ALABAMA HISTORICAL MARKERS
Location: Located in front of the school off Alabama Highway 10, Clio, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: July 1, 1979 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the George C. Wallace Heritage Association, 1979.
Established under an Act of the Alabama Legislature in 1907, the school was built entirely by local initiative. It was completed in 1910 and occupied initially in September of that year. Consistently characterized by faculties of dedication and excellence, students were the recipients of vast educational advantages. From its hallowed halls have departed thousands of educated, disciplined students prepared for careers and all blessed by the institution. Last used as a school in 1961, the structure is now owned by the George C. Wallace Heritage Association and serves as a community center for the citizens of Clio.
Barbour County's "Little Scotland"/Pea River Presbyterian Church
Location: 2.2 miles north of Highway 10 in Clio, Alabama Marker Dedication or Erection Date: October 7, 1993 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Pea River Presbyterian Church, 1993.
Side 1: In the 1820s before the Creek Indian Cession, Scot immigrants from Richmond County, North Carolina, settled this area of west Barbour County. Few other regions outside the motherland of Scotland have had a larger proportion of people bearing the names of the great Highland clans. Between 1823-1860 within a five mile radius of Pea River Church, Highlanders with the names of Baxter, Currie, McCall, McDonald, McEachern, McInnis, McKay, McKinnon, McLean, McLendon, McLeod, McNeal, and McRae lived. The families, serving the Lord, earned for the area the name "Little Scotland."
Side 2: Pea River Presbyterian Church In 1823, immigrants from Richmond County, North Carolina, established the Pea River Presbyterian Church. Pea River was organized with fifteen members, eleven unnamed women and four men. The men were Gilbert McEachern, Daniel Currie, Alex McRae and Farquhuar McRae. Daniel Currie was chosen First Clerk of Session. Gilbert McEachern and Farquhuar McRae were chosen Ruling Elders. Pea River is the mother church to Clio, Louisville, and Union (Dale County) Presbyterian Churches.
Location: Barbour County Courthouse Lawn Marker Dedication - Erection Date: December 2, 1978 Erected by: The Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1978.
Side 1: On this site in 1833 was erected the first Barbour County Courthouse, a round log building 20 feetsquare. The first county seat was located at Louisville which had previously served as the county seat of Pike. This old Pike County Courthouse was temporarily used until the site was changed to Clayton. The first circuit court was held in Clayton on September 23, 1833. Barbour County was created by an act of the Legislature meeting in the state capitol of Tuscaloosa on December 18, 1832. It was one of the political subdivisions carved out of the land ceded by the Creek Indians under the Treaty of March 1832.
Side Two: On this site in 1833 was erected the first Barbour County Courthouse, a round log building 20 feetsquare. The first county seat was located at Louisville which had previously served as the county seat of Pike. This old Pike County Courthouse was temporarily used until the site was changed to Clayton. The first circuit court was held in Clayton on September 23, 1833. Barbour County was created by an act of the Legislature meeting in the state capitol of Tuscaloosa on December 18, 1832. It was one of the political subdivisions carved out of the land ceded by the Creek Indians under the Treaty of March 1832. Eleven Commissioners were appointed to select a centrally located site for a permanent seat-of-justice to be named Clayton, in honor of Augustin S. Clayton, a distinguished jurist of Georgia who represented his state in Congress from 1831-1835. The commissioners appointed by the Alabama Legislature were Jacob Utery, Daniel McKensey, William Cadenhead, James A. Head, William Norton, William Bush, Green Beauchamp, Samuel G. B. Adams, Noah B. Cole, Robert Richards and T. W. Pugh.
Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 29, 1989 Location: Located east of Blue Springs on Bethel Road .8 mile S. of Highway 10 near mile marker 203.
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, And Descendants of Elder Aaron Helms, 1989.
Organized and constituted April 11, 1835. A committee called brethren John Tew and Solomon Sikes as presbyters. The presbyters, finding the brethren orthodox in faith, constituted a church which they named Bethel. Founders migrated from Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia to the Blue Springs Community. The church was housed in a log or frame building, 1835-1962, which was bricked in 1962. The fellowship hall and baptistery were built in 1972. Some elders were: M. W. Helms; Aaron Helms, served 30-40 years; W. M. Baxley; L. H. Stucky; S. W. Etheridge; R. K. Blackshear; Thomas McGowan; C. L. Waldrop; F.A. Averette, Jr., served 10 years; George Vickers; Casey Houston and Fred Griffith.
Location: Highway 10, east of Blue Springs at County Road 41 Marker Dedication or Erection Date: May 15, 1999 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Blue Springs School Alumni Association, 1999.
