Near Addison in Winston County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Looney’s Tavern

By Darren Jefferson Clay, August 6, 2020

1. Looney’s Tavern

Inscription. Click to hear the inscription.

Site of a neutrality meeting of more than twenty-five hundred hill folks during the spring of 1862. C. C. Sheats, Winston's delegate to the Secession Convention and one of twenty-four delegates who refused to sign the Secession Ordinance was the principal speaker. The Looney's Tavern Convention requested that "the Confederacy on the one hand, and the Union on the other, leave us alone, unmolested, that we may work out our political and financial destiny here in the hills and mountains of Northwest Alabama."
When the neutrality proclamation was read, "Uncle Dick” Payne, a Confederate sympathizer who subsequently served the CSA under Longstreet, remarked, "Oh, oh, Winston secedes! The Free State of Winston!", thus giving the county its individualistic name.

Source: Don Dodd and Wynelle Dodd, Winston: An Antebellum and Civil War
History of a Hill County of North Alabama, 1972.

Erected 1972.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil.

Location. 34°

By Darren Jefferson Clay, August 6, 2020

2. Looney’s Tavern

15.091′ N, 87° 11.32′ W. Marker is near Addison, Alabama, in Winston County. Marker is at the intersection of County Road 41 and NFR 266, on the right when traveling south on County Road 41. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 19835 Co Rd 41, Addison AL 35540, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 12 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Pine Torch Church (approx. 8 miles away); Birds of North Alabama (approx. 10.8 miles away); Explore the Forest (approx. 10.8 miles away); A Significant Forest (approx. 10.8 miles away); Warrior Mountains (approx. 10.8 miles away); Battleground (approx. 11.6 miles away); Shady Grove Methodist Church And Cemetery (approx. 11.6 miles away); Monitoring Watershed Health (approx. 11.7 miles away).

Also see . . . Wikipedia article on the Republic of Winston. (Submitted on December 17, 2020.)

Credits. This page was last revised on December 17, 2020. It was originally submitted on December 17, 2020, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 51 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 17, 2020, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.