If Eclectic had an unofficial mayor, it would be Aubrey Hornsby – visionary, entrepreneur, nature enthusiast, lover of history and town cheerleader.
Hornsby was born at Duke Hospital while his father was studying to be doctor at Duke University. After graduating from Duke, the elder Hornsby moved his family to Pensacola, Florida, where his son spent much of his childhood. During summer months, the young Hornsby’s parents sent him to spend time with his grandparents who lived in Eclectic.
“Those were my best memories, going to the lake to swim. I used to fish in the brushes of the sloughs where there weren’t any houses. Now, there are houses all the way down the slough,” said Hornsby, who now is 64 years old and makes the Elmore County town his home.
When he was 14 years old, Hornsby’s parents decided he needed a more challenging school. They moved the young man to Bell Buckle, Tennessee, to attend Webb High School.
“They said it was the toughest school they knew of, and apparently, I needed to be in a tough school,” Hornsby said.
The Webb High School was geared to “replenish the South with gentlemen after the Civil War,” which sums up nicely the man who renovated his great-grandfather’s cotton warehouse into an eclectic venue for community socials and weddings.
After graduating Webb High School, Hornsby went on to graduate Vanderbilt University with a degree in marketing.
He stayed for several years in Nashville, where he managed the Exit/In Music Forum, an event venue offering quality entertainment. With a seating capacity of only 200, the small venue has hosted the likes of Steve Martin, Hank Williams Jr., The Police, Waylon Jennings and many more.
“Watching the transformation of country music,” Hornsby said, “it was exhilarating to participate in that pivotal moment in Nashville’s history.”
This same revolution is what Hornsby hopes to see take place in Eclectic.
“Something big is about to happen here,” he said.
Eight years ago, Hornsby worked with a team of 18 architecture students from Auburn University to complete a 20-year strategic plan for the small town. The team interviewed residents of Eclectic to gain a perspective of what they wanted for the town.
“They spoke to almost 400 people, which is almost half of the town,” Hornsby explained.
The study revealed that residents did not want Eclectic to become a big town. While progress was called for, most of the people who lived there were apprehensive about quick growth.
“We want growth, but we want it the right way, if we grow,” Hornsby explained. “There is something special about this place. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there is something special here.”
The analysis also showed that Eclectic is a familybased evangelical town, and residents wanted any future entertainment to follow that same system of belief. So the Auburn University team of students created a vision that included entertainment venues, parks and gathering places.
And while Hornsby opened The Warehouse to contribute to that plan, he believes it will take a long time to bring the vision to fruition. It must be a collective effort, he said.
“My contribution is to let The Warehouse become a community center just for that,” said the businessman who works every day to better the town of Eclectic. “I work with the idea of the cross at the center of town. We have this crossroads out here, and even in the Auburn plan, somehow, they saw that crossroads as a Celtic cross. I pay attention to that and try to invite people who will honor that.”
Hornsby said he deeply cares for the town’s children and for the future created for them. As such, The Warehouse often hosts events specifically for the community, including a recent Auburn/Alabama dance for the children of the town.
This planning for the future, he said, seems to be inherited.
“My great-great-granddad built The Warehouse for my great granddad,” Hornsby said.
After the building sat empty for several years, Hornsby breathed new life into it when he opened it as a wedding venue.
Today, The Warehouse serves as a multifaceted outlet for Eclectic and surrounding communities. Many of the local churches use the facility for community gatherings to bring the Eclectic spirit into the heart of the town.
And its reputation as the ideal wedding venue has grown so quickly many of the brides who book there have come from more than 100 miles away to capture the natural hometown atmosphere of the establishment.
Hornsby also is a nature enthusiast who often travels the local hiking paths created by Eclectic’s own Jimmy Lanier, founder of the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association.
This love for nature has moved Hornsby to also begin development of an outdoor venue with creeks and bridges, ponds and lilies and trees and hills to create a natural outdoor space for additional gatherings.
For Hornsby, it’s all about the town of the Eclectic, its charm and simplicity, its quality of life, its past and its future.
