“Pickett Springs

Railroad building and amusement park development flourished in the post-bellum South. In 1880s, Western Railroad of Alabama opened Pickett Springs on site of William Harris’s plantation, “Forest Farm”. Harris’s daughter, Sarah, married A.J. Pickett, Alabama’s first historian, and they had their home here until Pickett’s death in 1858. Pickett Springs occupied portion of land as community of Chisholm developed nearby. During World War I Camp Sheridan, infantry training ground, supplanted the old park. During 1920s, West Boylston Manufacturing opened large cotton mill and a residential village in the vicinity.”

“The Best Public Resort

In September, 1886, Montgomery Advertiser noted Pickett Springs as the “best public resort”. Located four miles north of Montgomery, park offered entertainment and relaxation for citizens who traveled out by train until 1902 when street railway service started. Included in the area were a dance pavilion, refreshment stand, bowling alley, shooting gallery, carousel, flying swing, billiard parlor, scenic car and roller coaster. During summers in early 20th century, Salvation Army conducted fresh-air camps for indigent people. By World War I, Pickett Springs had lost much of its aura as automobiles and movies offered their diversions.”

“Antioch Baptist Church
Mount Meigs, Alabama

Organized on June 5, 1818, the Antioch Baptist Church at Mt. Meigs was the first church of any denomination established in Montgomery County. Rev. James McLemore was its founder and first pastor. Antioch, like most churches in the county, had both white and black members before the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Antioch was officially incorporated in May of 1911 under a 9-man board of trustees. In 1919, the Antioch congregation built a new church building on land adjoining the Peoples Village School using material from the old church building; it was bricked and rededicated in 1980. In 1989, classrooms and a fellowship hall were added and a larger sanctuary with a capacity for 1,500 worshipers followed in 1999. The public road leading to the church is designated “Antioch Lane” in recognition of the role Antioch has played in the surrounding communities.”

“Grace Episcopal Church

In the late 1850s the cluster of Episcopal families around Mt. Meigs undertook to build a church and engaged Pennsylvania architect Joseph W. Pierson to prepare the plans. The plans were submitted in April 1861, but due to the hardships caused by the Civil War and its aftermath, it was over 30 years before the church was actually built. Finally becoming a reality in 1893, Grace Church was constructed according to Pierson’s original plans in the “Gothic Revival” style popular for rural Episcopal churches all across the South during the 1850s. The auxiliary buildings and the church gardens are of much more recent construction but reflect the style of the original sanctuary.”

“Ray Cemetery
Est. 1849

John W. Ray and his wife, Martha; their infant son; and her fifteen-year-old brother, James R. Conyers, moved to Mt. Meigs from Greene County, Georgia. He and his older brother, Isaac Ray, owned extensive landholdings along Vaughn and Taylor Roads. These early settlers were devout Missionary Baptists. John W. Ray assisted in organizing Antioch Baptist Church, the first church of any denomination organized in Montgomery County, in 1818 at Mt. Meigs. John W. Ray, James R. Conyers, and members of the Ray, Conyers, Nicholson, Handey and Relfe families are buried here. Among them are veterans of four wars: Dr. John C. Nicholson, Surgeon 1 AL Cavalry Regt. Civil War; his uncle, Vincent Cogburn, veteran of the Mexican War; Mason Handey, Navy, World War I; and John Robert Refle, Captain, US Army, World War II.”

“Tankersley Rosenwald School
Erected in 1923

This building was one of fourteen schools constructed in Montgomery County with funding assistance from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. Between 1912-1932, Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish philanthropist and CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company teamed up with Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee Institute to provide matching grants for the construction of school buildings for African Americans in mostly rural areas of the South. This collaborative effort produced more than 5,000 of these buildings in 15 southern states, 289 of which were constructed in Alabama. This building was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 2001.

