Historical Sites

SF9.D3 Folder 64

Historic Sites: Browder Springs

Item 1: Document entitled “Browder Spring/Springs,” regarding the history and location of the spring; attached is a sketch of the walkway across the spring

SF9.D3 Folder 65

Historic Sites: Covered Bridge

Item 1: The Livingston Life, Volume 28 No. 3, December 5, 1977, featuring article titled “Covered Bridge Was Once Home for Ghost”; attached is a photocopy of this article

SF9.D3 Folder 66

Historic Sites: Ft. Tombecbee

Item 1: Photocopy of a newspaper article entitled “South Alabama Roundup, French and Indian Tangle Recounted”

Item 2: Document entitled “Old Fort Tombecbee” by Elaine Stafford and Diane Norman, regarding Fort Tombecbee; attached is a perspective sketch of Fort Tombecbee

Item 3: Photocopy of an invitation for the transfer of title to the Fort Tombecbee historical site from the Colonial Dames of America in Alabama to the University

Item 4: Photocopy of a picture of the historical marker for Fort Tombecbee

Item 5: Two photocopies of pictures of Fort Tombecbee

Item 6: Article entitled “Much History Surrounds Fort Tombecbee”

Item 7: Seven page document entitled “Old Fort Tombecbee,” regarding the history and location of Fort Tombecbee

Item 8: Copy of a pamphlet entitled “Fort Tombecbee: 1735-1822”

Item 9: Article of the Alabama Review, January 1968, entitled “The Trouble at Tombeckby” by Robert R. Rea

Item 10: Various b/w photographs of Fort Tombecbee (6)

Item 11: Various b/w photographs of what appears to be the layout of Fort Tombecbee

Item 12: Six page document entitled “Significance of Property and Preservation Objective,” regarding Fort Tombecbee

Item 13: Property Index Card for Ft. Tombecbee under the name of the Daughters of the American Revolution; attached is what appears to be a photocopy of an aerial view of Fort Tombecbee

Item 14: Article from the Tuscaloosa News, May 30, 1979, entitled “Old Historic Site Off the Beaten Path”

SF9.D3 Folder 67

Historic Sites: Indian Hill

Item 1: Letter dated September 18th, [?], to William Stuart, from Gregor [?], regarding a map showing the location of Indian Hill

Item 2: Map of Sumter County showing the location of Indian Hill

SF9.D3 Folder 68

Historical Sites: Misc.

Item 1: B/W photo labeled “Vernacular House” in Gainesville, Ala.

Item 2: Four-page document with descriptions of various historical sites:

