Meet Jeremiah

We would like to introduce you to Southern Accents newest team member, Jeremiah Connell. Jeremiah joined the SA team around the first of August. Jeremiah grew up in Cullman, and after graduating from Cullman High School, moved to Tuscaloosa where he attended the University of Alabama. After leaving Tuscaloosa, Jeremiah spent time moving around the state, from Huntsville to Mobile, finally returning to his hometown a couple of years ago.

Jeremiah describes himself as a “jack of all trades”. He spent many years working in the construction industry doing everything from framing, to electrical, to pouring concrete. Jeremiah also has close to 14 years experience in the restaurant industry. Quite a few of those years were spent in sales, working for a wine company. Jeremiah traveled around the state conducting wait staff seminars where he educated waiters on the art of pairing wine with food. His knowledge of and experience in the wine industry has served him well as the love of his life, Candace, owns a local wine store, the Vine Cellar.

Jeremiah loves spending time outdoors, especially camping. He is a fantastic cook, with the grill being his cooking utensil of choice. While on a recent salvage job with the SA Team, Jeremiah put his cooking skills to good use, grilling pork tenderloin for the guys after a long day of salvaging wood flooring from an 1884 house. Jeremiah and his grill are now at the top of the “packing list” for all future salvage jobs!! Jeremiah also enjoys concerts and college football. He can be found most Saturdays cheering on the Crimson Tide football team!

The newest SA Team member, Jeremiah, was indoctrinated last week into the business of architectural salvage! Salvaging a house built in the late 1800’s is a DIRTY job… but someone had to do it!

When asked what he liked most about working at Southern Accents, Jeremiah’s reply was, “I love the randomness of this business. I never know from one day to the next what I am going to be doing. One day I may be out on the road making a delivery and the next I’m at the wood showroom working on a huge stack of salvaged wood. I never get bored!”

We are thrilled that Jeremiah has joined the SA Team! You may see him driving down the road or you may bump into him at one of our showrooms. When you do, please be sure to stop and say hello! Jeremiah and the rest of the team welcome you to visit us Tuesday – Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays 10am to 4pm.

Come To Cullman!

Cullman, Alabama is known for many things. We are continually hailed as one of the best places in Alabama to raise a family. Our school systems rank among the finest in the state. The downtown area, home to Southern Accents, has undergone a major revitalization since the tornados of 2011. Our small town is growing by leaps and bounds! Since we get a lot of requests from our customers asking us to keep them informed of fun events in our lovely town, we thought we would dedicate this week’s newsletter to just that! Not that you need an excuse to come and vist SA… here are a few fun family events coming your way!

This Saturday, September 19th, Cullman Parks & Recreation presents the Cullman Wing Street. This is Park & Recs BIGGEST COMMUNITY EVENT OF THE YEAR: Wing Street Cullman (formally known as Clucknbrew) will be held at Depot Park from 2:30 till 10:00 pm. Activities will include a wing cook off, games and activities, food and beverages, and a game day tent for football fans. Visit Cullman Park & Recreation online for a complete schedule of events.

September 22 through October 1, don’t miss the Cullman County Fair! Sponsored by the Cullman Lions Club since 1954, the Cullman County Fair has been recognized as the “Best of the Best” at both the state and national levels. For more information and a calendar of events, visit cullmanfair.com.

October 7 – 11, Cullman celebrates it’s German heritage during Oktoberfest. This five day festival, which began in 1982, includes a 5k to 10k race on Saturday, October 10th. German cuisine is offered by many of the downtown restaurants throughout the week. Friday and Saturday there will be lots of fun activities for the entire family taking place at the Festhalle Market Platz. Enjoy kids activities, carriage rides, arts and crafts at Depot Park, bed races, bratwurst eating contest, Weiner races, live music and much more!! For a complete list of Oktoberfest events visit cullmanoktoberfest.com

Saturday, October 24 is the Peinhardt Living History Farm Day. This is an educational family farm that focuses on rural life in the 1930’s and 40’s. Tour the farm and experience life and living as it use to be. Farm day is filled with demonstrations, barn yard animals, and living history. This once-a-year event should be on your must do list!! Visit peinhardtfarm.org for more information.

