Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

The Old Federal Road in Macon County is shown on several historic maps created in the first halfof the nineteenth century, including John Melish’s 1818 Map of the Alabama Territory, an anonymousmap created in 1826, and William Darby’s 1828 Map of Alabama. The route of the road varies slightlyfrom map to map, but this should be expected given the relatively small scale of these published maps,which were compiled prior to official land surveys conducted within this portion of the Creek Nation.Only with John LaTourette’s 1838 Map of Alabama and Georgia do we see the accuracy and detailobtained from public land surveys.John Melish’s 1818 map shows Fort Hull in the location erroneously occupied by Point Comforton Bradley’s 1812 map (Figure 9-4) and Point Comfort is correctly shifted westward. The anonymous1826 map depicts stands at “Walker’s” and “Louis’s,” but does not show Point Comfort or Fort Hull(Figure 9-5). These stands were Captain Walker’s tavern at Pole Cat Springs and Kendall Lewis’s tavernat Fort Bainbridge. William Darby’s 1828 map (Figure 9-6) shows Point Comfort – labeled “Ft Comfort”– and “Cornells,” evidently an inn operated by that wealthy Creek family, although rarely mentioned intravel accounts. Several additional sites, including the location of the Battle of Calebee Creek, are shownon LaTourette’s 1838 map (Figure 9-7). Darby, the anonymous 1826 mapmaker, and LaTourette placeFort Bainbridge on the Macon-Russell county line. Modern-day local historians still debate in whichcounty the fort was actually located, although most sources indicate the fort was in Russell County.Figure 9-4. Detail of John Melish’s 1818 map of Alabama Territory depicting the “Federal Road toGeorgia” through Macon County (courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History).195