2009 ~Sunday August 23, Lawrence County Alabama Historical Markers

We started out in Courtland, taking pictures —first the Harris Simpson. Most of the other markers were in or near the city park.

Harris Simpson House

This circa 1820 house is thought to be one of the oldest houses in Courtland. Occupying a lot platted by the Courtland Land Company in 1818, the house faces North toward what was once the main Tuscumbia Road. Dr. Jack Shackelford (1790-1857), an early settler and legislator, is believed to have lived in this house in the mid-1800s. After a nearby Civil War skirmish, the house served as a military hospital. In 1895, Mrs. Susan Jackson Harris, granddaughter of James Jackson of the famous Forks of Cypress Plantation near Florence and wife of John Hunter Harris of Rosemont Plantation, acquired the house. Her daughter, Caroline Harris Simpson, lived here until 19,72, and her descendants owned the house until 1995. In 2,001, the Alabama Preservation Alliance purchased and placed a protective easement on the property, which required all future owners to preserve the house and grounds.

This is a good example of the early American "I" house, so called for its tall, narrow side profile. The original part of the house is two stories, with two large rooms and a central hall on both floors. The braced-frame construction, a framing system that uses corner posts and bracing, is covered with beaded siding. Delicate Federal-period mantelpieces, molded trim, chair rails, and a paneled staircase grace the interior. Traces of faux~bois, a decorative painting technique popular in the 19th century, also survive. An unusual feature is the shed-roofed "chimney pent" (or closet) abutting the west chimney. Side and rear additions were added in the early 1900s.

The Town of Courtland 1819

Federal lands in this area were first sold in 1818 and quickly purchased by settlers and speculators. A group of investors calling themselves the "Courtland Land Company," consisting of William H. Whitaker, James M. Camp, William F. Broadnax, John M. Tifford, Benjamin Thomas, and Bernard McKiernan, acquired the future town site and had it laid out in a gridiron street pattern containing 300 lots. These were put up for sale immediately. In hopes that Courtland would become the county seat, the present square was set aside for a courthouse. Alabama's territorial legislature incorporated Courtland on December 13, 1819.

Major Lewis Dillahunty and his wife, Lucinda, reputedly settled at Courtland in 1816. Dillahunty, a surveyor, had fought with Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. Soon afterward, wealthy planters, with their families and slaves, arrived from Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Georgia. They were joined by merchants, artisans, lawyers, doctors, preachers, and innkeepers as Courtland became the trade center for the surrounding farms and plantations. The Courtland Herald, a newspaper, was established in the 1820s. For most of its history, Courtland's population has ranged between 400 and 700.

Courtland's Early Architecture

Courtland's Early Architecture During the early 1800s, an assortment of wooden, brick, and log business structures surrounded the town square. Most of the old buildings on the square today (on the North and east sides) date from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The fronts of some of them feature characteristic Victorian detailing. At the northeast corner of the square are four 19th-century stone mounting blocks placed for the convenience of horseback riders. The tall red cedars seen throughout Courtland and along the streets radiating from the square have been a feature of the landscape since the early days. 

Courtland's Early Architecture 1820-1940

Courtland's Early Architecture: Structures within the Courtland historic district represent over 150 years of changing tastes in building design. Although only a few of Courtland's earliest buildings survive, the Federal-style architecture of the oldest houses suggests the community's strong original ties to Virginia and other upper South states. Typical early residences, whether frame or brick, feature a gable roof with tall chimneys at each end. Sometimes, weatherboarding conceals log walls underneath. Many buildings dating from the 1850s through the 1930s reflect Italianate, Victorian, and neoclassical architectural influences. There are also early 20th-century "bungalows", some built of native sandstone. Courtland still counts about twenty buildings predating the Civil War (1861). 

The African ~ American Experience

African Americans played a very significant role in the early history of Courtland. Most came as slaves from the older southern states to help clear the land, plant cotton and corn, and serve as household domestics. President Thomas Jefferson's great-grandson, William S. Bankhead, brought his personal servant and valet, Jupiter, from Monticello when he settled near Courtland in the 1840s. Skilled slave craftsmen also assisted in the construction of many Courtland buildings before the Civil War. After emancipation, most African Americans earned their livelihood as tenants and small farmers. 

