Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Details about another Old Federal Road marker

I found myself on Conecuh County Road 5, between Bermuda and Repton, this morning and spotted another Old Federal Road marker, this time, at the intersection of CR 5 and what I believe is Conecuh County Road 37.
(I’m not 100 percent sure of the location because the 911 sign at the intersection has apparently been taken down. Some of you will know CR 37 by its other name, that is, Reed Road.)
Some of you may remember my April 12 and May 13 posts in which I described the Old Federal Road markers near Coley Chapel Church in Goodway and Old Bethany Baptist Church at Burnt Corn.
The marker I found today is the third that I’ve run across, and here’s what it says about the Old Federal Road:
“Old Federal Road
“Duncan MacMillan’s stage stop was located near here. According to the traveler James Stuart in 1830, he (Duncan) ‘did not taste fermented liquor’ and ‘thought coffee was the best stimulant.’ Mr. MacMillan came from Scotland and like many early settlers cleared his own land and grew sugar and cotton.
“Erected in 1998 by Monroe County Heritage Museums and the J.L. Bedsole Foundation.” As many of you will remember from you history lessons, the Old Federal Road dates back to 1805 when the relatively young U.S. federal government established a “road” from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans. I say “road” because in the beginning it was not much more than a horse trail. A portion of this old road now follows the Monroe-Conecuh county line. In the end, this is the third marker of this type that I’ve encountered, and there are likely more. If any of you out there in the reading audience know the locations of the others, send me an e-mail.

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