By Haley Mitchell Godwin

A yard sale will be held Wednesday, Nov. 3, at the Lowndes County Public Library in Hayneville. The fundraiser will support the Alabama room inside the library and will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. both days. Books, furniture, linens, dishes, collectables and other household items will be for sale.

The Alabama room is designed for ancestral research. The project is still in its infancy, but Carolyn Parker, a lifelong resident of Lowndes County, is proud of the work she and a group of ladies have been able to accomplish in just three years. They have already collected 600 books. They also have research papers that were completed many years ago, the old fashion way with no computers, only trips to court houses and lots of foot work.

“We started this research room because you had to go to other places to get information and now, we have information not only from Lowndes County, but also surrounding counties, here in Hayneville. We also have books and things from other southern states since folks came from other areas to settle here. We have done really well to collect what we have. A bookseller helped by giving us a nice discount and we have had many donations from people’s private libraries. We will gladly accept donations of books or research to put in the library,” Parker said.

Helen Phillps, who helped get the Alabama room up and running, is appreciative of the library providing them an area to use. She said they are very interested in obtaining copies of old photos from the various communities in the area. They want to create individual albums for each community. Any photo with historical significance would be gladly accepted for addition to this collection. She is excited to see the Alabama room’s collection continue to grow and hope’s that this fundraiser will help with that expansion.

“The library is very gracious to let us have this space, but we are an independent group and rely on fundraisers and donations only. We purchase historical books, family histories-things of that nature. These books are not cheap and if a sought-after publication or one that is relevant to the area becomes available, we want to be able to purchase it. Just today a visitor came in to inquire about a 3-book series on settlers that came to Alabama from Virginia. We did not have it but looked into how much it would cost. The price was over $1,000. We also buy supplies. We use a lot of copy paper and a lot of ink to provide visitors to the Alabama room copies of various things that they can take with them,” Phillips said.

Those wishing to donate things to be sold at the yard sale can do so by dropping items off at the library. For more information on the yard sale or how to make a monetary donation or donation of books or items for the Alabama room, please contact the group on Facebook or call the library at (334) 548-2686.