July 8th Wandering Part two

Blogger was giving me some problems, so this is part two.  Still in the Negro Burial Grounds.

 In 1904, Andrew Arthur killed another Cahawba resident in self-defense, apparently an argumentover a girl.  He did surrender himself to the county jail and after serving his time, returned to Cahawba.

 Edward Craig, or Doodle, was born in 1891. His mother, Celie was the cook and ran the house for the Kirkpatrick family. Edward served in WWI.

As I said, there is pamphlet which guides you on your self-guided tour of the cemetery, giving a bit of history on some of the people buried there.

We left the Negro Cemetery and  ventured on through the town. Next was the One-room school house.

this appeared to be what was left of the "bathroom for the school house.

Next to the school house was the ruins of the Methodist Church, which was the first single denomination church built in town and was the last church occupied in the town. It was destroyed by fire in 1954.

Next we saw the Prerine Mansion Well, which E.M. Perine used to create an early form of air conditioning for his mansion.  

Next we moved on to the "New Cemetery" which is where many of the town's residents were buried. Once again, there is a pamphlet for a self-guided walking tour, telling a bit about the various people buried here.

After leaving this cemetery, we decided it was time to head home as it was already after three and we were hungry!  We did not go to the Old Capital Era Cemetery or to see the Civil War Memorial Stones.  I guess I'll have to go back and see those things!

We remembered passing a BBQ place on the way in, so we headed there for a big glass of sweet tea and some BBQ!

 Thera got the ribs and I got the pulled pork. We both got cole slaw and potato salad. Service was friendly and the food was good.

 Some of the decor in Hancock's

While we ate, we got to listen to the waitresses talk about seeing a woman walk down the street earlier in a bra and panty hose, with her shirt around her neck.  We wondered if anyone had thought to see if she was okay, or if they just sat there and watched, which is what I believe they did.

All in all, this was a very good wandering, with good company, good food and a very interesting place we choose to go.  If you plan to go to Old Cahawba, I recommend getting there early and allowing plenty of time to see everything.  There are picnic tables throughout the park so take a lunch with you!

There is no cost to get into the park and Thera paid for my lunch, so other than gas, this wandering cost no money!

July 8th Wandering

My original plan for today's wanderings involved an outdoor stop, which I figured would take a few hours and then to head to Selma for a couple of museums.  However, due to getting a late start, today's wanderings involved only the first stop, which was Old Cahawba.

Today, my friend Thera joined me for this wandering.  We headed to Orrville, Alabama to the Old Cahawba Archeological Park.  Now, up until a year or so ago, I did not even know about Old Cahawba. Perhaps, somewhere back in school I learned about it in Alabama History, but if I did, I don't remember.  I learned about it when my friend Kendra Sutton talked about it while introducing a song she had written. This sparked my interest and I began researching it and put it on my list of places to go.

In 1819, Cahawba was Alabama's first State Capital. It is now a ghost town. Apparently this town was built upon the remains of another ghost town, which was a 16th century Indian Village.  Now, the capital was moved in 1826, but Cahawba remained the county seat became a wealth river town.  The history of the ghost town is very interesting. It's the remnants of a town that had been dependent on cotton and slavery.  A town that had been used to imprison Union Soldiers during the Civil War. After the war it became a refuge for emancipated slaves. However, over time, this town was abandoned.

Another interesting thing about this town is the fact that this is where the Cahaba River and Alabama River merge.In the picture below the water to the left of the piece of land is the Cahaba River and it is flowing into the Alabama River.  The sign you see simply says Cahaba River.

 This picture shows a sign that shows a map of the town.

Thera and went into the visitors center, picked up a couple brochures, a map of the town and a map of the cemeteries.  We then walked over to the church, which was St. Luke's Episcopal Church. This church was built in 1854 in another spot in the town. It was actually dismantled and moved in 1887, but was returned to Cahawba in 2006, but placed in a different location in order to put it on higher ground and avoid flooding issues.

 

side view of the church

Near the church there is a paved 1/2 mile nature trail that takes you down to the banks of Clear Creek, which runs into the Cahaba River.  There is also a trail that takes you to a canoe launch on the Cahaba.  We only went to the deck built that overlooks Clear Creek.

the paved nature trail

a sign telling about the birds you may see.

Clear Creek

 We loved the Spanish Moss in the trees.

Clear Creek

Clear Creek

After doing this, we just got in the car and drove the streets, stopping to see the various ruins.There is a lot of history in this ghost town.  I am attaching some pictures I took while we explored.

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Crocheron Columns

The Slave Quarters of the Kirkpatrick Farm.

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Cahawba's "Negro Burial Ground" was an interesting walk through the woods.  The graves were more or less scattered throughout the woods.  However, although thee are only a few headstones, it is believed that there are probably 100's of bodies buried in these woods.  The cemetery is believed to have been created around 1819 as a slave cemetery. However, it was used after emanicipation, with the last known burial being in 1957.  Most of the graves are of people who were born into slavery.  There are shallow rectangular depressions throughout the woods which are said to be unmarked graves.

the gate on this says "Mealy Starke: The tombstone says Amelia Starke.