Alabama's Ghost Capital

Cahawba contains layers of Southern history

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The rain gathered strength—and my cell phone signal did the opposite—as we drove through the small farming town of Orrville, Alabama. But my companion and I were on a mission, so instead of high-tailing it to the comfort of our B&B, we continued down the road to the state’s long-abandoned first capital.

We hadn’t gone much further when we came upon the sign: “Old Cahawba Archaeological Park: Authentic history cloaked in mystery.” Soon after, we arrived at the visitor’s center and darted through the rain to the front door of the pristinely restored 1850s Greek Revival cottage. Another couple had chosen the less-than-ideal day to explore the site, and Curator Bruce Lipscombe grew animated as she informed the four of us about the history of the area. 

The site of Alabama’s first state capital was abandoned permanently some time before the end of the nineteenth century, but when Cahawba (sometimes spelled “Cahaba”) was first established in 1819, it was built on the remnants of an even earlier ghost town. A Mississippian Native American village dating back to the sixteenth century formerly sat at the convergence of the Alabama and Cahaba rivers, and Governor William Wyatt Bibb had plans to build Alabama’s first statehouse directly atop a three-hundred-year-old Indian mound.

“Buried at Cahawba is history that never made it into the historical record—just waiting to be recovered.” 

“Over here where the mound was, he drew a capitol building… That is showing dominance over everything: the land, every other culture,” noted Lipscombe. “Mind you, what’s happening at the very same time? Indian removal.” 

Fortunately, some might say, Bibb died before his plan was realized, and a less-imposing statehouse was eventually completed on an adjacent lot. An influx of new residents eager to populate Alabama’s “frontier capital” moved into Cahawba, and when Alabama officially became a state in December of 1819, the first official legislative session was held in Cahawba’s new statehouse. Cahawba would remain the capital until 1826, when the legislature moved the seat of government to more-bustling Tuscaloosa. 

“Mind you, we were the first state capital for only eight years, but in the state constitution it says Cahawba is the permanent state capital of Alabama,” Lipscombe pointed out. “There are no legislators down there, you’re safe.”

Myth tells that a flood in 1825 was the cause of the exodus, but according to Site Director Linda Derry, that is not the case: 1825 was a drought year. In reality, Cahawba thrived on an economy of cotton and slavery until the Civil War, and in 1860 Dallas County, which contains Cahawba and nearby Selma, was the fourth-wealthiest county in the entire United States per capita, slaves included—both as population and as wealth. Remnants of impressive brick mansions and businesses from this period, like the columns that remain from a mansion built by the Crocheron brothers, can still be found at the site. 

“These are two-story columns that held up a balcony on a two-story shop. You know when you drive up to Ulta and there’s Kohl’s, and a Petsmart, and Merle Norman, and all those? That’s what this was. Ten-foot storefronts,” said Lipscombe. “Later [the Crocherons] added a house to the end of it because they were from New York City, and they didn’t know you could build your house on another plot of land. But you have to admit, they kind of had the best view in town.”

Even the slave quarters were grand by the low standards that existed for such dwellings: one of the few structures that remains in its entirety is a massive two-story slave residence, the associated home long gone. 

“Above all, Cahawba is a place to explore—to find messages left in the landscape by Cahawba’s long dead residents,” said Derry. “Moreover, you don’t have to believe in ghosts to hear the past speak to you here at Old Cahawba.” 

“We had boomed like nobody’s business in the 1850s when we got the railroad—matter of fact, this road follows the railroad embankment—and during the Civil War, they came and took our railroad,” explained Lipscombe. “They took the rails, because they didn’t have the ability to create them, so they just stole them from places they didn’t think were terribly important. And that kills the town.”

So it was the Civil War, more than some great flood or Native American curse, that marked the end of Cahawba’s prosperity. The Confederates seized the town’s train and railroad tracks and moved them to nearby Selma, and the former railroad warehouse at Cahawba was converted into a prison for thousands of captured Federal soldiers. In 1865, a flood did engulf the town, and after the war ended the county seat was officially moved to Selma, where the railroad tracks were. The town’s white residents followed in pursuit of business, which necessitated a railroad as means of transportation. 

“There was white flight when the county seat was moved to Selma, but there was an influx of newly emancipated people,” said Derry. “And for a short while, Cahawba was a freedmen’s village that Selma newspapers called ‘The Mecca of the Radical Republican Party.’ Freed African Americans built their own churches and schools, they registered to vote and held political rallies in the old abandoned courthouse. One former slave, Jordan Hatcher, was part of the convention that rewrote Alabama’s constitution after the war.”

[You might also like: Sherburne Lives On: Memories of a Louisiana ghost town.]

Much of the town was eventually bought out by Confederate veteran Samuel Kirkpatrick and converted into a farm, which it remained until that too was abandoned in the 1930s, with the exception of occasional hunters and fishermen, until the Alabama Historic Commission began excavations of the site in the mid-1980s. 

“The first archaeological work showed us that Cahawba was a significant archaeological treasure that needed protecting, so our efforts had to turn to fundraising so this large site could be preserved for the citizens of Alabama,” said Derry. “Buried at Cahawba is history that never made it into the historical record—just waiting to be recovered.” 

Walking around Cahawba in the rain exploring and taking photos, I think of all of the people who once called the land home: the Mississippian Indians, Alabama’s first legislators, the Union soldiers, the newly-freed slaves. Chalk it up to an over-active imagination, but amid the steady hum of cicadas, crickets, and frogs, I can almost make out these past residents whispering their stories through the trees. Mostly reclaimed by nature, the area is beautiful and eerie. Seeking out the scattered buildings, ruins, wells, and cemeteries that survive the tests of weather and time conjured feelings of connection to a time and place that still remains largely an enigma. 

“Above all, Cahawba is a place to explore—to find messages left in the landscape by Cahawba’s long dead residents,” said Derry. “Moreover, you don’t have to believe in ghosts to hear the past speak to you here at Old Cahawba.” 

[You might also like: Mississippi History Along the Natchez Trace: a road trip through the past.]

Those who do believe in ghosts, on the other hand, are in luck: to counteract vandalism and raise funds, the Old Cahawba Archeological Park hosts a popular Haunted History series in October, which is the only time visitors are permitted in the park after sundown. Ghost stories passed down through generations are shared on-site, along with historical research to verify the characters and circumstances. 

“After leaving our historians and archaeologists, they get to do a mini ghost hunt with a paranormal team, but they leave knowing more history that when they arrived, and also know that if they experienced something ghostly, it was an authentic experience, and not something that we manufactured,” said Derry. “And trust me, Cahawba is spooky enough without us having to fake stuff.”  

Visit Old Cahawba on October 6 for the “Hear the Dead Speak” tour and on October 20 & 27 for Haunted History tours. facebook.com/oldcahawba.

If you go:

Old Cahawba Archeological Park

9518 Cahaba Rd

Orrville, Ala. 

(334) 872-8058

Hancock’s Barbecue 

72 Co Rd 46

Selma, Ala. 

(334) 872-5541

Orville Farmer’s Market 

14560 AL-22

Orrville, Ala. 

(334) 996-8301

Mark’s Mart

1022 Co Rd 44

Selma, Ala.

(334) 872-3003

Old Cahawba Archaeological Park

9518 Cahaba Rd, Orrville, Alabama