The Blue Springs School was first established in 1920. The land was donated by Henry H. Sheppard. The plans were drawn by the State School architect. The lumber was donated by citizens of the community and prepared at A. S. Knight's sawmill. Other financial needs were donated by local citizens, county board of education, and state aid for schoolhouse construction. Old Bethel, Anderson, and Old Blue Springs were consolidated to form the new school. The school was opened in 1921 for the first year of teaching in the consolidated building. In addition to academics, the students were taught high moral standards, honesty, love, respect for God, country, and each other. The first trustees were: Dr. J. D. McLaughlin, Chairman; N. B. Parmer; G. C. Reeder; and A. F. Scarborough.
Located in front of MidSouth Bank at 230 S. Eufaula Avenue, Eufaula, Alabama Dedication Date: April 24, 2013 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Descendants of Cowikee Cotton Mill Workers in Memory of All Former Employees
Cowikee Cotton Mills, which operated on this site for over 100 years, was for decades Eufaula's largest employer. The mill began in 1888 as the Eufaula Cotton Mill. In 1909 the Comer family purchased the business and renamed it Cowikee Cotton Mills. The Comers later expanded the enterprise to include operationsin Dale and Bullock Counties. Many of the mill workers lived nearby in the close-knit mill village, which featured a community house, playground, pool, and kindergarten. Workers took part in mill-sponsored bands, athletics, and social clubs.
Location: Located at Old Creek Town Park, Lake Drive, Eufaula, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: October 13, 1979 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Eufaula Heritage Association, 1979.
At the dawn of the recorded history of this land, the Creek Indians owned it. Before the men who built the great houses and the men who made the laws settled this area, the United States of America ceded this land to the Creek Indians for "as long as the grass grows or the water runs." Within four years, the Creeks were driven from this land by men who would profit by their expulsion. Before the Creeks were removed from this area, Chief Eufaula addressed the Alabama Legislature. These are some of the words that he spoke: "I come here, brothers, to see the great house of Alabama, and the men who make the law, and to say farewell in brotherly kindness before I go to the far West, where my people are now going."
"In these lands of Alabama, which have belonged to my forefathers and where their bones lie buried, I see that the Indian fires are going out. Soon they will be cold."
"New fires are lighting in the West for us, they say, and we will go there. I do not believe our Great Father means to harm his red children, but that he wishes us well."
"We leave behind our good will to the people of Alabama who will build the great houses and to the men who make the laws. This is all I have to say."
May all who read this have within them, the charity that was within the heart of Chief Eufaula.
Location: Located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 82 and Barbour County Road 49 near Comer, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: July 19, 1979 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1979.
Near here is Old Spring Hill, the site of one of the polling places for the November 3, 1874 local, state and national elections. Elias M. Keils, scalawag and Judge of the City Court of Eufaula, was United States supervisor at the Spring Hill ballot box. William, his 16 year-old son, was with him. After the polls closed, a mob broke into the building, extinguished the lights, destroyed the poll box and began shooting. During the riot, Willie Keils was mortally wounded. The resulting Congressional investigation received national attention. This bloody episode marked the end of the Republican domination in Barbour County.
Location: Located at 101 East Barbour Street (U.S. Highway 82), Eufaula, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1996 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Eufaula First United Methodist Church, 1996.
The origins of this church date back to 1834 when Methodists, under the leadership of Jesse Burch and others, met to worship and formed a Sunday School. A frame Greek Revival edifice, at the corner of Livingston and Barbour Streets, was completed in 1838 and used until 1873 when it was sold to the Jewish congregation. In 1875 a new brick house of worship was built at the corner of Eufaula and Barbour Streets. It was razed in 1914 and the existing Gothic Revival church building was completed in 1917. The adjacent administration building, formerly the parsonage, was constructed in 1881.
Location: Located at 125 South Randolph Street, Eufaula, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 2001 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the First Baptist Church, 2001.
Irwinton Baptist Church was constituted on June 24, 1837. The name of the town changed to Eufaula in 1843, and consequently the name of the church became Eufaula Baptist Church. The church assumed its third name in 1869 when it was changed to First Baptist Church of Eufaula. The church met temporarily in the male academy at the Northwest corner of Union and Livingston Streets. In 1841 a new church building was erected at the Northwest corner of Union and Forsyth Streets. The second church was built at this location and was dedicated on November 5, 1871. The building was destroyed by fire caused by lightning on August 12, 1907 and rebuilt using the same exterior walls without the steeple.
