Historic preservationists are trying to save a building located at a one-time mental hospital in southwestern Alabama.
The Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Society is raising money to restore a mansion at the old Searcy Hospital near Mobile.
The house was built in the late 1800s. It was the home of hospital superintendent E.L. McCafferty in the early 1900s.
The state closed Searcy in 2012. Many of the 19th-century buildings at the site are dilapidated, and the newer 20th-century buildings are dormant.
The chairman of the preservation group, Bill Davies, tells WKRG-TV the Searcy site was originally used as a fort before it was converted into the home of a mental hospital.
The historic society is holding a tour of lights at the McCafferty home this weekend and next.