First Trustees - Frank Supples, Luke Anderson, John Sankey, Edd Dean, Simon Johnson, Arthur Brown, John Oscar Poole

First Principal - Jacob W. Williams”

“Lucas Hill Cemetery
Circa 1816

The Founders of The Waters relocated and restored this historic cemetery in May 2005. The original cemetery site, located along the Old Federal Road beyond the boundary of the Creek Indian lands at Line Creek, had fallen into ruin due to years of neglect. The Lucas Hill Cemetery is the final resting place for some of the earliest settlers who established plantations and farmsteads along the Mount Meigs Terrace now present day eastern Montgomery County, Alabama.”

“At a very early day in the history of the county Montgomery had a rival, in a nice little town twelve miles above the city on the Tallapoosa river. It was located on a beautiful spot on the bank of the river, and had at one time between fifty and seventy-five family residences, with store-houses, hotels, academy, black-smith and wood shops, tailor shops, etc.; but after a few years the place proved to be sickly, and it was abandoned altogether. Augusta was the name of the town. Then everything centered to Montgomery, the only town in the county, and a very small place.”

“Augusta & the Old Augusta Cemetery

Augusta, home of Old Augusta Cemetery, was built on the site of a former Indian village, “Sawanogi”, on high ground close to the Tallapoosa River. In 1824 a disastrous flood swept over the plateau, invading shops and residences. A year later a deadly form of malarial fever took half the population to their graves, killing the town as well. The cemetery, burial place for the Ross, Charles, and Taylor families, continued to be used until the early 20th century. The iron fence surrounding the cemetery formerly was erected around the state Capitol in Montgomery.”

“The land area which now comprises the city of Wetumpka was inhabited by various Indian cultures prior to the inward migration of the white man, at the turn of the 19th century. The largest Indian village near here was located on the east bank of the Coosa River one mile south of this point. This village was known as “Oche-au-po-fau” (Hickory Ground) and was composed mainly of Muscogees. After the 1814 surrender of the Creek Confederacy at Fort Toulouse, there came an influx of settlers to this fertile land, many bringing slaves.

The U.S. Government surveyed the future town site in 1831. A major part of the site east of the river was still Indian territory, but was ceded to the U.S. by the Cusseta Treaty of 1832. That year lots were auctioned to the public. By late 1836, all remaining Indians had been moved to reservations in Oklahoma.

In 1834, the state legislature chartered the town of Wetumpka which was on both sides of the river. The west side was in Autauga County and the east side north of the former Indian boundary line, which ran easterly from the falls, was in Coosa County. The east side south of the Indian boundary line was in Montgomery County, but this latter portion was transferred to Coosa County in 1837.”

“The name ‘Wetumpka’ was taken from the Indian words ‘we-wau’ (water) and ‘tum-cau’ (rumbling or sounding), in reference to the noise made by the rocky shoals of the river.

In 1837. the legislature divided the town and incorporated the area on the west side of the river as West Wetumpka. In 1939, the two towns were reunited by the legislature as one city known as the City of Wetumpka. That same year, Wetumpka was chosen as the site for the first state prison.

After the destruction of a prior bridge by flooding, a student, covered bridge was constructed in 1844 by the famous builder, Horace King, a former slave who had been freed by the legislature the preceding year. This covered bridge was located on the same site as the Bibb Graves Bridge. This covered bridge was swept away in the Great Flood of 1886, the same flood which altered the course of the Tallapoosa River and formed Parker’s Island.”

“JONES, Mr. Prince Albert, Sr., 91, a lifelong resident of Mathews, Ala., died at his home Sunday, January 13, 2008. The third youngest of 15 children, Prince Albert was born to the late John Wesley and Lura Barnett Jones. He accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized at Holt Street Church of Christ. He placed membership with Clay Hill Church of Christ, where he served as superintendent for a number of years. He later united with Western Blvd. Church of Christ, where he remained a dedicated and faithful Christian soldier until his death. Prince Albert was educated in the public schools of Montgomery County. On May 21, 1939, he married Essie Richard and to this union 15 children were born. Essie, five children, and three grandchildren all preceded him in death. A farmer by profession, Prince Albert raised cows and grew cotton and corn to provide for his family. In response to agricultural changes, he began customer hay farming and became noted throughout rural Montgomery County for his agricultural skills and willingness to lend a helping hand to others. His leadership in the community earned him the Stephen T. Provo Memorial Leadership Award in 1993, recognition by the Montgomery Area Council on Aging as a Senior of Achievement in 2002, and the distinct honor in 2007 the community in Mathews where he lived designated by the Montgomery County Commission as the Jonesville Community. Albert leaves to cherish his memory 10 children, 50 grandchildren, 59 great grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends.”

