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The rural nature of much of southern Alabama and Mississippi belies two centuries of change that have radically altered both cultural and natural elements of the environment. William Weatherford, Dixon Bailey, and Daniel Beasley would probably see little familiar in our mechanized farmscapes dominated by monoculture ¤elds of hybridized corn, cotton and soybeans, eroded hillsides (largely stripped of topsoil after 1814) now covered by invasive plants like kudzu and cogon grass, and clear-cut-harvested forests nearly devoid of the ¤re-climax canebrakes and longleaf pines that once dominated the landscape . Look closely, though, and one can still ¤nd traces of that not too distant past—most often just artifacts buried in the ground but occasionally standing structures that have miraculously survived the last two centuries of use and progress. Even when nothing visible remains above ground, the places remain —those spots where historic events occurred, from the spectacularly violent , like the epic battle at Fort Mims, to the humdrum activities of daily frontier life. Echoes of 1813 still reverberate for the historically curious explorer. Note: Before setting out, wise travelers will search the Internet for websites on the attractions mentioned below, to obtain current information on opening and closing times, admission fees, camping facilities, and handicap accessibility. Detailed road maps are also valuable when navigating rural areas, where highway signs can be scarce.1 Southwest Alabama No structures survive in Mobile from the Redstick War era, but an accurate, partial reconstruction of Fort Condé, downtown on Royal Street, serves as this Appendix 2 Places to Visit: Mississippi Territory and the Creek Nation, ca. 1813 300-year-old city’s welcome center. The original, crumbling, century-old masonry citadel had been seized from Spain by American troops commanded by Major General James Wilkinson in April 1813 and renamed Fort Charlotte. The fort was razed in 1820 to make way for urban construction as the city’s population swelled with thousands of immigrants. Between 1967 and 1972, archaeologists from the University of Alabama excavated the site of the fort to clear a path for the Wallace Tunnel, which carries Interstate 10 beneath the Mobile River. Diagonally across the street from Fort Condé is the Museum of Mobile, occupying the old city hall and market, which contains modern exhibits on the region’s social and military history. On the campus of the University of South Alabama, in west Mobile, is the Toulmin house, now known as Alumni Hall. Harry Toulmin was appointed federal judge of Washington County, Mississippi Territory, by President Jefferson in 1804. He played an important role in the events leading to the outbreak of the Redstick War. On the evening after the battle at Fort Mims, Judge Toulmin penned an impassioned letter as he watched smoke rise over the Tensaw from his vantage point across the delta at Fort Stoddert. This Creole Cottage– style home, built by his son Theophilus in 1828, was moved in 1977 from its original location in the Toulminville area of north Mobile and now houses the Of¤ce of Alumni Affairs for the university. From Mobile, drive across Mobile Bay on the elevated Bayway of Interstate 10 or, better yet, on the water-level Causeway constructed in the 1920s for U.S. Highways 90 and 31, and ascend the bluff at Spanish Fort, highest point on the Gulf coast. Take a glance back at the extensive bay, marsh, and delta that occupy the Mobile graben, a massive “downthrown” fault block. Southwestern Alabama is a region of considerable geological faulting, which probably accounts for the con®uence of two major river systems, the Tombigbee and the Alabama, not far to the north. The bluffs lining the east side of Mobile Bay are escarpments, “upthrown” fault blocks on the edge of the graben. Few natives know they live in a geologically active fault zone.2 Drive north 5 miles on State Highway 225 to Historic Blakeley State Park (Figure 27). In 1812, Josiah Blakeley, a speculator from Connecticut, purchased from Spanish authorities a large land tract on the east side of the MobileTensaw delta. His initial newspaper advertisements of lots for sale in the proposed town of Blakeley, which appeared in the Washington Republican early in October 1813, attracted little interest because roaming Redstick war parties had emptied the entire region of American settlers.3 Despite his bad timing, Blakeley did soon attract buyers and the town for a time rivaled Mobile in 260 / Appendix 2 [18.221.154.151] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 15...

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