Welcome to the
Sand Mountain Beekeepers Association
Web page

If you live in the Sand Mountain area, you are cordially invited to attend our next meeting. We meet the third Thursday of every even numbered month 6:30 pm at the Gubtersville Public Library, 1240 O'Brig ave. Everyone interested in honey bees or beekeeping is invited....

Shown left is a snapshot of a typical meeting of the Sand Mountain Beekeepers Association.   This picture was taken at the February 2009 meeting.

Our current officers are:

 

President: Dennis Lambert

EMAIL: dlambert1029@outlook.com

Phone: 256 931 5406


Vice President: Chris Gautney

EMAIL: chris.gautney@gmail.com

Phone: Pending


Secretary-Treasurer: Bob Cole

EMAIL: honeyandbees@charter.net

Phone: 256 894 4449

 

 

The Sand Mountain Beekeepers Association meets at the Guntersville Public Library on the third Thursday of every even numbered month at 6:30 pm.    The library is located at 1240 O'Brig Ave. Guntersville Al 35976.

Click here for a map to the meeting place

Driving directions

On 431 coming from Huntsville, turn on right on highway 69, as going to Arab. 1st light turn right 1 block turn left library is on the corner on your right.    Park behind the library.  

 

All beekeepers in DeKalb, Marshall and other counties in north east Alabama, are welcome to come by and visit the next meeting are/or invited to join our group.

 The only requirement to join is that you have an interest in honeybees and or beekeeping.

If you would like to be added to our EMAIL distribution list to be notified of future SMBA beekeeping news and program schedule

please click here.


NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Our next meeting will be Thursday February 16. Our guest speaker will be Bob Fanning and he will be talking about "trapping Swarms" making splits and any other topic the group needs to discuss (ie... based on questions.   Please check back here or see our Facebook page for future meetings.


The above picture was taken a few months before Euclid died.    It was taken at the dedication ceremony where Euclid turned over his last "Honey Bee Book Section" to a library.  Euclid is on the left and Bob Fanning (President of the Alabama Beekeepers Association) is on the right.  Displayed on the table between the two is the assortment of books and videos all on the subject of honey bees and or beekeeping that Euclid and the SMBA donated.  Also in attendance at the dedication was a representative from the state Department of Agriculture and several TV and news personnel.

We owe a great debt of thanks to Mr. T. (Thomas) Euclid Raines who was the founder of our organization and a significant contributor to the advancement of beekeeping in the Sand Mountain area of north Alabama.

Euclid Rains was a third generation Alabama beekeeper and a remarkable man.    He lost his sight in both eyes in an accident as a young boy yet he went on to work his way through college, operate a very successful manufacturing business and become a member of Alabama state house of representatives where he represented the 26th District from 1979 to 1991.   We lost Euclid in an automobile accident, when the car in which he was a passenger went off a bridge in heavy rain, near Geraldine, Marshall County, Ala., August 27, 2000.

After retiring from the House of Representatives Euclid became concerned about the relative lack of honey bees and beekeepers in the Sand Mountain area of north Alabama so he set out to rectify that situation.   He started by organizing the Sand Mountain Beekeepers Association (SMBA) in 1998.   Within one year, the SMBA had grown under his direction to become high among the top beekeeping organizations in the state of Alabama.

Euclid was also concerned that the art and craft of beekeeping in general had dropped to a point of relative insignificance in the area so he set out to rectify that situation.   To that end he and the SMBA started a drive to stock the Sand Mountain area public libraries with a complete set of books and videos on beekeeping.   This program proved to be a really big success by stocking 7 different area libraries with a complete section on honeybees and beekeeping.

THANKS EUCLID - WE STILL MISS YOU!

 

Thanks for dropping by our Webpage and please come visit our meetings! 

Other Alabama regional associations.

Last update 2/14/2023 brf