Located in front of the church at 201 N. Randolph Avenue, Eufaula, Alabama Dedication Date: January 22, 2008 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and First Presbyterian Church
In 1836 sixteen Eufaula Presbyterians met in a room above William McKenzie's store to hold worship services. By 1838 the congregation had built their first sanctuary dedicated to worship on the southeast corner of Forsyth Ave. and Union Street. Eufaula's first church bell rang from the Greek Revival building. By the 1860's the congregation had begun to grow. In 1869, John McNab paid to have this sanctuary built here at the corner of Randolph Ave. and Church Place. It is a Gothic structure built in the style of an English parish church. The Sunday school building and fellowship hall were added in 1959.
Located on Highway 82 West in the Batesville Community Dedication Date: November 1, 2009 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and United Daughers of the Confederacy Chapter 2669, Capt. S. H. Dent
Side 1
Approximately one mile south-southeast of here stood Fort Browder, a small wooden fortification built in 1836 for protection in the last war with the Creek Indians and named for Isham Browder, a prominent local planter. In 1861, the fort witnessed the formation of a Confederate infantry company known as the Fort Browder Roughs initially commanded by Captain Moses Worthington. The Roughs were subsequently enrolled as Company D, 15th Alabama Infantry. Of the 106 officers and men of Company D, 21 were killed in battle (including 1 captain and 2 lieutenants), 46 were wounded but survived, and 26 died of disease.
Side 2
The 15th Alabama was recruited from Barbour, Dale, Henry, Macon, Pike, and Russell Counties and organized at Ft. Mitchell in Russell County in the summer of 1861. The unit fought in many skirmishes and battles including:
Winchester, Va. May 25, 1862 Fredericksburg, Va. Dec. 13, 1862
Cross Keys, Va. Jun. 8, 1862 Gettysburg, Pa. Jul. 2-3, 1863
Cold Harbor, Va. Jun. 27, 1862 Chickamauga, Ga. Sept. 19-20, 1863
Malvern Hill, Va. Jul. 2, 1862 Wilderness, Va. May 6, 1864
Cedar Mountain, Va. Aug. 9, 1862 Spotsylvania CH, Va. May 8-19, 1864
Second Manassas, Va. Aug. 28-30, 1862 North Anna, Va. May 25, 1864
Chantilly, Va. Sept. 1, 1862 2nd Cold Harbor, Va. Jun. 3, 1864
Sharpsburg, Md. Sept. 17, 1862 Vicinity of Petersburg, Va. Jun. 1864-Apr. 1865
Of the 1,612 officers and men who joined the 15th Alabama, 279 were killed in battle, 599 were wounded and 459 died of disease. Only 172 remained to surrender with General Lee at Appomattox CH on Apr. 9, 1865.
Erected by the Historic Chattahocohee Commission and Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #486, Dent's Artillery
Located on Alabama Highway 131 at County Road 36, Eufaula, Alabama Dedication Date: September 2, 2007 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Freemount Junior High School Foundation
Established c 1895, Freemount Junior High School was an important black school in the
Eufaula area. It was originally established within the Freemount AME Church which once
stood about 300 feet south of this site.The school was later moved to this location on
December 18, 1934 after four acres of land were acquired. In 1967 a gymnasium, with
attached classrooms, was added on the east side of County Road 36 at the junction of
Alabama Highway 131.The school closed in 1969 due to the integration of public schools in Barbour County. Freemount AME Church is now situated on the property once occupied by the school.
Located in park median at the crest of the hill on West Broad Street, Eufaula, Alabama Dedication Date: December 15, 1978 Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission
This road marks the entrance into Eufaula of Federal troops on April 29, 1865. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia on April 9. General Benjamin H. Grierson was advancing with four thousand cavalry from Mobile and was then about at Louisville. He had not heard of Lee's surrender. Masters Edward Young and Edward Stern, mounted on horses and bearing flags of truce, were at once dispatched out this road, the direct route from Clayton, to meet General Grierson. They met General Grierson at six-mile branch, delivered the message, and returned. Then Dr. C. J. Pope, Mayor, and a committee of City Councilmen rode out to meet the Federal General and cavalry, leading them back into town down Broad Street and across the Chattahoochee to camp at Harrison's Mill near Georgetown, Georgia.
The town never surrendered. Though Eufaula remained under Federal military restriction about 4 to 5 months, good order prevailed and all private rights were respected.
Location: Located on South Midway Street in Clayton, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: February 18, 1997. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and Friends of Grace Episcopal Church, 1995.
