Athens and Limestone County were founded in 1818, the year before Alabama became a state, making Athens one of its oldest cities. The quaint, picturesque downtown square in Athens, the county seat, is the heart of the community. Athens and Limestone County are studies in the ongoing tug-of-war between tradition and progress. Athens is traditionally a railroad and cotton town--once ranking among the state's largest cotton producers--but since the aerospace boom of the 1960s, it has increasingly entered the orbit of the technology center of nearby Huntsville, home of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and Redstone Arsenal. These days, Athens is home to many manufacturing firms, and local civic groups are focused on revitalizing downtown and bringing tourists to Limestone County.

Kelly Kazek is editor of the News Courier, the only daily newspaper in Athens and Limestone County. She has researched and written about the history of these communities for most of her 24-year career in journalism. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from Auburn University. She has received more than 120 national and state press awards, including many for her weekly humor columns, which were collected in the 2009 book Fairly Odd Mother: Musings of a Slightly Off Southern Mom.