Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

Figure 6-3. James Weakley’s 1847 survey plat for Township 9 North, Range 12 East (courtesy of theBureau of Land Management, General Land Office).Although unlabeled, this early mapped segment corresponds to the Old Federal Road according toother sources. Coffee’s survey plat does not show any roads, which is typical of his plats. James Weakleyresurveyed the county in the l840s. The only survey plats available – T9N R12E, T11N R13E, and T11NR14E – all show the road (Figure 6-3), though only labeled as such on T9N R12E. The Old Federal Roadin T10N R13E could not be determined from survey plats, but the location was identified from othersources.Historic maps created in the first half of the nineteenth century were useful to confirm thelocation of the Old Federal Road and associated historic sites in Butler County. Abraham Bradley’s 1812Postal Route Map of the United States was the first map showing the Old Federal Road in Butler County(Figure 6-4). The place names Bradley used do not correspond with other historic maps, but based on themeasurements given between stops on the road (from Samuel Bloomfield’s 1811 survey), the “waterhole”and “Hurricane Spring” are, in fact, Pine Barren Springs and Poplar Springs in present-day Butler County.John Melish’s 1818 Map of Alabama Territory depicts the Old Federal Road, as well as Pine Barren andPoplar Springs (Figure 6-5).141