Junk Shoppin' in 'Bama

Among the many things I've been doing during my stay in Alabama, I've been hitting up lots of small town junk shops searching for treasures. The South seems to lay claim to this unique type of shop... something I haven't run across in any other part of the country. These go beyond thrift stores. They're not charity shops. They're just... junk shops. Need a pencil drawing of a Nascar driver? They've got you covered. Need a box of fake fingernails? Yep, they've got that too (I spared you the photo of that one). An old kitchen sink? I'm sure there's one lying around somewhere.

But among the junk there are certainly treasures to be found. In the back of this shop, we found a warehouse full of old linens, old clothes and shoes, suitcases, dishes... pretty much every kind of junk you could think of. It was hot as Hades (no air-conditioning on a typically hot Southern day) but my sister (that's her in the photo) and I braved the sweltering conditions to rummage through the piles. At the end of our many stops in towns with names like Sylacauga and Childersburg, I had collected a bag full of vintage dresses for the shop, another floppy wool hat for myself and a piece of cream colored pottery to add to my collection for the dining room table.