In its heyday, Pine Harbor played
central role in lake community
Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos courtesy of Sue Pat DuBose, Mr. and Mrs. Roy H. Holladay II, Chris Spivey, St. ClairNews-Aegis (1977), St. Clair Observer (1975)
Growing up in the 1940s and ’50s, Dr. Thomas Ingram Jr. walked through neighbors’ fields near the Coosa River, enjoying those pastures and woods for what they were.
In the 1960s, Thomas Casady and H.G. Fraim looked at the fields and saw potential … lots of it.
Casady envisioned a complex that would include an 18-hole golf course, hotel, restaurant, lounge, pro shop, marina, country club, swimming pools, tennis courts and a chapel.
Fraim, known as “Bookie,” saw a vibrant neighborhood springing up around the complex.
Both visions came to fruition.
Locals knew Casady’s complex as Pine Harbor Marina, Pine Harbor Country Club and, in its final years, Pine Harbor Golf & Racquet Club.
Not only did this golf course entertain celebrities, but it and the rest of the complex also bonded the neighborhood it produced.
“We just had our own wonderful world out here,” said Deanna Lawley. For 50 years, she has been a resident of Pine Harbor, the neighborhood Bookie envisioned.
Casady built his complex in 1964, according to a May 29, 1975, article in the St. Clair Observer, a weekly newspaper at the time.
Casady, a seasoned businessman and a veteran of the Army Air Corps, rising to brigadier general and serving as national CAP commander, put his knowledge and experience to work for his vision. He was president of ElCasa Enterprises Inc., director of Union State Bank in Pell City, vice president of V.J. Elmore Stores in Birmingham, and a founding member of Canterbury Methodist Church in Birmingham, according to Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters in Montgomery at the time of his death in 2010. He also was inducted into the CAP Hall of Honor and Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame.
Mrs. Lawley credited Fraim with the foresight to develop two residential communities nearby along Logan Martin Lake – Riviere Estates and Skyline.
Golf course
The golf course was the second phase of Casady’s development, said Jo Ann Winnette, Fraim’s sister.
Recollections of those interviewed indicated that the golf course was likely the facet with the most impact on the community. “Golf and grandchildren” brought Roy Dye and wife Joanne to the Pine Harbor neighborhood from Washington state. “When we found Pine Harbor, we said, ‘This is where we want to be,’” explained Dye, who served as treasurer during the golf course’s later years.
and Bob Spivey
Winnette, who lives in Riviere Estates, said part of the land on which the golf course was built was donated by her mother, Robbie Sue Fraim. Additional property was acquired from J.A. Masters, according to Winnette, and a 2002 worship service program from the campus’ outdoor, lakeside church, Chapel in the Pines.
Winnette said her brother had a real sense of what Casady’s Pine Harbor could be. He believed it could attract Birmingham people to the area to play golf, get away for the weekend and enjoy the lake. He promoted Pine Harbor, creating Riviere Estates from lots from their mother’s farmland.
During its peak, Pine Harbor’s golf membership exceeded 400, sources said.
The golf course “was a point in the community, a hub in this community for a long time,” said Chris Spivey, state amateur golf champ and national senior amateur champ, who has lived in Pine Harbor since 1974.
“Probably a lot of business got done on the golf course or in the clubhouse,” said Jud Alverson, president of the Pell City Council and former president of Pine Harbor Golf & Racquet Club.
The golf course and Pine Harbor complex were assets in recruiting industry to Pell City, noted Ron Helms, Pine Harbor resident and former president of the club. “It was a very good addition to the city.”
Having noted golf instructor Jimmy Ballard on staff did not hurt either. Ballard was nationally known for the very specific technique he taught.
“There were quite a few professional golfers who came there to take lessons from him,” said Reed Alexander, who served on the board of directors. J.C. Snead, Leonard Thompson, Curtis Strange, Fuzzy Zoeller and Jim Colbert were among the pro golfers who reportedly received instruction from Ballard at Pine Harbor.
Plus, touring pro Mac McLendon made Pine Harbor his home course while he was on the PGA Tour in the 1970s, Mrs. Lawley said.
Encounters with the famous were not uncommon.
Mrs. Lawley and husband Barnett played tennis doubles with Mr. and Mrs. Zoeller. Alverson and a group of guys shot impromptu rounds with pro golfer Boo Weekley. Blind golf champ Charley Boswell was a regular.
Long-time Pine Harbor resident Sylvia Martin said she got to meet former NBA star Charles Barkley there. Florida State University’s noted football coach Bobby Bowden and University of Alabama coaching legend, Paul “Bear” Bryant, played the course, too, said Roy H. Holladay II, who lives in Pine Harbor.