“The Jonesville Community

The Jonesville Community on Old Pike Road in Mathews, named for wealthy landowner George Mathews from Oglethorp County Ga., was designated by the Montgomery County Commission on October 16, 2007 to honor the life and legacy of Prince Albert Jones, Sr. (April 25, 1916 - January 13, 2008) and his family to the community. Jones was born and reared in the area and devoted much of his nearly 92 years of life to helping others in Mathews and the surrounding communities of Cecil, Waugh, Pike Road and Mt. Meigs. A farmer by trade, he supported his family and many of his neighbors with crops he planted. He used his resources (tractors, balers, trucks and other farm equipment and transportation) to help others cultivate their crops and get them to market. He also voluntarily cared for several of the local cemeteries, including New Jerusalem (on the grounds of the old Margaret Beard Elementary School) and Gilmer Cemetery in nearby Pike Road, where he and many of his family members and former residents are buried.

Prince Albert Jones was concerned about the common man and believed deeply in civil and voting rights. Quoting from an article appearing in the “Montgomery Advertiser” on January 18, 2008, Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Jones was one of rural Montgomery’s first registered black voters, when fewer than 1 percent of the county’s black residents were registered. “Mr. Jones was one of the area’s most dedicated advocates for equality and used his good reputation with the white farming elite to help black neighbors and church members obtain the right to vote decades before the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act,” Dees said. Jones was one of 15 children. He and his wife Essie also reared 15 children. They strongly valued Christian living, education and hard work and taught their children and others in the community the importance of working with their minds as well as their hands.”

“Figh-Pickett House

John P. Figh, a native of Maryland, built this, the oldest surviving brick dwelling in Montgomery, ca. 1837, at the corner of Clayton and South Court Streets. Figh was one of the chief contractors for the construction of the Alabama State Capitol. He also served as city alderman. In 1858, Figh sold his house to Alabama’s first historian, Albert James Pickett, from North Carolina. Although Pickett died just before moving in the house, his family lived here for more than 50 years.”

“Civil War - Barnes School

In April 1865, the Union Army command made this house its headquarters. Mrs. Pickett hid her silver on an inside ledge of the cupola. Later, former Confederate Generals Hood, Bragg and Walker visited here. In 1906, Professor Elly Barnes bought the house for use as a private school for boys, which rapidly achieved fame for its quality. The Barnes School closed in 1942. In 1996, the house was rescued from demolition with the help of the Alabama Historical Commission and moved to its present location by the Montgomery County Historical Society.”

“It was a two-story frame building, 100 feet long by 50 feet wide. The lower story was divided into four recitation rooms, each spacious, and into smaller rooms for books and apparatus, the entire upper floor was one large auditorium, unbroken by post or other obstruction. A grand hall for concerts or for Christmas celebrations! But it was by no means reserved for such occasional use. Every minute of every school day it was a busy place.”

“Site Of Highland Home College

A pioneer institution organized in 1889 by Justus M. Barnes, Samuel Jordan and Milton L. Kirkpatrick. This was an extension of Strata Academy, founded in 1856 by Barnes six miles north at Strata. In 1881 Strata Academy was moved to Highland Home and the name changed to Highland Home Institute. From its inception, the school was coeducational. It brought culture to frontier Alabama —- music, foreign languages, science, literature, and drama as well as “the Three R’s.” Although never a religious institution, Bible courses were offered. Its graduates provided the State many distinguished citizens. When the economics of competing with state normal schools forced it to close its doors forever, in 1915, it had served Alabama continuously for 59 years. The trustees deeded this property to the State of Alabama in 1916 for educational use.”