And of course… a trip to Cullman would not be complete without visiting the largest architectural antique store in the Southeast!! Visit Southern Accents showroom and warehouses Tuesday – Saturday or you can visit with us 24/7 online at www.sa1969.com.

Southern Accents is located in historic downtown Cullman, Alabama! Our showroom and warehouses are open Tues – Fri from 9am to 5pm and Sat from 10am to 4pm

Wonderful Wood

In case you don’t know by now… we LOVE salvaged and reclaimed wood! We rescue it, we create with it, we have a deep appreciation for its history, we respect the sacrifices of the natural resources and feel a deep responsibility to help protect those resources by finding ways to reuse and repurpose the wood. Our large wood showroom houses a wide variety of salvaged and reclaimed wood that is ready and waiting to be repurposed.

Currently, we have some of the prettiest salvaged, tongue and groove, painted beadboard that we’ve ever seen! The boards have been de-nailed, cleaned, lightly sanded, sorted and stacked. Our varied selection includes gorgeous shades of blues, greens, cream and white. The boards can be used with the painted side showing or you can flip them and use the back side which is a natural brown wood color. These boards are ready for use! They would make a gorgeous wall or ceiling covering or are perfect for DIY craft projects.

In addition to this beautiful beadboard, our wood showroom is stocked with a variety of salvaged and reclaimed lumber, wood trim and beams. Visit us online at www.sa1969.com, give us a call at 877 737-0554 or come see us! Our showrooms are open Tuesday – Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Shindig No. 7 – The Tunnel

This past weekend we were given the opportunity to combine some of our salvaged materials with our creative talents to design/build an entrance for Chef Frank Stitt at Billy Reid’s Shindig No. 7. We’ve worked with Billy in the past, creating backdrops for his run way shows during New York Fashion Week, but this special event also featured Chef Frank Stitt and Roy Milner from Blackberry Farm Brewery. Frank is a Cullman native and long time friend, so when we were asked to take on this project, we responded with a resounding yes!

Frank was the guest Chef for a private party that was held in downtown Florence as part of Billy Reid’s Shindig activities. The event was held in the back yard of the Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts which faces Wilson Park. We were asked to create a visual screen that would provide some privacy, as well as, serve as an entrance to the ticketed event. Garlan came up with the idea of building a tunnel while SA team member Josh Howe found a picture that served as an inspiration for the design. While the project began with a definite vision, the structure really began to take shape as we were constructing it.

We began by building a frame. The idea was for the tunnel to wind around and exit into the event. From the entrance of the 14 foot tunnel, no one could see what was on the other side. As the grassy path wound around, it narrowed to a 3 foot exit. A wide variety of salvaged wood in various widths, lengths, and wood species was used, fashioning a whimsical design which visually produced captivating lines and texture. The roof spacing allowed light leaks into the tunnel from the sun as well as the night’s gorgeous full moon.

Garlan, Josh and our newest team member Jeremiah worked throughout the night constructing the tunnel. The end result was a work of art that garnered a lot of attention and generated much conversation throughout the weekend’s activities!

From left to right: Chef Frank Stitt, Designer Billy Reid, Architect Garlan Gudger, Blackberry Farm Brewer Roy Milner

We would like to thank Designer Billy Reid, Chef Frank Stitt of Highlands Bar and Grill, and Brewer Roy Milner from Blackberry Farm Brewery for collaborating with Southern Accents for this prestigious event. After the hard work was done, we enjoyed a night of great food, great friends, and great music from the Alabama Shakes in one of our favorite Alabama spots!

The tunnel will remain at the Kennedy Douglass Center throughout the month of September for those who wish to visit!

The tunnel exited into the back yard where salvaged doors were used to help further create a visual screen.