OPELIKA — The Museum of East Alabama’s Lunch Break Lecture Series continues Wednesday, Sept. 16, at noon with author Melissa Gatlin presenting stories and historic photographs from her forthcoming book, “A Guide to Historic Opelika, Alabama: Homes, Businesses and People.”
Gatlin will focus on the businesses that once stood at the corner of Avenue A and South Ninth Street, where the museum sits today — including the three different historic hotels that faced Avenue A from Opelika’s earliest days, plus the stores and cafes that surrounded them. “Stories will be told about the people who did business in this part of town in days long ago,” she said, from the “goober peas and rag man” to the young woman whose walk through Opelika on her way to New Orleans caused a stir.
Gatlin and her daughter, Auburn University interior design professor Anna Ruth Gatlin, wrote “A Guide to Historic Opelika, Alabama: Homes, Churches and People” in 2024 and “A Guide to the Historic Jekyll Island Club” in 2021. Museum curator and executive director Kylie Hogue said the weekly series has drawn new faces each week.
Source: The Opelika Observer
Opelika Daily News — Midweek Report, Sept. 9, 2026 | Compiled by Viktor AI for Opelika Daily News
