Preserve.
Rebrand.
Promote.
Our Mission
To explore, revitalize and preserve the identity and history of the former Honey Hole community through equitable and inclusive redevelopment.
Our Approach
The Honey Hole community was once one of Huntsville’s historic Black communities that developed the infamous reputation of being one of Huntsville’s most notorious and blighted communities even as this community was in very close proximity to Lincoln Mills and Dallas Mills, two historic and now revered communities. We seek to preserve the history of this historic community, rebrand the community as a unique area that contributed to Huntsville’s history and growth, and promote the community as a renewed downtown entertainment district.
Our Vision
Making the former Honey Hole community a recognized historic district and premiere entertainment and family life location.
Our History
The name Honey Hole doesn’t appear to have been a common reference to this community until the early 1950s. Some anecdotal information suggests that the name became a common moniker for the area then because the locals during this time often mused “that one could go down in that hole to get some honey.” Still other anecdotal information suggests that the area received the Honey Hole moniker because a septic system servicer named Honey Dippers would often come to the community to dump the sewage the servicer would remove from other areas in the city.
Perhaps the reason the Honey Hole became one of the most ill-kept and disease-laden communities in Huntsville and was known as a “slum” and the worst among all the blighted areas in the city is because of the possibility that the community was a sewage dumping ground for the city. Newspapers articles during the 1940s and 1950s also indicate that the Honey Hole was a high crime area, particularly along Depot Street, which was an extension of Washington Street to Patton Street (later renamed Pratt Avenue).
The Honey Hole community was demolished as part of the Winston Street Urban Renewal Project approved by the federal government on July 10, 1957. The top section of the Honey Hole community was bordered by Pinhook Creek to its north and west (bumping up against the present day Lincoln Hills Housing Project); Josephine Street (later renamed Washington Street) to its east; and Patton Street (later renamed Pratt Avenue) to its south. The bottom portion of the community was bordered by Patton Street to its north; Yarbrough Avenue to its west; and the Southern Railroad tracks to its south and east. Families were moved out of the neighborhood, and the Huntsville Housing Authority began burning the houses down in the Honey Hole community on December 16, 1958.
Huntsville underwent massive population growth during the late 1950s and 1960s mainly due to the establishment of the U.S. Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The concept for I-565 was approved in 1968 – even though actual construction of I-565 didn’t begin until 1987 and officially opened on October 26, 1991 – by the Federal Highway Administration as the proposed Spur Interstate route to connect the then massively growing city of Huntsville with I-65. That proposed spur route was planned right through the heart of what was once the Honey Hole community while bypassing the hearts of both the Lincoln Mills community (added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010) and Dallas Mills community (added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011), which were both former southern mills communities in very close proximity with the Honey Hole, all sharing the same Southern Railroad track on one side of each of their borders.
Our Team
Dr. Edward L. Jones is the President & CEO of The Honey Hole, Inc. He has several years of nonprofit and community development experience having previously founded and led the strategic vision for the Huntsville Network for Urban School Renewal, Inc.(HNUSR) as its President & CEO. At HNUSR, he coordinated a network of partners to work within the targeted communities to ensure progress towards HNUSR’s mission and is responsible for raising $3 million dollars for HNUSR during his tenure with this organization.
Prior to his role with The Honey Hole, Inc., Jones founded HNUSR in 2011 while serving as Assistant Professor and Director of the Teacher Service Center/Associate Dean for Teacher Education & Certification at Alabama A&M University, a historically black university (HBCU). HNUSR’s initial model was based on that of the Urban Education Institute (UEI) at the University of Chicago whose mission is to “bridge education research and practice in urban public schools to foster greater equity and excellence in public schooling.” Jones intended HNUSR to be at Alabama A&M University what the UEI is at the University of Chicago assisting the university in its service mission as a community resource and Center of Excellence in urban education. Recognizing even then that a vibrant community was necessary for the academic achievement of children, Jones incorporated HNUSR as a nonprofit Center that adopted the tagline, “Transforming Schools that Transform Communities.” Recognizing the strong correlation between strong communities and strong schools and that strong communities must be among the precursors to urban student achievement, Jones then led the organization in changing its mission to focus on “Transforming Communities that Transform Schools.”
Dr. Jones’ work in building strong communities led to his interest in the historic Honey Hole community. This interest caused him to marry his experiences as a scholar with his experiences in nonprofit community development and focus his expertise totally on learning about and preserving the history of, rebranding and promoting the former Honey Hole community. It is from this interest that Dr. Jones created The Honey Hole, Inc. organization.
Dr. Jones received the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from Michigan State University in Curriculum, Teaching & Educational Policy. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Alabama A&M University and his master’s degree in inorganic chemistry from Clark Atlanta University.