The African ~ American Experience

Before being officially denied political participation by the state constitution of 1901, Courtland's African-American community produced the most successful local Republican party organization in North Alabama, on occasion uniting with area whites to create a biracial government. H. H. Stewart, a graduate of Williams College (Mass.), was an outstanding educational and political leader of the Courtland black community during this period. In the early 20th century, many Courtland-area African Americans migrated to the North and the Upper Midwest to seek greater economic and social opportunities.

The Red Rovers / Red Rovers Roster

A volunteer military company was organized at Courtland in 1835 to aid Texas in its struggle for independence. Commanded by Dr. Jack Shackelford, a local physician, the company derived its name from the color of the homespun uniforms made by citizens of Courtland. In the first battle, Rovers were assigned to the regiment cut off, captured at Coleta, March 20, 1836. Surrendered on promise of return to U. S. On March 27, company and others, 365 men, executed at Goliad by order of Gen. Santa Anna. Shackelford and seven other Rovers were spared. He later escaped and returned to Courtland. The Goliad incident, along with the Alamo, rallied U.S. support and guaranteed Texas's freedom.

The Red Rovers / Red Rovers Roster

* Capt. J. Shackelford • * Lt. Wm. C. Francis •Sgt. F. G. Shackelford • Sgt. A. J. Foley • * Sgt. J. D. Hamilton • Sgt. J. D. Hamilton • Sgt. C. M. Short • Cpl. J. H. Barkley • Cpl. H. H. Bentley • Cpl. David Moore • Cpl. Andrew Winter • Patrick H. Anderson • John N. Barnhill • Joseph Blackwell • * George W. Brooks • * L. M. Brooks • T. E. Burbridge • F. T. Burt • J. W. Cain • Thomas Cantwell • Seth Clark • John G. Coe • * D. Cooper • Harvey Cox • R. T. Davidson • George L. Davis • H. C. Day • A. Dickson • Alfred Dorsey • H. L. Douglas • W. C. Douglas • James E. Ellis • Samuel Farley • * Joseph Fenner • Robert Fenner • J. G. Ferguson • E. B. Franklin • D. Gamble M. C. Garner • J. E. Grimes • William Gunter • William Hemphill • John Hyser • John Jackson • John N. Jackson • H. W. Jones • Charles McKinley • John H. Miller • D. A. Murdock • William Quinn • W. F. Saavage • J. N. Seaton • W. S. Shackelford • * Wilson Simpson • B. Strunk • James Vaughan • Wm. E. Vaughan • James S. Wilder • Robert W. Wilson* Escaped at execution, on patrol, or on leave when the unit was captured.  

Early Roads

Tennessee Street along the north side of the square was originally part of Gaines' Trace, a horse path laid out in 1807 under the direction of Capt. Edmund Pendleton Gaines of the U. S. Army. From Melton's Bluff on the Tennessee River, the trace ran westward to Cotton Gin Port on the Tombigbee, in present-day Mississippi. Another crucial early thoroughfare was the Byler Road (1819), which ran southward through Courtland and linked the Tennessee Valley to Tuscaloosa and lower Alabama. 

One of the South's First Railroads, 1832

Seeking a means to ship cotton and other goods around the treacherous Muscle Shoals of the Tennessee River, area planters and merchants met at Courtland in 1831 to consider a rail line. On January 13, 1832, the 50-mile-long Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur railroad was chartered. Early trains were usually horse-drawn, although an English-made steam locomotive was acquired in 1834. Absorbed by the Memphis & Charleston line after 1850, the railway was largely destroyed during the Civil War. The rebuilt railroad became part of the Southern system in 1898.

American Legion - Post 58

On April 20, 1934, a temporary charter was issued for Gen. Joe Wheeler Post 58, Courtland, Alabama. On November 12, 1946, a permanent charter was granted, and the name was changed to Wiley Horton Post 58 in honor of the deceased son of State Department Commander C.C. Horton.