The golf course was an outlet for different ages and abilities.
Cole Giddens of Cropwell was able to fulfill his wish of golfing every day in retirement and even managed the course and clubhouse for a decade.
Alverson was playing at Pine Harbor before he was old enough to rent a golf cart. He was club champ as a teen.
Kim Wilcox of Moody was Pine Harbor’s golf pro and course manager in the 1990s, and her son, Will Wilcox, played the course as a youth. He went on to the PGA and Korn Ferry tours, according to Kim, who became executive director of Birmingham Golf Association and women’s golf coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Sue Pat DuBose’s son, Brent, played in amputee tournaments at the course. “We had people to come all the way from London, England, to those tournaments.”
Spivey (“Chris Jr.”) saw golf and Pine Harbor’s course transform her mother, “Chris Sr.”
This started in the late 1970s. Chris Sr. was completely uninterested in golf. Chris Jr. got her mother to caddy for her in a Mississippi tournament. Chris Jr. finished with a national ranking, and “Mom went absolutely bonkers over golf.”
Chris Sr. learned to play golf. After her husband, Bob, became president of Pine Harbor Golf & Racquet Club, Chris Sr. managed the golf course. Chris Jr. said the course did well in the 1980s under her mother’s care.
Until Chris Sr.’s death in 1986, Mr. and Mrs. Spivey ran the golf course seven days a week almost by themselves, said Chris Jr., who was the weekend cart person.
Leading up to Chris Sr.’s management, the course sat unused for a time because of an ownership change, according to Mrs. Lawley.
To get the golf course reopened, Pine Harbor residents did what Pine Harbor residents do when situations arise: they banded together and took action, said Chris Jr.
“Everybody got on their lawn mowers and went over there and cut the fairways and cut the greens. Mother redid every single one of the sand traps herself … before they put the sand in them. Ruined my grandfather’s tiller (in the process),” Chris Jr. said with a laugh.
Hotel, restaurant and marina
The hotel, restaurant and marina were part of the first phase of development, said Winnette. The marina also featured covered and dry storage.
The hotel and restaurant sat side by side. A lounge, pro shop and swimming pool finished out that portion of the complex.
Mrs. Lawley said actress Sally Field and her family stayed at the hotel in 1975 during filming of the movie, Stay Hungry, in Birmingham.
Barnett Lawley and Field’s husband played tennis together during that time, and the Lawleys’ son, Cannon, swam with Fields’ children in the Lawleys’ pool. The Lawleys entertained Field and her family in their home, and the two families became friends.
One particular day, news spread quickly around the neighborhood about Field’s degree of undress while sunbathing at one of Pine Harbor’s pool, the Lawleys said.
The restaurant’s formal dining area could accommodate about a hundred patrons, Mrs. Lawley continued. That was in addition to the downstairs and outdoor dining areas.
The restaurant’s large windows offered an unhindered view of the marina, brilliant sunsets, and sailboats and other vessels bobbing up and down in the multitude of slips.
Bear Bryant tried to dine at the restaurant one time but drew such a crowd that he could not eat his meal, said Winnette.
At Casady’s request during Bryant’s visit, Fraim very secretively took the coach and Mrs. Bryant for an evening boat ride on Logan Martin Lake. Winnette said Bryant sent her brother a letter, thanking him for the excursion.
Mrs. Lawley noted that Casady began developing the Pine Harbor complex before Logan Martin Dam went into operation, which created Logan Martin Lake.
“(He) set piers (for the marina) before there was a drop of water,” Mrs. Lawley said.
For years, Maurice “Pops” Wyatt managed the marina, hotel and other aspects of the complex, said Holladay. The Wyatt family lived in a house on the premises.
Pops believed in giving patrons exceptional service, Holladay noted. For example, Pops made certain that people who spent weekends at Pine Harbor found their boat fueled and waiting in the water when they arrived.
At the height of the complex’s popularity, all of the slips in the marina were occupied, with a waiting list, said Barnett Lawley.
Chapel in the Pines
Part of Casady’s plan was for the people of Pine Harbor to be able to worship together. Casady built Chapel in the Pines for that reason, notes a 2002 chapel service program quoting the June 3, 1965, St. Clair News-Aegis. The first service at the outdoor chapel was June 6, 1965. First United Methodist Church in Pell City was sponsor of the services and a different pastor preached each week.
On Sunday mornings during summer months, families came to the chapel on foot, by car or boat to what became known as the “come as you are” church.
“We really enjoyed that,” said Mrs. DuBose, who with husband John had only to walk across the street.
Following the worship service, many would eat breakfast together at Pine Harbor’s restaurant, said Martin.
