MOUNT VERNON — An hour-and-a-half drive away from Baldwin County sits a historical treasure that is slowly being eaten away by the ravages of time.

In the small town of Mount Vernon is the site of Searcy Hospital, which for years operated as a psychiatric hospital by the State of Alabama. Composed of more than 30 buildings, its history goes back decades, if not centuries. Despite being named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, the average person driving through would likely never know it's even there, as the buildings have been slowly crumbling and being taken over by kudzu and the passage of time. A 24/7 security presence patrols the site regularly, and the public has been rarely allowed to explore the site of the former hospital.

One of those rare occasions came on June 8 when the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Society opened the site to the public for tours of the hospital grounds. Guests could take a ride on a UTV to drive through what was once Searcy Hospital and could also tour the adjacent McCafferty House, formerly the home of Searcy Hospital Superintendent E. L. McCafferty in the early to mid-20th century.

The Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Society is a group of volunteers working to preserve the area, with many of its members having personal ties to the property. For example, the 12-foot-tall wall was built brick by brick by a group of men by a group of men whose descendants, 200 years later, are still maintaining the wall. Other members have also lived near or on the property and have grown up seeing the hospital change over time.

Stephanie Pope, president of the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Society, said it is their goal to make the place a centerpiece of the local community, starting with the neighboring McCafferty House. Every dollar made through their nonprofit goes directly to repairing the house and property, including replacing windows, repairing plumbing and restoring the exterior.

"I never imagined we'd be where we are today," Pope said. "It's truly been incredible. We've been blessed in so many ways — especially through our 'Behind the Wall' tours. These events are meaningful and vital for the community and vital for our mission."

The structures that would become Searcy Hospital can be dated back to as early as 1828 when it was first established as the Mount Vernon Arsenal, operated by the United States Army as an ordnance manufacturing facility from its creation up through the Civil War. Following the war, it was renamed Mount Vernon Barracks after Reconstruction and was used to hold Apache prisoners during the Apache War in the late 1800s, keeping Apache such as Chief Chihuahua, Chief Naiche and Geronimo.

In 1900, the Alabama legislature established the site as a mental health facility, allocating $25,000 in renovations. It was initially named the Mount Vernon Insane Hospital upon opening in 1902 but was later renamed Searcy Hospital after Dr. James T. Searcy, superintendent for Alabama State Insane Hospitals. It housed exclusively African Americans until 1969 when it was desegregated following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

TOURING HISTORY

Throughout its years, the hospital walls bore witness to disease, murder, escape attempts and even a riot. In 2010, ownership of the hospital was transferred from the federal government to the Alabama Department of Mental Health, with all the money from the sale being required to go back to mental health resources. Searcy Hospital officially closed its doors in 2012. Since its closure, the hospital has been left in disarray in the Alabama backwoods, and the state has not yet signified its intent of doing any type of preservation project.

Bryan Penn of the Alabama Department of Mental Health told GCM that it wouldn't be possible to fix many of the old buildings due to contruction materials used when they were first built differing from materials used today, such as the cement used to hold the bricks together. He also said they had engineers and architects who specialize in historic work look at the buildings, telling them there wasn't much that could be done.

Last year, the society wanted to make one last shot at a restoration, with several members deciding to give it everything they had before even thinking about giving up and letting time consume what was left. In August 2024, Pope and her organization set a goal to host the REGION 10 Mental Health Coordinators meeting for Alabama, which included members of the State Department of Education and the State Department of Mental Health. They spent countless hours at the McCafferty House, restoring as much as they could one room at a time. By Nov. 7 that year, they were able to achieve that goal.

"It was a full circle moment," Pope said. "Mental health providers sitting in the place where it all began 124 years earlier. Our guests were in awe. They toured the homes, flipping through books that once held the answers to treatment. That day gave us even more momentum."

Back in May, Pope asked the state for permission to host their "Behind the Wall" tours, which was granted. Their initial announcement of the tours drew over 100,000 views on Facebook, making the small group nervous in preparing for the crowd that would come to tour the site. Over the next month, everything was carefully planned and the general public got to pass through the grounds of Searcy Hospital for the first time in a while.

Karen Lepik, whose daughter was a patient at the hospital while it was still in operation, was one of the visitors that day. Back in 2012 just before the hospital closed for good, one of the staff members who worked there told her about the history of the place. Coming back, she said she sees the property as historical and that she thinks everybody should see it for themselves should the opportunity arise.

Pope said their primary focus is on preserving and interpreting the earlier history of the site, recognizing its history in mental health as a meaningful part of its legacy. They have interviewed many people who have lived and worked on the hospital grounds, each with a deep, human story to share, and want to get away from the aging hospital's sensationalist image and "spooky horror narrative" that has gripped the site in recent years.

"What makes Mount Vernon truly unique is its layered and often overlooked history," Pope said. "This land tells stories that span centuries: from its early Native American roots, to its strategic role in military history through the Mount Vernon Arsenal and Barracks, to its later transformation into the Searcy Hospital — one of the state's most important mental health customs. Each of these chapters holds meaning, and it's our responsibility to ensure they are not lost to time. "

Pope said the society is planning to host more tours and is currently identifying the next possible date and time to make it happen, saying everything went smoothly the first time and that there wasn't really anything she would change. Pope encourages those interested to follow the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Society on Facebook for future updates on more information.
Donations to the society can be mailed via check to Mount Vernon Historic

Preservation Society, P.O. Box 1082, Mount Vernon, AL 36560.