Coffee County High Point Trip Report
Date: July 21, 1999 (report date: July 26, 2000)
Author: Bill Jacobs
As can be seen by the spread between report submission and trip dates we turned over a new century.
However, the details of this trip are vivid. First, a little local history: I would like to say I knew the origin
of this county's name, maybe the birthplace of Mr. Starbuck, but I don't have that information. However,
nearby the highpoint is Ft. Rucker, the base for most of our country's helocopter training and a
particularly busy place during the Vietnam War era. Also, of note, in addition to the county's appellation
of Coffee, is the unusual names of some of the local cities: Opt, Enterprise, and Elba. I guess if you have
to talk about city names there must not be much else exciting to talk about.
The highpoint is located just south of the Dale/Coffee county line on highway 51. Topo map is helpful but
not essential. Highpoint is situated in a farmer's field and is a perfect conical shape with a flattened top.
It probably has been shaped to conform with agricultural desires but also resembles Indian burial mounds
I have seen in other parts of the South.
I drove into the yards of the houses located on the county line to the northeast of the highpoint but didn't
feel comfortable knocking on doors and was what not certain these were even the homes of the owner's
fields. So, I drove down the highway to the southwest and turned right up a dirt road and accessed the
farmer's field where I parked the car. Got to the top and thoroughly crossed all possible highpoints before
beginning descent. On descent, was sighted by a local farmer. After explaining to him the nature of my
mission, he was flabbergasted to learn of the importance of his homestead. We had a good old confab as I
explained to him the exciting minutia of topo maps and we parted, mutually content.