Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

towns and settled for a time at Polecat Springs. In the American territory, dozens of small communitiesappeared on the road at places like Fort Deposit, Fort Dale, and Burnt Corn, or a few miles away, as wasthe case with Butlerville (later, Greenville). However, the rapid success in the 1820s of steamboatsmoving passengers and commodities by river abruptly shifted the economic focus of the state toplantations and communities on the Alabama River, places like Montgomery and Claiborne, wherebranches of the Federal Road quickly diverted land traffic from portions of the old route. The FederalRoad remained important for rural local and long-distance travel, however, until railroads in the 1870sand onward captured much of the long-distance traffic. By the time the Good Roads Movement of theearly twentieth century had an impact, particularly in the efforts of Senator John H. Bankhead to providefederal funds for paving and other improvements to Alabama’s roads, the Old Federal Road had beenlargely bypassed or superimposed by later federal roads, in the early twentieth century by US Highways31 and 80 and in recent decades by Interstates 65 and 85.Yet the Old Federal Road, fragmented and obsolete, still captures the imagination of Alabama’sresidents and resonates in the oral histories of those who live along its route. Publication in 1989 ofSoutherland and Brown’s fine book, The Federal Road through Georgia, the Creek Nation, and Alabama,1806-1836, is largely responsible for the broad interest in the old road that exists today. But alongside thatwritten history, and preceding it by many years, abides a deeper interest – one can only describe it as anobsession – that possesses many older residents of the counties along the Old Federal Road. HistorianSimon Schama’s apt phrase, “zealous guardians of landscape memory,” comes to mind. 17 We had theprivilege of meeting and learning about the Old Federal Road from many of these wise and generous localhistorians. They have contributed immensely to this study and we have tried to repay them by accuratelyconveying the information they gave us. Nevertheless, we realize their knowledge runs far deeper than wecould delve in the limited time permitted by this project.We think their interest in this old road has several origins. For one thing, they want to understandthe history in their own backyard, especially this prominent landscape feature, this gash in the land thatbrought “our ancestors” here. For many it is that personal. Most descend from the earliest settlers, and afascination with their own family genealogy extends to the places and structures and artifacts that date tothe foundations of their community, county, state, and nation. Some, however, are relative newcomers toAlabama (as we are) and for us the term “our ancestors” has more general relevance. We all haveancestors, whether we have tracked them to their genealogical roots or not, whether they lived here orelsewhere. With a little historical imagination, and an anthropological appreciation for the “other,” we canall explore the diversity of the human experience in our own or in others’ backyards.18244