This church had its origins in a mission station established by the Reverend J. L. Gay in 1844. On May 10, 1872 the mission was formally accepted in the Diocese of Alabama as Grace Church. Construction of a church building began in 1875 on a lot owned by General Henry Delamar Clayton and his wife Victoria. The Gothic Revival style building was completed on February 26, 1876 at which time the lot was deeded by the Claytons to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the State of Alabama. Bishop Richard J. Wilmer formally consecrated the church on November 14, 1876. The mission and church have been served by the Reverends Thomas J. Bland, DeBerniere Waddell, E. W. Spalding, as well as others.
Location: Located in the median across the street from the Hart House, 211 North Eufaula, Avenue, Eufaula, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: November 19, 1986. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1986.
Built by John Hart about 1850, the Hart House is recognized as an outstanding example of pure Greek Revival architecture. Hart (c. 1805-1863) moved from New Hampshire and became a prominent merchant and farmer. When constructed, the house was on the western edge of the town. The Hart House was one of only five Eufaula buildings recorded by the Historic American Building Survey in 1935. It was entered on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1973 as part of the Seth Lore Historic District. The building was purchased by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission for use as its headquarters on October 16, 1985.
Location: Located at 62 Louisville Avenue (Highway 51 South) in Clayton, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1999. Erected by Charles and Wanda Sewell and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1999.
SIDE 1: John H. Miller built this Gothic Revival town house in 1859. He and his wife moved from Orangeburg, South Carolina to Barbour County in the early 1830's, settling in an area which would become known as the Tabernacle Community. He later purchased a tract of land in Clayton on which this house was constructed. It is noteworthy for the hand painted murals on the entrance hall ceiling which depict The Four Seasons as well as other designs on the parlor and dining room ceilings. This work has been attributed to an artist named Massillon. The townhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1974.
SIDE 2: Miller-Martin Townhouse John Council Martin and Alice Floyd Martin purchased the home in 1915 and reared their four daughters, Mildred, Alice, Jonnie and Leila there. The property was inherited by daughter, Alice Martin Anderson in 1964. Her daughter, Ann Floyd Martin Miller, donated the property to the Clayton Historical Preservation Authority in 1983. In 1998, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sewell purchased and extensively renovated the townhouse.
Location: Located at 103 North Midway Street in Clayton, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: December 2, 1991. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Clayton Historic Preservation Authority, 1991.
This unusual house was built 1859-1861 by Benjamin Franklin Petty, a carriage and furniture merchant, who was a native of New York and a pioneer settler of Clayton. It was patterned after a design made popular by Orson S. Fowler's book "A Home For All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building," which was published in New York in 1854. In April 1865, the house was used as staff headquarters for Union Cavalry Commander General Benjamin H. Grierson. Petty heirs sold the property to Judge and Mrs. Bob T. Roberts in 1901. In 1981, under the administration of Mayor Edward C. Ventress, the property was purchased from the estate of Mary Roberts Beatty Armistead by the Town of Clayton, which has overseen its renovation.
Location: Located on the east side of North Randolph Avenue, Eufaula, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: May 23, 1991. Erected by the City of Eufaula and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1991.
SIDE 1: Old Negro Cemetery Interred on this gently sloping hillside are the remains of many of Eufaula's early black citizens. Their names are known only to God because the wooden grave markers which located the burials have long since vanished. This burying ground was used until about 1870 when black interments were moved to Pine Grove Cemetery. In addition to the "Old Negro Cemetery", there are at least five other graveyards including the Jewish, Presbyterian, Masonic, Odd Fellows and Public which are part of present day Fairview Cemetery.
SIDE 2: Fairview Cemetery The earliest burials in this cemetery date from Eufaula's pioneer days in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Formerly known as the "Old Cemetery", this public burial ground has been expanded through land purchases and the consolidation of other cemeteries including the Jewish, Presbyterian, Masonic, Odd Fellows and Negro. At the suggestion of his daughter, Claude Hill, Mayor P. B. McKenzie named the cemetery "Fairview" about 1895. The iron fence which borders the property on North Randolph Avenue was salvaged from Union Female College.
Location: Located near the Batesville Community at US Highway 82 and County Road 79 in Barbour County, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: June 29, 1997. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Norton Family Association, 1997.
SIDE 1: In 1828, Reverend John Wesley Norton left his native South Carolina with his family and a wagon train of followers, crossed into the Creek Indian Nation and just into the edge of what was then Pike County, settling near the present town of Clayton, Alabama. He was then in the bounds of, or in proximity to, the Chattahoochee Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was quite an acquisition to the young and struggling circuit in that newly settled section on the borders of the Indian tribes.