American Legion - Post 58

The American Legion is the largest veterans' organization in the United States. It seeks to advance the aims and interests of all veterans. The Legion has 16,000 local posts. Each year the American Legion sponsors over 3,000 baseball and other athletic teams, 3,600 Boy Scout Troops; also, national high school oratory contests to promote the study of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

2008 ~Saturday, August 8, Morgan County Sites, Historic Markers, Cook Museum, Jesse Owens Museum & Oakville Indian Mount Park

We took hwy 20 to Decatur, stopping to take a picture of the Joseph & Annie Wheeler Markers located along the railroad tracks. At this time the Wheeler Plantation is being restored and the public is not allowed to tour it.

General Joseph Wheeler
"Fighting Joe Wheeler"
Confederate Cavalry Commander
of Army of Tennessee.
Major~General, Cavalry, U.S.A.
in Spanish American War Soldier~Statesman~Author~Planter
One of Alabama's representatives
in the Statuary Hall in Washington.

Home of Annie Wheeler

Born July 31, 1868, ~ Died April 10, 1955
Daughter of General Joseph Wheeler Gallantly served her country three times on foreign soil.
Volunteer nurse, Santiago, Cuba~1898.
Spanish~American War and Manila, P.I. ~1899 during Philippine Insurrection.
Red Cross Worker with A.E.F. France, World War I ~1918.
Beloved as a humanitarian and benefactor of mankind.

Hubby drove around Decatur, stopping to let me out to take pictures. There were several War Memorials at the Morgan County Courthouse.

Confederate Memorial 

War Memorials at Morgan County Courthouse

A County Older than the State Morgan County
Alabama Territorial Legislature created this county in 1818 from lands ceded by Cherokee Indians in 1816. The county was first named Cotaco, for the large creek in the county.
Named Morgan County in 1821 for Maj. Gen. Daniel Morgan, a Revolutionary hero, was a winner over the British at the Battle of Cowpens. The country was often invaded by both armies in War between the States.
Until 1891, the county seat was in Somerville; it moved to Decatur. Named for Stephen Decatur, the naval hero against Tripoli pirates and in the War of 1812.

 We stopped at the Old State Bank we saw a couple of  Civil War Marks, there are many other Civil War Markers throughout the city. Decatur has a Civil War Trail which we did not take.

Old State Bank

Hood’s Middle Tennessee Campaign and The Battle for Decatur
“A Hard Nut To Crack”
— The Battle for Decatur —
Following the fall of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood, Commander of the Army of Tennessee, began a series of maneuvers against the Union line of supply running from Atlanta through Northwest Georgia, North Alabama, and into Nashville.

Hood crossed the Chattahoochee River in late September and marched north. Unable to gain any advantage in Northwest Georgia, Hood turned to cross the Tennessee River at Guntersville. However, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry could not join forces with Hood if he crossed there. Union gunboats were also active around Guntersville. Furthermore, the damaged Memphis and Charleston Railroad ran from Confederate supply depots in North Mississippi to Decatur. By early October, Hood considered crossing the Tennessee River at Decatur, and on October 9, he ordered the railroad be repaired to that place. Accordingly, the Army of Tennessee detoured for Decatur.
Hood’s army arrived outside Decatur on October 26, and for three days the small Union garrison defended the crossing with determination. Hood soon discovered that Decatur was “a hard nut to crack.” On the morning of October 30, his army marched through Courtland for Florence / Tuscumbia

Decatur and The Civil War in North Alabama
“A Hard Nut To Crack”
— The Battle For Decatur —
Decatur had close to 800 residents in 1860, not many more than the 606 persons counted in the 1850 census. Included in the 1860 census were 267 white males, 206 white females, three free blacks including two males and one female, and 130 slaves of which 56 were males and 74 were females. The town changed hands during the Civil War at least eight times, because of its strategic importance astride the junction of two railroads, and its location on the Tennessee River. Jefferson Davis passed through twice, once on his way to the inauguration as the Confederacy’s first and only President, and again on his way home after release from prison in 1867. Confederate Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, P.G.T. Beauregard, John Bell Hood, and Nathan Bedford Forrest also fought or gathered their troops here. Future U. S. president James Garfield visited here as a Colonel, along with Union Generals such as William T. Sherman, James B. McPherson, Robert S. Granger, James B. Steedman, and Grenville M. Dodge. Both Confederate and Union regiments drawn from the surrounding countryside were organized at Decatur and fought in the major battles of the War.