“Fair Prospect Cemetery
Montgomery County

Atop this hill lies Fair Prospect Cemetery, established in the 1840s as part of Fair Prospect Church. Land was donated for the church and cemetery by Benjamin Mitchell (1765-1848) and his wife Jane Scrimpton Mitchell (1775-1850). The location of their graves is unknown. The earliest marked burials date to 1851 and the cemetery is still active today. Justus M. Barnes, founder of Strata Academy, was a leader in the congregation and his parents are buried here. In the 1870s, the church burned after lightning struck it and the congregation began meeting at Strata Academy. When the Academy moved and became Highland Home College, the church retained the campus building on the site of Strata Church of Christ. A.S. Naftel, founder of the Naftel community, acquired much of the Mitchell lands after 1850 and members of his family are buried here.

Listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register”

“Barnes, Jordan, Kilpatrick

Preachers, teachers, planters,
when this was wild frontier,
taught with love unstinted,
helped bring religion here.
Kith and kin take notice.
These leaders neath this sod
shaped a growing country
their monument to God.

1800-1940”

“City of Montgomery

Two small villages, New Philadelphia, founded by Massachusetts lawyer Andrew Dexter in 1817, and East Alabama, established by Georgians led by John Scott in 1818, united in 1819 to form Montgomery, named for Revolutionary hero Gen. Richard Montgomery. Connecting at Court Square, the two towns’ principal streets were Philadelphia’s Market Street (Dexter Avenue) and East Alabama’s Main Street (Commerce Street). First courthouse stood to west of artesian well which City enlarged in 1850s. Fountain erected in 1885.”

“Court Square

Historic hub for business in Montgomery. Exchange Hotel built in 1848 on NW corner of Commerce and Montgomery Streets; rebuilt 1906; demolished 1970s. Cast iron-fronted Central Bank of 1856 on NE corner of square; Winter Building, site of telegraph office in 1861, on SE corner since 1840s. Historic processions passing along Dexter Avenue to the Capitol included Jefferson Davis Inaugural, 2/18/1861; Gen. J.H. Wilson’s Cavalry Corps, 4/12/1865; 167th Infantry Regt. Rainbow Division, 5/12/1919; Selma-Montgomery Civil Rights March, 3/25/1965.”

“Court Square Fountain
-1885-

Placed by City over Artesian Basin and crowned by Hebe, Goddess of Youth and Cup-bearer to the Gods. Fountain was cast by J.L. Mott Iron Works of New York. Restored by Robinson Iron of Alexander City in 1984 during administration of Mayor Emory Folmar.”

“The Hank Williams Kowaliga Cabin
1952

At this site stands the cabin where country music legend Hank Williams composed he song “Kaw-liga” in August, 1952. The song’s title was derived from the name of a Creek Indian town located on the banks of the Kowaliga Creek until 1836.
Hank’s September 23, 1952 recording of “Kaw-liga” reached number one on the country music charts in 1952 and has since been recorded by numerous country and popular music artists.
Built in 1946 by Darwin and Neil Dobbs, the cabin was restored to its original condition in 2001 by Russell Lands, Inc. as a tribute to Hanks Williams and his music.”

“This stone placed at the Great Council Tree marks the site of Tukabahchi 1686-1836

Capital of the Upper Creek Indian Nation. Here were born Efau Haujo, great medal chief, and Opothleyaholo, Creek leaders. Big Warrior resided nearby. Here came Tecumseh in 1811 to arouse the natives against the white settlers and was successfully opposed by Col. Benjamin Hawkins, principal agent for Indian Affairs south of the Ohio River. Here in 1823 Lee Compere established a Baptist mission school.”

“Tukabatchee

On this bend of the Tallapoosa River, stretching out before you, lay one of the ancient towns of the Muscogee Creek People, called Tukabatchee. Tukabatchee is one of the original four mother towns of the old Creek Confederacy. Tukabatchee served as one of the Creek Confederacy capitals in the Upper Creek region on the Tallapoosa River. In the fall of 1811, Tecumseh of Creek and Shawnee ancestry came here to his mother’s town to persuade the Nation’s warriors to adopt his ideas of rejection of the presence of American intruders and return to traditional ways. Tecumseh’s visit to Tukabatchee represents the beginning of a series of events that resulted in the Creek War. Tecumseh addressed the nation gathered here and gave his war speech where he persuaded some Upper Creek warriors to take the war walk against the intruders. The Creek Confederacy was not totally unified in this nativistic movement which led to the Creeks fighting each other causing the Creek Civil War of 1813-1814.”

