Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

The secondary routes associated with the Federal Road in Mobile and Washington counties wereidentified from historic maps, survey plats, Fletcher Hale’s maps, and historic aerial photographs. One ofthe earliest maps to depict Fort Stoddert and St. Stephens was created around 1802 by an unknownmapmaker (Figure 3-3). This pen and ink sketch portrays settler homes along the Tombigbee and Tensawrivers, with family names keyed to homesites. Although the map does not show a road, the location of onecan be inferred from the linear settlement pattern between the two places. Abraham Bradley’s 1812 postalroutes map (Figure 3-4) depicts the road from Fort Stoddert to New Orleans established in 1805, andpresumably the Federal Road branch running north-south between Fort Stoddert and Fort Stephens (i.e.,St. Stephens), corresponding to the route inferred from the 1802 map. This location of the Federal Roadgenerally coincides with its portrayals in later decades.Figure 3-3. Detail of Anonymous map of the “Tombeckby and Tensaw” settlements, circa 1802 (courtesyof Library of Congress).54