Gold Hill is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 north-centrally located in Lee County

Lee County, Alabama

Lee County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is named in honor of Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederate Army. As of 2010 the population was 140,247. It is part of the Auburn, Alabama Metropolitan Area. The county seat is Opelika, and the largest city is Auburn...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, just a few hundred feet south of the Chambers County

Chambers County, Alabama

Chambers County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Henry H. Chambers, who served as a United States Senator from Alabama. As of 2010 the population was 34,215. Its county seat is Lafayette...

 line. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Area

Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area

The Columbus, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in Georgia and one county in Alabama, anchored by the city of Columbus...

. Today, Gold Hill lies mostly in the corporate limits of Auburn

Auburn, Alabama

Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...

.

History

Gold Hill was settled in the 1830s, and--despite being in the southern reaches of the territory mined for gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 in the 1840s Alabama Gold Rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

--was not named for the mineral, but rather for an early settler named Goldsmith. In the 1870s, Gold Hill received a second name, Gold Ridge, after confusion between the railroad stops at Gold Hill and nearby Camp Hill

Camp Hill, Alabama

Camp Hill is a town in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 1,273. It is part of the Alexander City Micropolitan Statistical Area. Camp Hill is the home to Lyman Ward Military Academy...

 led the postal administration to rename the Gold Hill post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

. Despite being "officially" considered Gold Ridge by the United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 and the railroad, residents have always considered the community to be only Gold Hill.

Gold Hill is also the location of "Roamer's Roost", the home of epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

 scientist William P. Spratling

William P. Spratling

William Philip Spratling was an American neurologist known for his advances in the treatment and study of epilepsy; he is often described as the first epileptologist -- a word he is credited with having coined in his 1904 work Epilepsy and Its Treatment.Dr...

 and his son, silversmith William Spratling

William Spratling

William Spratling was an American-born silversmith and artist, best known for his influence on 20th century Mexican silver design....

.

The Rise and Fall of "The Old Barn"

There was an old barn in Gold Hill which stood for 140 years. It was located adjacent to the railroad crossing on Highway 147. The building was erected in 1870 and served as the community's general store

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

. During most of its history, the barn which housed the general store was connected to about 4200 acres (17 km²) of farmland. The store, and the farms that surrounded it operated much in the same way all the way up until the 1940s. Following The Great Migration

Second Great Migration (African American)

The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. It was much larger and of a different character than the first Great Migration...

, many of the field laborers left the area to begin new lives in northern cities such as Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 and Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

. This left the community a shell of its former self. Eventually, the store closed down and the mail trains didn't make stops in "Gold Ridge" anymore (to this day, the mail is still delivered to the community from the post office in Waverly, Alabama

Waverly, Alabama

Waverly is a town in Chambers and Lee Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located on the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and is part of the Auburn Metropolitan Area. As of 2004, the town population was 180....

). Despite this, the barn stood as Gold Hill's most recognizable landmark until it was torn down in 2010.