The residents gave much support to the chapel, she continued. Before the first service each summer, they came with brooms and rakes to clean around the pews and podium. That little lakeside chapel tucked among the pines was also the site of many weddings, Martin said. The receptions often were at the country club.
Clubhouse
In its lifetime, Pine Harbor had two different clubhouses.
The first one was across Pine Harbor Road from the hotel and restaurant.
Themed parties, fashion shows, galas, Christmas festivities, the Chevy 6 band, and dances featuring Dale Serrano and the music of Bob Cain and the Cane Breakers filled the schedule. The clubhouse had a pool, too.
In 1984, the DuBoses purchased the property from Ballard and lived there until 2010.
Ballard went to the exclusive Doral Golf and Country Club in Miami, Mrs. Lawley said.
Mrs. DuBose, a golfer, loved that her home was right next to the course. The tile in the bathrooms bore scuffs from golf-shoe traffic during the country club years. Though the DuBoses remodeled the home, they left the scuffed tile in one bathroom, just for nostalgia.
On occasion, the DuBoses had unexpected visitors – with golf clubs in hand – who thought the home was still the clubhouse.
The final Pine Harbor clubhouse was a smaller house near the golf course. It was where Wyatt’s family had lived when Pops was manager at the complex, said Holladay.
Changing times
Through the years, ownership of the Pine Harbor complex changed several times.
Sometimes, the efforts of a new owner were successful and, sometimes, they were not.
“It really had its highs and its lows,” said Barnett Lawley, former commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
In the 1970s, Lawley, Ballard, Billy Church and Eddie Lawrence formed a partnership to rescue the Pine Harbor complex from receivership, where it had gone under the previous owner, Mrs. Lawley said. As owners, the four partners worked to attract celebrity golfers and name-brand entertainment, demonstrating the value of Pine Harbor to the area. Club membership soared to its highest and Pine Harbor enjoyed its greatest popularity.
“And it stayed that way a long time,” Mrs. Lawley said.
The final owner in Pine Harbor’s history gave Pine Harbor Golf & Racquet Club (an association consisting of the membership) a long-term lease on the golf course and tennis courts.
Yet, circumstances eventually took their toll. First, an economic downturn in 2008 significantly reduced the number of golf memberships. Then, the lease expired. The City of Pell City’s efforts to negotiate a lease agreement with the owner failed.
Years earlier, the owner had razed the hotel and restaurant and filled in the nearby swimming pool. Subsequently, the second clubhouse was demolished too.
Chapel in the Pines moved to a spot in Pell City’s Lakeside Park, and the marina is home to University Marine at Pine Harbor Marina.
Now, remnants of the greens and fairways sit as quiet reminders of what used to be.
Recalling Pine Harbor’s glory days, Chris Jr. said, “The complex was fantastic, just a little ahead of its time. … We were so blessed to have that in our community for so long.”
Additional assistance with this article provided by Roger Pate and Savannah Pritchett, MS, RD, LD.
Memories of Pine Harbor
Just the mention of Pine Harbor’s golf course and the rest of the complex brings to people’s minds the memories of milestones they achieved, the special times they experienced and the funny things that happened there.
Here are but a few:
- “The only two holes-in-one I’ve had in my life were (at Pine Harbor and) on the same hole – No. 5,” said Jud Alverson.
- Robin Glenn of Cropwell admits she knew nothing about golf when she went to work at the clubhouse in 2009. One day, a lady golfer ordered a sandwich to take on the course with her. Glenn prepared and gave the sandwich to the woman. Later, when the golfer returned to the clubhouse, she told Glenn that someone might find a sand wedge on the 18th hole. Curious as to why the woman had tossed the sandwich, Glenn asked, “You didn’t eat it?”
- Chris Spivey Sr. was resourceful during her years of managing Pine Harbor’s golf course. Wanting to make the course’s grass lush, she enlisted a chicken farmer’s help to put manure on the fairways. “It did a good job,” chuckled her daughter, Chris Spivey Jr., in telling the story. “But you couldn’t go to the golf course for a week because of the smell.”
- In the 1980s, some bigger courses limited weekend playing time for women. Chris Spivey Jr. believed women should be able to play any time and be accepted into men’s tournaments. Her parents – Chris Sr. and Bob Spivey – instituted both of Chris Jr.’s suggestions while they ran Pine Harbor’s golf course.
- Chris Spivey Sr. was instrumental in starting Pine Harbor’s bridge club, even though she knew nothing about the game. “She loved every minute of it,” Chris Spivey Jr. said.
- Pops Wyatt’s daughter, Cathy, ran a concession stand while her dad was manager of the marina and other parts of the Pine Harbor complex. Roy H. Holladay II met Cathy through her work … and married her.