Old State Bank Building
Erected 1833, Cost $9,482. Classic Revival design. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Decatur Branch, Bank of The State of Alabama. Chartered in 1832 by the state legislature, and profitable until 1837, the charter was revoked in 1842 and closed. 1842-1901 used as a residence, Union Army supply depot, and First National Bank. 1901 purchased by Dr. F. Y. Cantwell. Renovated in 1934 by C. W. A. as a museum and Civic Hall. Donated by Mrs. W. B. Edmundson and American Legion Post No. 15 to City. Restored 1982. The site is original lot No. 60 of the 1824 Town Plan.

What is left of the train tracks in Historic Decatur 

Simp McGhee Restaurant 

Princess Theater

Originally built in 1887 to serve as the horse stable for the Casa Grande Hotel, the Princess was transformed into a theatre in 1919. At the beginning of the 1920s when vaudeville was all the rage, the Princess was remodeled to host vaudeville acts and other live performances, and in 1940 it was again remodeled, this time in art deco, to become, in the words of Albert Frahn, "... the South's brightest gem.".

In 1978 the Princess was rescued from demolition through its purchase by the City of Decatur. Since that time private citizens have combined forces with the city in an ongoing effort to renovate the Princess. As part of the movement to keep the Princess Theatre alive, in 1995 it was added to The National Register of Historic Places

Blue & Gray Museum
Robert Parham, the owner, is very knowledgeable about the Civil War. He has one of the largest private collections of Civil War weaponry which includes swords and knives. Open Monday- Saturday 10-5PM for a small cost of $5.00.

Nathan Bedford Forest
 (1821-1877) With no formal military training, Nathan Bedford Forrest became one of the leading cavalry figures of the Civil War.

Miniature Cannon 

Spiders in Cooks Natural Science Museum 

Cooks Natural Science Museum
It may be the most impressive natural science collection you have ever seen and it's free!
The museum originated from the private collection of Mr. Cook. The museum features more than fifty species of insects, animals, and water life from the Tennessee Valley.

Rocks inside the Cooks Natural Science Museum 

Decatur Train Depot
This is not the original site of the train depot. The original depot, during the Civil War, sat down by the river. This depot was built in 1929.

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens
Born near this site on September 12, 1913, to Henry Cleveland and Emma (Fitzgerald) Owens, who were sharecroppers and the offspring of freed slaves, Jesse was destined to attain immortality in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Although he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, at age 9, his early years here in Lawrence County, Alabama, helped mold his noble character. After high school, he enrolled at Ohio State, where on May 19, 19,3,5, at a Big Ten Conference meet, he broke and tied various world track and field records, thus beginning the legend. He married Minnie Ruth Solomon on August 10, 1935. In August 1936, he achieved greatness, setting and tying several world records while winning four gold medals. Adolph Hitler, because of his racial views, stormed out of the arena refusing to present Jesse with his medals. He returned to the U.S. to a hero's welcome and a ticker tape parade. Due to the prevalent racism of the time, however, he was able to obtain financial security only in later years. Four U.S. presidents honored him. Although he died on March 3,1, 198,0, in Tucson, Arizona, his memory will endure the ages.

Jesse Owens Museum Danville Alabama
Twenty-five volunteers from north Alabama Hampton Hotels landscaped, primed, and painted at the park on Thursday, October 27. Hampton Hotels contributed more than $38,000 toward the restoration of this historical landmark, which is the 25th roadside attraction refurbished by Hampton’s “Save-A-Landmark” program. Hampton has provided more than $1.5 million for the restoration of America’s roadside treasures since its inception in 2000. 

