Vinegar Bend, Alabama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vinegar Bend, Alabama | |
|---|---|
 1920 scene near Vinegar Bend | |
 Location of Vinegar Bend in Washington County, Alabama. | |
| Coordinates: 31°15′25″N 88°22′16″W / 31.25694°N 88.37111°W[1] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alabama |
| County | Washington |
| Area | |
• Total | 9.47 sq mi (24.54 km2) |
| • Land | 9.45 sq mi (24.48 km2) |
| • Water | 0.019 sq mi (0.05 km2) |
| Elevation | 259 ft (79 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 178 |
| • Density | 18.8/sq mi (7.27/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code | 36584 |
| Area code | 251 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2628608[1] |
Vinegar Bend is an unincorporated census-designated place in Washington County, Alabama, United States. Vinegar Bend is 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of Chatom. As of the 2020 census, Vinegar Bend had a population of 178.[3] Vinegar Bend had a post office with ZIP code 36584 until it was closed July 1, 2010. When the bridge on the "main" road into Vinegar Bend was closed for repairs, the USPS closed the post office for good.[4]
There are a number of stories about how Vinegar Bend got its name. One is that it received its name when a container holding vinegar burst at the freight station near the river's bend. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.[5]
Lucius Beebe visited Vinegar Bend in the 1940s and wrote "Vinegar Bend itself is a communal last chapter. Once at the turn of the century, a local ancient told us, it had been a hustling township boasting a huge planing mill, numerous stores and residences and a forty-two-room-hotel. The railroad had owned half a dozen engines, each one smokier and more pyrotechnic than the next, and life had gone on at a giddy pace."[6]
