In 1818, Alabama's first governor
carved the capital city of Cahawba
out of the wilderness. In less than 50
years, Cahawba grew from a frontier
capital full of log cabins to one of
America's wealthiest communities,
with some of the finest mansions in
the state.Then abruptly, after the
Civil War, all was abandoned.
Today Cahawba is a ghost town, an
important archaeological site, and a
place of picturesque ruins. Ironically
in 1818, Cahawba's landscape was
also full of ruins—the remains of
a village constructed by prehistoric
mound builders who abandoned the
site in the 16th century.
As you look east down Capitol
Street toward the Alabama River,
You're looking directly at the site
where an immense earthen mound,
centerpiece of the mound-builder
village, once stood—the same site
Governor Bibb envisioned for
Cahawba's statehouse. In 1858
Cahawba residents used the soil of
this prehistoric mound to build an
embankment for their new railroad.
Freeman's 1817 Map
In 1817, settlers were anxious to move into Alabama's frontier, and surveyor Thomas Freeman was responsible for creating maps necessary for orderly land sales. Just below the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers, Freeman observed and recorded the ruins of an old abandoned
Indian village. The houses and the semi-circular palisade that surrounded the village had long since turned to dust, but the ceremonial earthen mound in the center of the town and the moat that surrounded the palisade wall were still visible in 1817 (recorded as an "Ancient Indian Work' on this map).
Governor Bibb's 1818 Map of Cahawba
In 1818, when the federal government granted Governor Willam Wyatt Bibb land at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers for Alabama's seat of government, the Territorial Assembly authorized Bibb to layout a town plan. If you compare Governor Bibb's 1818 town, plat, to Freeman's 1817 map, you can see that Bibb planned to give the statehouse of his new city prominence by sitting it atop the old Indian mound, He also planed to surround the capitol grounds with the moat that had been dug three centuries earlier. Funding shortages and his untimely death prevented Bibb from fully realizing his plan.
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