Growing up in Sumter Co in West Al, I was familiar with the Sucarnochee River & the Tombigbee River. I had never really heard of the Cahaba. Back in the 1940s my family donated 5 acres of land to the State Forestry Comission so a fire tower could be built on the highest point of land in South Sumter to spot forest fires. My Uncle Billy Rumley climbed that tower day in & day out looking for that tell-tale smoke plume. When he saw it, he would get the compass heading, speed out in his huge state truck with the tractor to contain the fire. As a kid we would hike there & climb that tower to be let in the very top part & see the woods of Sumter Co. Well the state named that tower Rumley Tower for our Rumley Family. As times changed & these forest guardians weren’t needed, most were locked, shuttered, & forgotten. After a few years the state decided to resurrect our tower. They took it apart, & loaded it on flatbed trailers . It’s ultimate destination was Eastern Perry Co on the old Fish Hatchery land near the Cahaba River. Today our tower provides sweeping views of the birds, tremendous hardwood bottoms, & spectacular oxbow lakes which the Cahaba River left behind years ago. The tower retains its name- Rumley Tower. I’m so proud, as is my family, of its new life- hopefully giving many people so much enjoyment as it did myself. Rumley Tower lives on.
Charles Rumley