Statue of Jesse Owens

Streight's Raid
On April 26, 1863, a Union raiding party of 1500, including the 51st and 73rd IN, 3rd OH, 18th IL, and local men from two companies of the 1st AL Calvary, left Tuscumbia for Russellville. Led by Col. Abel Streight, their objective was to cut Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's railroad supply lines at Rome, GA. As a diversion, Gen. G.M. Dodge with some 8,000 Union troops moved into northern Lawrence County to occupy the attention of Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. While Dodge distracted Forrest, Streight marched from Russellville to Mt. Hope on April 27. As Dodge retreated toward Corinth, MS, Forrest was informed of Streight's movements. The next day, Streight confiscated some 200 mules and horses before arriving in Moulton after sunset. Leaving Moulton at 1:00 A.M. on April 29, the raiders rode along this old road. At the same time, Forrest began to pursue Streight. The next morning at Day's Gap, Forrest engaged and fought to the mountaintop where Streight laid an ambush. Losing some 40 men in this ambush, Moulton native Col. Phillip Roddy of the 4th AL was ordered to Decatur. After a series of skirmishes, facing dwindling supplies, and believing his forces outnumbered, Streight surrendered to Forrest's 500 men on May 3 1863, in Cherokee County, AL a few miles from Rome, GA.

Creek Indian Removal
Black Warriors' Path played a critical role as a route for Creek Removal. On December 19, 1835, some 511 Creek emigrants passed along the path through present-day Oakville Indian Mounds Park. In September 1836, a group of Creeks left Tallassee in a wagon train of 45 wagons, 500 ponies, and 2,000 Indians. This contingent followed along Black Warriors' Path and passed through the present-day Oakville Indian Mounds Park on September 23, 1836. It's ironic that the route used by General John Coffee's army and Davy Crockett, to defeat the Creeks, was one of the same routes used in Creek Removal. Alabama remains the home of many Creek Indians today.

Cherokee Indian Removal
In the ear1800,0's, Cherokees of this area were under the leadership of Doublehead and Tahlonteskee. After Doublehead's assassination in 1807, Tahlonteskee notified President Jefferson that he and his people were ready to move west. In 1808 Tahlonteskee and 1,130 followers moved to present-day Dardanelle, Arkansas. That band became known as Cherokees West and later the Old Settlers. The Blue-Water Town Creek Village was the final Alabama home of both Cherokee leaders, Doublehead is supposedly buried in Butler Cemetery on Blue Water Creek in Lauderdale County. Alabama remains the home to many Cherokees today.

Oakville Indian Mound
Rising 27 feet high, this is the largest woodland mound in Alabama, with a base covering 1.8 acres and a flat top of over one acre. Built by prehistoric Copena Indians, the mound is 2,000 years old and constructed from earth probably carrying one basket at a time from the Oakville pond area, 300 yards to the east. The Copena, named for their use of copper and Galena, were prolific mound builders, as shown by the remains of over 20 mounds in the surrounding area. They were primarily farmers and hunter-gatherers who engaged in ritual burials, with the dead often encased in a putty mixture of clay, ash, and crushed shells. They were great traders in conch shells, marble, greenstone, copper, and Galena, all of which were found as mortuary offerings during the 1924 Smithsonian excavation of the Alexander Mound four miles to the southwest. Although the Oakville mound has never been excavated, it was the center of the Copena society of the Moulton Valley and was used for ceremonial, religious, social, and cultural purposes. 

Cherokee Council House Museum 
The Oakville Indian Mounds Museum is based on a seven-sided Cherokee council house. This type of council house was used during the cooler months and an open-sided rectangular pavilion during warmer weather. The descriptions used for the museum's construction came from Lt. Henry Timberlake, who visited the Cherokee capitol at Chota in 1761, and William Bartram who visited Crowe in 1765. Timberlake's description: "The townhouse, in which are transacted all public business and diversions, is raised with wood, and covered over with earth and has all the appearance of a small mountain at a little distance. It is built in the form of a sugar loaf, and large enough to contain 500 persons, but extremely dark, having besides the door, which is narrow that but one at a time can pass, and that after much winding and turning, but one small aperture to let the smoke out, which is so ill contrived, that most of it settle in the ancient amphitheater, the seats being raised one above another, leaving an area in the middle in the center of which stands the fire: the seats of the head warriors are nearest it." The seven sides represent the matrilineal clans of the Cherokee: Wild Potato, Long Hair, Paint, Wolf, Deer, Bird, and Blue.
 

