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It really ain’t whar it is that’s important. It’s really about how Two Egg got its name. And… yes. Two Egg is a real place. So, how did Two Egg get its name?
First, let’s settle the question of whar it is. Two Egg is located about 23 miles South of my hometown of Cottonwood, Alabama and lies near the Alabama and Georgia State Lines. It is not far from Bascom, Florida which many times is listed as the hometown of legendary actress Faye Dunaway. The true fact is Faye Dunaway’s childhood home was located in Two Egg. People get it wrong because Two Egg was too small to have a post office and mail was delivered out of Bascom, Florida. So, all the homes in Two Egg had mailing addresses listed as a Route out of Bascom, Florida. There’s an interesting story about how Bascom, Florida got its name. Awwww… but we digress.
Many of the men in my family, older uncles and such, claim to have known or dated the famed actress. The fact is, knowing the proclivity of tall tales my acclaimed relatives publicly hold up as true, I doubt any of them ever dated Ms. Dunaway. However, there might be a good possibility that some of them met her….. maybe.
It’s a fact that people always want to build themselves up as more…. Well So’phisti’cated… than some other group, town, or place. Now…. if’n you’re from a little unsophisticated country town like Cottonwood, Alabama, it can be kinda hard to find another town lower on the totem pole than you. Fortunately for us, Two Egg was just down the road. So, despite the fact that Faye Dunaway is from Two Egg, Florida, many of us living just across the Alabama and Georgia State Lines always, good naturedly of course, mocked the little community of Two Egg.
Now, if’n you ain’t never been there and stopped in the ol’ Lawrence Grocery Store, you ain’t allowed to make fun of the place. Only us folks who have sat on the itty bitty front porch of the General Store eatin’ moon pies and drinkin’ an RC Cola are allowed to poke fun at the place because only then will you really understand the sad tale of how Two Egg got its name.
In the early 1800’s, Two Egg was known as Allison, Florida. Many families made their fortunes there as planters. There were plantations up to 7,000 acres in size being farmed in the area. But a 100 years later, by 1930 and the depression, most families living in Allison were living on not much mor’n pride. It was a hard scrabble life in Jackson County at that time.
My father, who was raised in Cottonwood, told me that no one in that part of the country, Florida, Georgia, or Alabama, had any money. Times were hard and families were doing all they could do just to survive. Families, children, and animals were daily fighting off hunger. Part of the daily routine was for mothers to send their children up to the store to barter for goods. Fresh eggs were acceptable currency at most general stores. They’d barter for “Two Eggs” of sugar, “Two Eggs” of flour, or “Two Eggs” of snuff, tobacca, or candy. Some of the traveling Drummers (traveling salesmen) observed so many people bartering at the ol’ Lawrence Grocery that they hung the moniker of “Two Egg” on the town.
Well — the drummers spread the name “Two Egg” all over that part of the country. And Lo’ n B’hold the moniker stuck and the little cross roads became famously known among those parts as Two Egg. In 1940, the name Two Egg appeared on an official State of Florida road map and has been there ever since.
Now that’s the story as I know it. This was a name born of hard sad times. And my feelin’ is…. if you can respect how Two Egg got its name, then pokin’ a little fun of it on o’casion won’t do any harm. Many of us have been knocked down in life, and pokin’ a little fun at yourself shows a person has humility. If you look at Two Egg, Florida, knowing its history, and don’t gain any perspective on bein’ humble, then you ain’t allowed to make fun of the place.
Let’s jus’ pray America never sees another time where people are bartering “Two Eggs” for the sustenance they need to survive. It would hurt me a great deal to see the America I hold dear become the United States of “Two Egg”…… God Bless America! And, God Bless You Child.
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Note: After posting this story, family members of Faye Dunaway shared the following pictures. Thank you for sharing.
