ELBA, Ala. (AP) -- A group of Coffee County residents are trying to preserve the original home of former Governor "Big" Jim Folsom, a late 19th century farmhouse listed by the Alabama Historical Commission as one of the state's most endangered sites.
Folsom, governor for two consecutive terms in 1947 and elected again in 1955, was born in Coffee County on October 9, 1908. Preservationists said the wooden home is an intact example of a late 19th century farmhouse in addition to being Folsom's birth place.
Officials and community members decided to move the home next to the old jail in Elba in 2003 after teenage vandals tried to set it on fire.
Now efforts have begun to restore the structure. Preservationists would like to open the home to the public.
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