Town of Oakville
Based on a large number of local mounds and artifacts, this site shows evidence of Indian occupation over 2,000 years ago. According to the tradition of 1780, Oakville became a Cherokee town located on the Black Warriors' Path. By the early 1820s, Celtic people of Scots~Irish ancestry had moved here in large numbers often intermarrying with the local Indians. Prominent names of this era included Irwin, Hodges, McNutt, McWhorter, and McDaniel. Wiley Galloway was a teacher of the first known school in 1824. On December 9, 1833, the state legislature incorporated Oakville with town limits set 1/4 mile in every direction from the spring in the public square. The town flourished and at various times had a post office, tan yard, tavern, (Inn), Oakville Female Academy (1837), general stores, and brass band. Some early store owners included G. W. McNutt, Thomas Sparks, Fleming Hodges, and others. Judge Charles Gibson's hog pen on the natural drain of the public spring led to the waters backing up, becoming contaminated, and causing the c1855 "bloody flux" epidemic. This gave Oakville its reputation as an unhealthy site and contributed to its gradual decline. The rising waters started the persistent legend that the town had sunk.

Multi-Cultural Indian Events Welcome 

The Oakville Ceremonial Woodland Mound is the largest Indian mound at Oakville covering some 1.5 acres of land and rising some 27 feet high. Believed to be a cultural center during the Woodland Period of North Alabama, the Oakville Ceremonial Woodland Mound is the largest in the State of Alabama. 

The mound is estimated to have been built during the Woodland Period which covered a period from 1,000 B.C. to 1,000 A.D. The mound was made by one basket full of dirt at a time. 

Stone spades were used to dig the soil from borrow pits and transfer by baskets to the mound site. 

The probable burrow pit was the depression that now contains Oakville Pond, the body of water northeast of the mound. 

The only known modifications to the Oakville Ceremonial Woodland Mound are from cutting off of a lower portion of the sides to provide more area farming. In addition, the top of the mound has been repeatedly plowed which has caused the top edge of the mound to get steeper and probably flatter. 

The steps on the side of the mound were placed in an old roadbed leading to the top of the mound. 

The Oakville area was considered a religious center and social complex of the Middle Woodland Indian people with outlying villages and farms. Additional Copena mounds located nearby support the complex social center theory. 

The Copena people lived during this period from 1,000 B.C. to 1,000 A.D. Their society did not extend much farther south than the Warrior Mountains that can be seen to the south of the Ceremonial Mound or north to the Hogohogee (Tennessee) River or “River of Cherokees”. 

Copena Burial Mound
Copena Indians built this mound with baskets of dirt some 2000 years ago. The Copena name was derived from their use of copper and galena (lead ore) found in their burials along with gorgets and celts. The mounds were a burial site with the dead encased in a plaster of clay covered with layers of soil. The many burial mounds within a few miles are evidence of an extensive cultural center. The perennial springs and fertile lands encircled by West Flint Creek contributed to a large population. The Copena society flourished here for hundreds of years and they raised a variety of domesticated crops. Some 17 miles north of the Tennessee River provided an inexhaustible food supply of freshwater mussels. In the mid-1800s settlers were buried in the mounds under false stone crypts. In 1924, Smithsonian archaeologists noted three other burial mounds in the areas that were being leveled by farmers

Indian Mound

Historic Indians
Five Historic Indian tribes lived in this area. By 1701, the Yuchi were residing at the shoals on the Tennessee River. In the early 1700s, the Yuchi left, some moving to the Cherokee Nation on the Hiwassee River, TN, and others to Chattahoochee River, GA. After a dispute with the Cherokee, some Yuchi moved south to the ALGA border. Although some Creeks lived in the area by the late 1700s, their lands lay south of the Tennessee Divide. The treaty of Fort Jackson took Creek lands in southern Lawrence County in 1814. The Shawnees moved to the shoals from the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers. Leftwich (1935) says the Chickasaws and Cherokees forced the Shawnees from the Tennessee Valley in 1721. By 1760, Chickasaws moved into the Tennessee Valley from the west. The Chickasaw Boundary Treaty (January 10, 1786) gave Chickasaws ownership of the area. In 1769, Cherokees challenged the Chickasaw in the Battle of Chickasaw Oldfields south of Huntsville. By 1770, Cherokees were established in Lawrence County. The Chickasaws and Cherokees lived in peace within the Tennessee Valley until the Turkey Town Treaty of 1816 mandated their removal. Today, descendants of the Creeks, Cherokees, and Chickasaws, among others, live in Lawrence County.