“Marks House
Circa 1825

Built by William Mathews Marks, who immigrated from Oglethorpe County, GA, on acreage purchased from the U.S. land office in Cahaba, AL for $1.25 per acre.
Foundation is pegged-together heart pine; framing is 3” by 9” timbers; mantles, dados, and all the brick are hand made. Kitchen, baths a rose garden and pavilion for dancing were added by the Churchill Marks family in the 1920s. House was purchased by Dr. Haywood B. (Wood) Bartlett in 1957.
In 1967, the movie of Truman Capote’s “Thanksgiving Visitor” was filmed in the house. The facility has served as the Pike Road Community Club Center since 1968. The Pike Road Arts and Crafts fair is held here annually on the first Saturday in November. The house suffered extensive fire damage on August 28, 1997 and was subsequently restored by the Pike Road Community.”

“Bethel Baptist Church
Feb. 13, 1819
Organizers:
Elder Eleclius Thompson, JaS. McLemore, Edward Mosley, Builder, Geo. Shackleford
Split of Primitive and Missionary
1837
Site marked Nov. 4, 1923”

“The Bethel Cemetery

Bethel Cemetery was constituted Feb. 13, 1819 and located on Federal Rd. Bethel Church was 1 of 4 churches in the Alabama Baptist Association which was formed on Dec. 13, 1819. On July 22, 1837, the church became the object of a major split in Baptist life. In Oct.. Missionary Brethren were excluded from the church and the split became final. A marker memorializing the division between the Primitive and Missionary Baptists was placed in the cemetery by the Montgomery Baptist W.M.U. on Nov. 4, 1923. Pintlala Baptist Church acquired the cemetery in 1998.”

“Remount Depot

During World War I, in the summer of 1917 the U.S. Army opened a remount depot here to buy horses and mules for Camp Sheridan’s 27,000-man 37th Division from Ohio. Despite the introduction of motor transport to war, a U.S. infantry division still needed nearly 4,000 horses and 2,700 mules as draft, riding and pack animals to pull 40-wagon trains, guns and field ambulances in 1918. This post occupied 160 acres alongside the Central of Georgia R.R. on the highest elevation within 20 miles of Montgomery.”

“Keyton Station

Major K.F. Schumann commanded this depot during most of the war. It had a capacity of 5,000 animals with 14 corrals and 14 packing chutes at the railroad platform. About 300 officers and men were in the permanent party and a blacksmith school trained 300 farriers. Troops were quartered south of the railroad and the animals kept to the north. The Remount Depot closed June 1919. The railroad stop here was called Keyton Station.”

“Title 1.
Chapter 2. STATE SYMBOLS AND HONORS.
SECTION 1-2-11.

State flower; state wildflower.

(a) The camellia, Camellia japonica L., is hereby designated and named as the official state flower of Alabama.

(b) The oak-leaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia Bartr., is hereby designated the official state wildflower of Alabama.

(c) Specimens of the state flower and state wildflower shall be deposited in the Auburn University Herbarium.”

“Camellia Designated Alabama State Flower

The Alabama Legislature approved a bill sponsored by Rep. T.E. Martin of Montgomery County in 1927 that designated the Goldenrod the official state flower. It became law on Sept. 6, 1927, the same day that the Yellowhammer became the official state bird.

In 1959, camellia growers in Butler County argued that the goldenrod was a weed and convinced State Representative Folsom LaMont Glass of Greenville (The Camellia City) to introduce a bill naming the Camellia as the official state flower. The measure passed on August 26, 1959, and was signed by Governor John Patterson.

Because there were numerous types of camellia, the 1999 Legislature specified that the Camellia japonica L. to be the official state flower. The same day the Oak-leaf Hydrangea, native to the state, was named the state wildflower.”