String of Pearls

By Harriet Outlaw
Posted 6/3/16

The Foley Railroad Depot is one of the most charming historical buildings in Baldwin County. Of the many stories taking place there, the story of Pearl is the most endearing.

Pearl turned 16 on Dec. 7, 1941, the same day as the bombing of Pearl …

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String of Pearls

Posted

The Foley Railroad Depot is one of the most charming historical buildings in Baldwin County. Of the many stories taking place there, the story of Pearl is the most endearing.

Pearl turned 16 on Dec. 7, 1941, the same day as the bombing of Pearl Harbor. So the next year as she entered her junior year in high school at Fairhope, most of the young men in her school had already enlisted. On the home front, girls worked hard in the war effort rolling bandages and working at the USO Hall in Foley (today the Gift Horse Restaurant). On the weekends, Pearl often visited her friend Olivia, whose father ran the potato shed near the railroad tracks in Foley. The girls decorated the USO Hall and made lemonade and cookies for personnel stationed at nearby military bases.  

Pearl often hitched a ride to Foley from her home in Daphne on the military supply bus, and she developed a friendship with the driver, who was stationed at Barin Field. Their romance grew, and many a Saturday night they were seen dancing on the wooden dance floor to records playing on the Victrola. Their favorite number was String of Pearls by Glen Miller, and Joey called her his Precious Pearl. One Saturday night, he asked Pearl to come outside, and there in the moonlight he asked her to marry him. He gave her a lovely strand of pearls as a token of their engagement.

They married shortly after her graduation from high school, but all too soon Joey received orders for deployment to Europe. It was a quite a day when the trainload of sailors pulled out of the Foley station. As Joey waved from the window, Pearl fingered her beloved pearls with one hand and blew him a kiss with the other. The tracks all the way to Bay Minette were lined with citizens waving flags and cheering for the men.       

Pearl began eagerly awaiting his return, making a habit of walking to the depot every afternoon just to see if perhaps he was on the train. Sadly, the dreaded yellow telegram came soon after Joey arrived in Europe. From the moment she read the message, she was never the same. Every evening about dusk, she would don the blue dress that was Joey’s favorite, put on her pearls and walk through town to the depot, where she would sit awhile on the benches there, fingering her pearl necklace. After the war ended, her mind grew even mistier, and so did her physical being. She seemed to glide about the streets and often she appeared in the hardware store, which was in the old USO Hall, and ask if anyone would like a lemonade. When the building became a skating rink, sometimes she would walk right out onto the skate floor and waltz with an invisible partner.

Soon after her death townspeople once again began to see Pearl. They often saw a misty blue dress seeming to float along the sidewalks. She was seen at the depot many afternoons, sitting on a bench awaiting the afternoon train from Bay Minette. Even after the train stopped running and the tracks taken up, she waited on her bench. She disappeared for a period of time when the depot was moved and lovingly saved by Mr. John Snook, but when it was restored to its original place, Pearl once again was seen awaiting the afternoon train.

Pearl still heads to the train depot every evening about dusk. The most precious evenings, however, are the Saturday nights when Joey joins her. Sometimes diners at the Gift Horse Restaurant notice the dinner music change to the big band sound of Glen Miller’s String of Pearls. Then they see a young couple dancing among the dining tables. He is dressed in a WWII Navy uniform; she wears a lovely blue dress and a strand of pearls.

The unabridged version of String of Pearls can be found in Haunted Baldwin County, published by History Press. Harriet Outlaw is a local folklorist and storyteller who has published several books and articles.