Doublehead
Doublehead, (c1744-1807), aka Dsugweladegi or Chuqualatague, was the son of Great Eagle (Willenawah) and grandson of Moytoy. Among his siblings were Pumpkin Boy, Old Tassel, and the unnamed grandmother of Sequoyah. After his sister's son John Watts Jr. was elected chief over him, Doublehead moved into Lawrence County and became a powerful Cherokee leader. While living at Browns Ferry from c1790~c1802, the head of the Elk River Shoals, Doublehead terrorized settlers on the Appalachian frontier until his 1794 meeting with George Washington. By treaty on January 1,0, 1786, most of Lawrence County became Chickasaw land. Doublehead was permitted to stay because of his daughters' (Tuskihooto and Saleechie) marriages to Chickasaw Chief George Colbert. Learning of the wealth in cotton, Doublehead in 1802 petitioned the government for a keelboat, signed the 1805 treaty authorizing Gaines Trace, and negotiated the 1806 Cotton Gin Treaty. This treaty placed a cotton gin at Melton's Bluff and gave him a 99-year lease on Doublehead's Reserve between Elk River and Cypress Creek. In partnership with John D. Chisholm, they leased this reserve to settlers. On August 9, 1807, Major Ridge, Alex Saunders, and John Rogers killed Doublehead, either for control of the cotton trade or for his ceding of Indian Lands.

Saunders~ Hall~ Goode Mansion
This mansion, located about one mile east, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 974. Built by Turner Saunders (1782-1853) on property purchased on April 9, 1833, the house may have been constructed earlier. Revolutionary War Veterans Thomas Saunders and Ann Turner were his parents. Turner was born in VA and moved with his first wife Francis (Dunn) to Lawrence County in 1821. After she died in 1824, Saunders married Henrietta Millwater, on July 1 1826. Considered to be an excellent example of Palladian design, the two-story mansion with a brick basement has been noted as resembling a Greek temple. Saunders, a noted Methodist preacher, was elected (1830) the first president of LaGrange College some 10 miles to the southwest. On April 28, 1863, Gen. GM Dodge's Union soldiers burned this school (the 1st state-chartered Al College). On February 12, 1844, Saunders sold the house to Freeman Goode and relocated to Aberdeen, MS, where he died in 1853. Later owners included the Hall and Skeggs, families. Turner's son, James E. Saunders, author of the first major history of Lawrence County, was an aide and personal friend of Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. James E. built a plantation house in c1860 known as Rocky Hill Castle, some 4 miles south of this site. 

Saunders~ Hall~ Goode Mansion in need of being restored

Our last stop was at the Saunders~ Hall~ Goode Mansion in Lawrence County.
Hubby and I had a great day visiting the sites of Morgan County, Alabama 

2009 ~ Monday & Tuesday, August 3, 4, Historical Markers of Athens, Alabama

Gen. N.B. Forrest, C.S.A.
North Alabama Raid
— September 23-30, 1864 —Hemmed in by superior forces, Forrest's fast-moving cavalry raided and destroyed Union supply lines and strong points, captured 2,360 men, and valuable Stores.
By swift action, surprise, and bluff, Forrest disrupted Union military plans from Decatur to Columbia.

Harris-Pryor House
(Flower Hill Farm)Build abt. 1858 by Schuyler Harris on land once owned by Henry Augustine Washington, a distant relative of the first president. Through purchases, marriages, and inheritance between the Washington, Harris, and Pryor families, all from Virginia, a large plantation of over 3,000 acres was established. Long after the demise of slavery, approximately. 60 tenant families lived on the land.
Schuyler Harris gave this house to his daughter, Ida Maria, and her husband, Wm. Richard Pryor, son of Sen. Luke Pryor II and Isabella Virginia (Harris) Pryor. It is through this descent that the historic house and farm known as "Flower Hill" are owned and held in trust for future generations by Luke Pryor IV and his wife, Betty (Lamb) Pryor. It is managed through a family corporation and is not open to the public.
(Continued on the other side) 