• The Cedars – This unique antebellum plantation home located near Sumterville was built in 1848 by John Evander Brown.  The two-story front porch is supported by four small square wooden columns on each level.  There are thirteen rooms and the entire house was built of longleaf pine.  The house received its name from the 500 cedars Brown brought from Jones’ Bluff and set out around the house.
• Kring Coffin House – The one-story frame building was built around 1840.  it was probably built by Edward N. Kring who was Gainesville’s coffin maker and undertaker.  The scalloped wooden trim outlining the front gable is its most distinctive feature and it is an example of the decorative trim that probably adorned many other structures in Gainesville that have not survived.
• Calloway School – This one-room frame schoolhouse was constructed in 1917 on the Emelle to Livingston road.  A curriculum stressing the three “R’s” was offered for a period of about ten years.  The school was closed in 1927 as the result of school consolidation.  For the next fifty years, the building served as a residence with the large single room divided into several smaller rooms.  It was moved to the Livingston University campus in March 1977, and it will be restored to its original floor plan and will be used as a local museum.
• Little Brick Holiness Church – This church located in Cuba was built of hand-made brick by J.K. Wedgeworth who operated the Wedgeworth Pottery.  It has a brick alter designed by Mr. Wedgeworth and several other interesting masonry features.  It was built by the church members in the late 1920’s, and its first pastor was Mrs. Lizzie Rew.
• Old Probate Office – This small one-story brick building is located on the southwest corner of the courthouse square and was constructed in the late 1830’s.  There are six arched windows, some with the original panes, and the windows and front door have solid metal shutters.  The interior has recently been renovated for use by the Sumter County Board of Commissioners after serving as the office of the probate judge and more recently as a public library.
• Old Covered Bridge – This covered bridge was originally constructed in 1861 by Captain William Alexander Campbell Jones to span the Sucarnoochee River south of Livingston.  In 1924 the bridge was moved five miles to the Alamuchee Creek, and in 1971, it was moved to its present location spanning a small pond on the Livingston University Campus.  It was constructed of heart yellow pine and it is one of the sixteen covered bridges in Alabama and one of the very few located this far South.
• Sumter County Courthouse – This two-story masonry and stone courthouse was built in 1902 replacing a frame structure that burned in 1901.  Its unique architectural style was influenced by Beaux-Arts Classicism.  This style is reflected by the four sets of coupled Ionic engaged columns spaced symmetrically along the second-floor façade of the central mass, the obvious delineation of the central mass from the two wings, and the elaborate profusion of trim and the overall symmetry.  Although the interior has recently been remodeled and renovated, the exterior has not been altered.  It is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
• Webb Hall – His three-story brick structure is located on the campus of Livingston University.  It was built in 1915 with the north wing being added in 1926.  It is the oldest building on the University campus, and its’ double front portico is supported by eight fluted sonic columns.  It has served the University as a women’s dormitory, student union and bookstore, and it is presently being renovated as an administration building with a completion date set for early spring 1978.
• Bethel Chapel – This sturdy brick Presbyterian chapel is located near Sumterville at the intersection of county routes 24 and 74.  The present Gothic structure was built in 1908 on the site of the original church.  Marble plaques are located on the wall behind the pulpit listing the Confederate dead from the area.  The minute books of the church date back to 1835 and provide a concise history of the church and Sumter County in the nineteenth century.  There is an interesting cemetery in the churchyard containing the graves of several of the founders of the original church.
• Fort Tombecbe Site – In 1734-1736 a fort was constructed at this site, Jones’ Bluff, on the Tombigbee River near Epes by the French.  The wooden and earthen fortification was built on orders from the French governor at Mobile, Bienville.  A small French garrison was maintained at the fort through the end of the French and Indian War.  In October, 1764, the British occupied the site and renamed the fort, Fort York, and it was later abandoned by the British in 167.  In 1794 the Spanish built a fortification on this site and named it Fort Confederation, and this post was abandoned in 1797.  In 1816 a Federal trading post, the Choctaw Trading House, was opened by George Strother Gaines, but it was eventually closed in 1821although a private trading company carried on trade with the nearby Choctaws for several years.  It is listed on the National Registry of Historical Places.
• Farview – This lovely two-story frame house is located near Sumterville.  It has a central two-story portico supported by four massive square columns and a second story balcony without visible supports.  It features a double front door with side-lights and transom.  The house was built by William Frierson Fulton in 1835 who was an early leader in Sumter County and an organizer of the Bethel Presbyterian Chapel.
• McMillian & Company, Bankers.  The original bank was established in 1891, and the present building was completed in 1973.  This building is of a traditional styling with Williamsburg influences.  It is a prime example of the compatibility of traditional design with the needs and demands of modern society.
• Sparkman Office Building.  This two-story frame structure was built as a residence in the late 1830’s.  It has a unique five sided entrance porch and four front windows and sidelights.  The house was rolled back 15 feet several years ago because of street noise.  It has recently been converted into an office building, and it is a perfect example of the adaptive use of a historic structure.
• “Offices of the Tavern” – This house is all that remains of the Choctaw Tavern built in 1832-1833 at the corner of Washington and Marshall streets in Livingston.  This building was originally part of the ell that extended down Marshall Street from the two-story main structure that fronted on Washington Street.  It faced the courthouse square and was part of a row of one room offices known as “the offices to the Tavern”.  The Tavern was torn down and rebuilt on the same block facing Madison Street by the Methodist Church several years ago to be used as Sunday School rooms.  Recently the building was restored and modernized as an office and residence by Representative Frank Campbell.
• Clay Memorial Cemetery – This cemetery was dedicated in 1881 on land donated by R.A. Clay, an early settler in Cuba.  The town of Cuba provides perpetual care and is assisted by the Cuba Study Club in making improvements.
• Cuba Baptist Church – This church was built in 1877 to replace a log building on this site.  The sanctuary is the original structure with its hand-hewn timbers that are twelve to fifteen inches wide.  It was originally divided by a partition, the height of the pews, separating the men and women who also used separate entrances.  The decorative trim on the gables of the main structure is an attractive feature.
• Beavers Home – This lovely ante-bellum home near Cuba was started in 1845.  The peak of the house is something like a “captain’s walk” which at one time was a cupola and served as a dental office.  The home is in the process of restoration.
• Davis Home.  This attractive one and an half story frame house is located in York.  The original part of the house has hand-hewn timbers on the walls, floors, and ceilings.  It has severed as a school building and as a boarding house.
• Gainesville Presbyterian Church.  This splendid white frame ante-bellum church was built in 1837-1838.  It features a double entrance flanked by Doric pilasters, four tall windows down each side of the church with green shutters, and a slave gallery which runs along three sides of the sanctuary.