In 1873, Col Johann Cullmann settled in the unique little town we all know and love now called Cullman. It has never been a secret that Cullman is a unique place located between Birmingham and Huntsville. The history of Cullman is endless. Nonetheless, it is remarkably unique. There is a bond between Cullman and Germany, as Cullman’s sister city is Frankweiler, Germany.
Cullman offers an array of uniqueness, from old historic homes to the railroad system that would play a significant role in the success and thriving economy that would eventually make Cullman what it is today. The German connection is still prevalent today, with foreign exchange students coming from Germany to attend our schools throughout the county.
A rare story comes from a home located in the northeast corner of the City of Cullman. Brett and Brooke Carter were living in Gardendale, approximately thirty-seven miles south of Cullman. The couple had been eyeing Cullman as a place to live and begin raising their family. They have one little girl named Dallis and knew they wanted to raise little Dallis in a community with great schools and exceptional opportunities. There was one small issue that would have to be worked out in order to make their move happen. Brooke would have to break the news to her mom and stepfather, Kim and Bradley Bearden. Dallis is the world to Kim and Bradley, and there was no possibility of Brooke and Brett packing up and moving thirty-seven miles away with Dallis without Kim and Bradley packing up and making a move with them. The families came together and agreed on the rules and lay of the land and begun to seek out the perfect home in Cullman.
Instead of buying two separate houses, all parties agreed to purchase one bigger home. Brett, Brooke, and Dallis would eventually have the upstairs, and Kim and Bradley would remodel the basement to make a mother-in-law suite.
Now here is where the story becomes unique. While living in Gardendale, Kim and Bradley went through a similar remodel of their home. The couple had everything just as they wanted, but the bathroom floor was yet to be finished, and the funds were beginning to run low from the other improvement. Bradley knew the bathroom floor had to be completed but unsure how he would do it on a limited budget. Kim had a brilliant idea to start watching videos and eventually came across a Bob Vila, Do It Yourself, video on making a paper floor. Kim took her concept to Bradley and tried her best to convince him this would be the cheapest way to have the floor in the bathroom so they could finish the remodel. Bradley was skeptical, to begin with, but figured what could it hurt to try since the couple was low on funds and the floor had to be finished.
When Kim and Bradley started to finish out the basement in their new Cullman home, Bradley knew he wanted a paper floor. Bradley loves Disney and history, and Kim once had an exchange student from Germany that she has kept in contact with over the years. Bradley started investing his time in learning Cullman’s history along with the history of Wunsdorf, Germany, where Katharina Piesker was originally from when she became Kim’s foreign exchange student. Suddenly, the idea of a paper floor in Cullman was about to be a reality. Bradley went to work gathering old history books with anything and everything to do with Cullman, newspapers, and books with history from Wunsdorf, Germany. Bradley began taking pages from everything he had gathered and started making the kitchen floor a masterpiece. It is no secret to how he made the floor, but it does take time and patience to layout the pages in precise form. Now that the kitchen was a finished project, the couple decided if they were to have a kitchen table, they wanted to have Bradley’s next passion under them while they were enjoying dinner. Bradley has been a fan of Disney since the beginning of his time. There was no doubt the floor had to be a Disney theme. He already had an extensive collection of Disney books and searched online for a few older books to finish the job.
It may not be a secret that Cullman is unique. Still, the Bearden and Carter families can now always have the secret haven tucked away in Cullman’s northeast corner, and Dallis will always have Disney and a history lesson to learn from.