Harris Pryor House 

Across the highway is a large spring known since early times as "English's Spring." It produced enough water for a town, and the little settlement that formed around it was a contender for the site of the county seat. It was not chosen, however, and the settlement ceased to exist.
This area, for several miles around, was known as "Quid Nunc" (Latin for "what next"), Beat and Post Office, until about 1910, when it was changed to Harris Station, a community that had formed along the RR tracks to the SW. Time and "progress" have brought about the demise of that community, named for the prominent Harris Family. The Harris Cemetery is among the trees across the Hwy.

Harris Pryor House 

Oakland United Methodist Church

Oakland United Methodist Church
Generations of African-American families have worshiped here, beginning with services held under a brush arbor before the Civil War. In August of 1879, the land for the Oakland Methodist church was deeded to parishioners. In a wooden one-room building, they worshiped and operated their own private school, serving the surrounding communities and producing several ministers and educators. The Limestone County Board of Education took charge of the school in 1929, until it closed at the end of the 1952 school year. After the original structure was destroyed by a tornado, the Oakland Methodist Episcopal Church - which became the Oakland United Methodist Church in 1972 - was rebuilt. Renovations to the structure were completed in 1990.

Oakland United Methodist Church Pastor J. Larry Eddie SR 

We had business in Huntsville, we took Hwy 31 south, and we saw the above historical markers dotted along hwy 31, the Oakland United Methodist Church, Harris Pryor House, & Gen. N.B. Forrest, C.S.A.

Athens Sacked and Plundered
On May 2, 1862, Union troops of the 19th and 24th Illinois and the 37th Indiana Regiments commanded by Col. John Basil Turchin went on a rampage through the town. They looted and plundered stores and homes, stealing clothing, jewelry, and anything of value, destroying what they didn't want. For months afterward, the soldiers stabled their horses in some of the town's churches, burned the pews for firewood, and destroyed the interiors. Col. Turchin, born Ivan Vasillevitch Turchinoff in Russia, was court-martialed in Huntsville for encouraging these actions, but his wife appealed to Abraham Lincoln for clemency. Turchin was promoted to Brig. Gen. one day before the court-martial.

A County Older Than the State
Limestone County
created Feb. 6, 1818, by the Alabama Territorial Legislature from lands ceded by the Cherokee Nation in 1806 and by the Chickasaw Nation in 1816. Named for the creek (and its limestone bed), which runs through the county. Few settlers were here until the Indian treaties. Athens became a county seat in 1818. Limestone was the first Alabama county to be occupied by Federal troops during the Civil War.

In Honor of our Fallen Comrades 

1861-1865 Confederate Soldiers of Limestone County 

Athens College
a liberal arts college
— 1822 —
Athens Female Academy 
founded by patriotic citizens 
1843
Raised to college level 
under Methodist patronage 
First college building,
Founders Hall (1842-3), 
still used for classes 
Unbroken service since 1822 

Athens State College

Athens State College

Athens State College, Alabama's Oldest Institution of higher learning in continuous Service since 1822 National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century project of the Alabama State Society marked by Colonel Walter Aston Chapter on June 22, 1996

Athens State College

Athens State College, Alabama's Oldest Institution of higher learning in continuous Service
since 1822
National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century project of the Alabama State Society marked by Colonel Walter Aston Chapter on June 22, 1996

Old Town Cemetery
This is the earliest known cemetery in the town of Athens, and the final resting place for many of its first citizens. The earliest burials date from the 1820s and continue through the mid-1800s, with an occasional burial past 1900. Though the markers are now sunken below ground, others have been destroyed or removed.
Trustees of the town purchased this entire block in 1827 for $10 from Robert Beaty and John Carriel. It was initially designated as school property, and a school occupied another part of the property for some years.

Old Town Cemetery 

I had a camera class at Wolf Camera, so on our way to Huntsville, we stopped in Athens to take pictures of the Historical markers around the courthouse, the old cemetery, and Athens College.

We will spend the next few months searching for historical markers within a 100+ mile radius.