CAHAWBA, Dallas Co.,
By
Located at the end of State Highway (SH) 9, 3.5 miles
southeast of a point nine miles southwest of Selma on SH 22.
When Alabama was established as a state in 1819, the
search for an ideal location to establish a capital city lead to the confluence
of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers. The
centerpiece of the
A listing of the various
sessions of the state legislature that convened in Cahawba
include:
·
1819
o October
25 - December 17 Huntsville
·
1820
o November
6 - December 21 Cahawba
·
Special called session 1821
o June
4-18 Cahawba
·
1821
o November
5 - December 19 Cahawba
·
1822-23
o November
18 - January 1 Cahawba
·
1823
o November
17 - December 31 Cahawba
·
1824
o November
15 - December 25 Cahawba
·
1825-26
o November 21 - January 14 Cahawba
·
1826-27
o November
20 - January 13 Tuscaloosa
Realizing that the site
was susceptible to flooding, the state legislature voted to move the capital,
and in 1826 it was relocated to
In 1864, a 2000-man
prisoner of war camp was located here.
Neither Cahawba nor the P.O.W. camp lasted
much longer as Union troops routed protecting Confederate troops, and Cahawba's townsfolk buried their wealth, shuttered their
windows and waited for the human storm to approach. They watched nearby Selma get reduced to a
smoking ember, but before Union troops could arrive in Cahawba,
a third flood destroyed the city.
That was it.
The citizens packed up
and left, abandoning the town. The
county seat was transferred to Selma, and Cahawba was a memory.
Today it is a rubbled site, and part of a state-owned
This
was our Ghost Town of the Month for February 2005.
This is one of the towns
featured in my newest book, GHOST
TOWNS: Yesterday & TodayTM.
This
historic site also has its own website at: Old Cahawba.com
LOCATION:
·
SW¼ Sec 32, T16N, R10E, St.
Stephens Meridian
·
Latitude: 32.3168056 / 32° 19’ 01” N
·
Longitude: -87.1013793 / 87° 06’ 05” W
Also visit: Ghost Town USA’s
Ghost Towns of ALABAMA
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FIRST POSTED: February 03, 2005
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