SIDE 2: Providence Methodist Church and Schoolhouse In 1835, Reverend John Wesley Norton located near Batesville and established the Providence Methodist Church and School which thrived for many years until his death in 1862. Located four miles south, only the Providence Cemetery remains where Reverend Norton, his wife Nancy Phillips Norton, and many of his church members and neighbors rest in peace. He was a man of few tears, solid piety, true benevolence and spotless character. He was a real pioneer and his death inflicted an irreparable loss upon those he left behind.
Location: Located on the south side of Barbour County Road 89 just west of the intersection of 89 and County Road 49 in the community of Spring Hill, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: September 21, 1997. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Spring Hill United Methodist Church, 1997.
This Greek Revival church was built in 1841 by John Fletcher Comer with lumber from his mill. The building originally had a slave balcony and exterior stairway which were removed c. 1890. At the same time, the pulpit was moved from between the two entrance doors to the rear of the church. There were 104 members in 1872 that included 32 men and 72 women. In 1899, a deed for twenty acres was issued by the Comer Family to the church. The property contained the church, cemetery and land for a school. Today the church and cemetery are maintained, in part, with monies from a trust established through Avondale Mills, the Comer family business.
Location: Located on Alabama Highway 51, Louisville, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: November 19, 1978. Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1978.
Near this site stood the old Pike County Courthouse which was the county seat of Pike from 1822 to 1827. It also served as the temporary county seat of the newly created Barbour County in 1833-when Clayton was selected. Louisville was settled before 1822 by Daniel Lewis, for whom it is named. Two-fifths of the new county of Barbour, including Louisville, was taken from old Pike. The first road in this area led from Louisville to Williamston to Franklin on the Chattahoochee River.
Location
525 School Street
Eufaula, AL 36027
Obverse
T. V. McCoo High School
In 1957, Eufaula citizens supported a bond issue that included, among other education projects, construction funds to relocate and build a new Van Buren High School facility. Completed in the same year, the campus was used continuously until May 1970. During the 1970-71 school year, total city-wide desegregation was in place so black and white students attended Eufaula High School together. The building is now used as a multi-purpose facility by the City of Eufaula.
On December 31, 1961, the Eureka Social Club sponsored a ceremony at Van Buren High School to honor Dr. T. V. McCoo for his fifty-two years of service to his fellowmen as a beloved physician and civic leader. At this event, Dr. W. D. Moorer, chairman of the Eufaula School Board, announced that the name of the school would be changed to T. V. McCoo High School.
Erected by the
Alabama Cooperative Extension Service
Sen. Billy Beasley, Rep. Berry Forte
Historic Chattahoochee Commission
2017
Reverse
Dr. Thomas Vivian (T. V.) McCoo
1883-1967
Born in Glennville, Alabama, T. V. McCoo graduated from Leonard Medical School at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. In early 1909, following his marriage to Gertrude Coffee, he began his practice of medicine in Eufaula where he was a physician for almost fifty years. McCoo was a Mason and a member of the First African Baptist Church where he was head of the Board of Trustees for forty years. He was also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
Following Dr. McCoo’s death, Joel P. Smith, editor of The Eufaula Tribune and Eufaula School Board member, noted that he was not only “…a competent physician who rendered invaluable service to the suffering, but equally as important, he was a dedicated civic and religious leader for many years.”
Erected by the
Alabama Cooperative Extension Service
Sen. Billy Beasley, Rep. Berry Forte
Historic Chattahoochee Commission
2017
Location: Located at 4180 U. S. Highway 431 South, about 8 miles south of Eufaula, Alabama. Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 1, 1990. Erected by White Oak United Methodist Church and the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, 1990.
SIDE 1: First known as White Oak Chapel, this church was dedicated on October 16, 1859 by Reverend Isaac I. Tatum of the Alabama Conference Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Society was organized by Reverend John J. Cassady who served as pastor in 1860. A log schoolhouse, constructed prior to 1859, served as the church building. The church is situated on land donated by Ezekiel Alexander (1803-1879). The grave of his son Asa, who died in 1861, is the earliest marked burial in the cemetery. Within a few years the log church was replaced by one made of rough, undressed lumber. A more finished building was erected in 1888.
SIDE 2: White Oak United Methodist Church The present church building was constructed in 1952-1953 upon the foundation of the 1888 building. A fellowship hall including kitchen and Sunday School rooms were added as part of this building project. Dr. A. E. Schaefer was district superintendent and Reverend Ennis Sellers was pastor. The building committee was E. F. Calhoun, chairman, R. A. James, W. V. Powell, Mrs. J. W. Calhoun and Mrs. S. E. Godfrey, Jr. In 1953 the church was recognized by Emory University and the Sear-Roebuck Foundation as Alabama's "Rural Church of the Year" because of outstanding achievement during 1952-1953.