Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

Figure 8-19. The Old Federal Road and Montgomery Branch in Montgomery County, map 5.Historic SitesManack’s Store. Samuel Moniac had a large plantation on the Alabama River northwest ofPintlala (around the modern community of Manack in Lowndes County). The first mention of Moniac’splace on the Old Federal Road at Pintlala occurs in a letter written by Benjamin Hawkins to JohnChandler, a mail contractor, on January 19, 1809 (see Figure 8-13). As transcribed for publication byeditor C. L. Grant, Hawkins wrote: “The station at Pinahlucho by Mr. Nal will be an useful one. I wrote tohim last fall to fix one on the post path. He is a wealthy man and can keep it supplied with necessaries atall times.” 2This quote exemplifies two challenges facing researchers studying the early history of the CreekIndians and their relations with Americans: (1) historical inconsistencies in the spelling of personal andplace names make it difficult to identify people and places accurately; and (2) handwriting of that era isdifficult to decipher. In this particular instance, “Pinahlucho” is recognizable as an attempt to write theMuskogee word opilthlakko (written today as opel-rakko), meaning “big swamp,” the origin of two178