Oak Grove is a town in

Talladega County, Alabama Talladega County is one of the sixty-seven counties located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama."ACES Winston County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpageACES-Talladega As of t ...

, United States. It incorporated in 1966. At the 2020 census, the population was 564.

Geography

The town of Oak Grove is located at (33.189772, -86.303163). According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the town has a total area of , all land. Oak Grove is a suburb of the city of Sylacauga. The two municipalities are contiguous, and both run along U.S. Highway 280, which runs from

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, southeastward to

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, and then through Georgia toward

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

. Oak Grove is southeast of Birmingham and north of Montgomery via U.S. Highway 231. Oak Grove is a hilly town occupying both sides of Landers Hill and Merkle Mountain. There is no town square or downtown. There are numerous businesses along U.S. Highway 280, locally called "the four-lane", and County Road 511, which was formerly U.S. 280 before construction of the four-lane. In the middle of Oak Grove between its two hills there was a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm which yearly drew hundreds of families to Oak Grove. It was started in 1978 by later Oak Grove Mayor Bloise Zeigler, who operated the farm through 2009. Zeigler grew the official Alabama state Christmas tree, which was displayed at the Alabama Governor's Mansion in 2004. The Christmas tree farm was closed in 2010 and donated by the former Mayor to the Town of Oak Grove as a community garden named "Comet Grove". It provides free produce to low-income people and cheap produce to everyone else. It has ordinary open gardens and two acres of experimental "

plasticulture Plasticulture is the practice of using plastic materials in agriculture, agricultural applications. The plastic materials themselves are often and broadly referred to as "ag plastics". Plasticulture ag plastics include soil fumigation film, irri ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 457 people, 178 households, and 124 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 203 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.72%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.84%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

and 0.44% Native American. 0.44% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 178 households, out of which 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.8% were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.96. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $28,625, and the median income for a family was $29,625. Males had a median income of $29,417 versus $19,375 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $12,865. About 10.4% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.0% of those under age 18 and 21.8% of those age 65 or over.

Notable events

Oak Grove gained national recognition in 1954 when it became the first reported site in the history of the world of a

meteor A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

striking a human. Mrs. Ann E. Hodges was on her sofa in her Oak Grove home when something crashed through her roof, striking her on the hip. It turned out to be a meteorite. The incident gained national news coverage, including an appearance by Mrs. Hodges on Garry Moore's TV show, '' I've Got a Secret''. Celebrity participant

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...

guessed the secret. Oak Grove has a " Gravity Hill" where cars appear to coast uphill, but is actually an

optical illusion In visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide varie ...

. The phenomenon has generated news coverage and curiosity seekers. It is on Old Highway 280, now named "Gravity Hill Road", just off Highway 280 in the western part of Oak Grove toward Childersburg. One native son of Oak Grove was elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission. Jim Zeigler, born in neighboring Sylacauga in 1948 and raised in Oak Grove, won the PSC seat in 1974, becoming the youngest person to hold a state office. He won the seat two years after graduating from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

, where he had been elected President of the Student Government Association, defeating the fraternity political party, " The Machine".

Notable person

* Skinny Graham, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

References

External links

Town of Oak Grove
{{authority control Towns in Talladega County, Alabama Towns in Alabama