Toad Hill (John Smith T House) Collection
Scope and Contents
The Toad Hill (John Smith T House) Photograph Collection consists of 81 digitized items documenting a two-story brick house in Opelika, Alabama, across roughly two decades of ownership, restoration, and use as a filming location. The bulk of the collection is photographic prints: exterior views showing the house's full-height, four-column portico and second-floor balcony in different seasons and years, and interior views of the entrance hall, staircase, columned parlors and dining room, fireplace mantels, and kitchen. A number of prints are annotated on the verso with dates and photographer credits, and some carry descriptive captions noting vantage points and nearby street corners. The collection also includes a newspaper clipping featuring the house (item 27) and a small group of correspondence . Materials are arranged in five folders reflecting the house's history: the Moore family's purchase (1976), the beginning of their restoration (1978), the filming of Norma Rae at the house (1978), the Greene family's purchase, and ephemera. The collection was donated by Kitty Greene, the home's owner at time of donation.
Dates
- Creation: 1976 - 2018
Biographical / Historical
The house at the center of this collection is known locally as the John Smith T House and by the nickname "Toad Hill." It is a two-story brick residence with a full-height portico carried on four columns and a second-floor balcony above the entrance, a composition in the Neoclassical or Colonial Revival manner. The Smith T name has deep roots in Opelika: the family has been part of the community since the 1800s, and a later John Smith T settled in the area near what is now Frederick Road, recorded on old maps as the Smith T survey. The name endures in Opelika today, carried by figures such as city council member Dozier Smith T. Establishing the documented chain of title for this specific house, its construction date, and its formal connection to the Smith T family remains an open research thread for the archive.
Wikipedia + 2
By the mid-1970s the house had passed to the Moore family, who purchased it in 1976 and began a restoration in 1978. The Greene family later acquired the home, and its current owner, Kitty Greene, is the donor of this collection. The photographs and annotations gathered here document the house through these successive stewardships, from restoration work to everyday views of its rooms and grounds.
In 1978, during the Moore family's ownership, the house served as a filming location for Norma Rae. The film was shot on location in Opelika in 1978 and released in 1979; its best-known local settings included the Opelika textile mill and the Golden Cherry Motel. Sally Field won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the title role. Burt Reynolds, then Field's partner, visited her on the Opelika set, which helps account for his presence in several images and mentions in this collection
Full Extent
1.42 Gigabytes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Toad Hill (John Smith T House) Photograph Collection comprises 81 digitized photographs, correspondence, and ephemera documenting a historic Opelika, Alabama, house through the Moore family's restoration beginning in 1976 and its 1978 use as a filming location for the film Norma Rae. Donated by Kitty Greene, the home's current owner.
Subject
- Field, Sally, 1946- (Person)
- Reynolds, Burt, 1936-2018 (Person)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Opelika Public Library Archives Repository