Samson, AL

Samson is a Geneva County city in Alabama's Wiregrass, a farm town whose name has changed almost as often as its motto. Older histories call it McKinleyville, then Morristown, then Sampson before the spelling settled as Samson. A 1907 fire pushed the town to rebuild, and agriculture filled the gap left by the fading turpentine industry. Peanuts, corn, soybeans, livestock, and poultry still give the surrounding roads their working rhythm.

The local legend is the boxcar. During the Depression, T.S. Faulk and Company Store bought a carload of snuff that sat at the depot long enough to give Samson its nickname, Snuff City, U.S.A. The town now turns the joke into a New Year's tradition by dropping a giant Rooster snuff can. City Hall, the library, senior center, recreation department, and fire and rescue services keep daily life organized, while Camp Victory and nearby state-forest hunting and fishing areas widen the weekend map. Samson's local scoop is that a stalled rail shipment became the town's most memorable annual clock.