All Aboard for the Best About Cruising!

Did you know that St. Stephens was the first capital of Alabama? You can find this and more while on your Alabama tourism exploration. Visiting the St. Stephens Historical Park will give you the opportunity to not only see the place that was chosen as the first capital of the state, but see how the transportation issue was responsible for the development of this community. The community is included in the 200 acre park along with a 90 acre quarry lake. With all this going on the activities available at the park will have you pleased you stopped and spent some time here.

Time took its toll on Old St. Stephens. Although it is one of the most important historical and archaeological sites in Alabama it currently is just the remains of an old town. Built on a high bluff along the Tombigbee River the community grew because boats could go no further due to the rocky shoals in the river. When the shallow draft boats were built it permitted travelers to traverse the shoals and venture further upriver. With the capital being moved and the yellow fever outbreak the town just began to die off.

Today there is an archaeological dig going on which began in 1995. Portions of a limestone block building have been found as well as many artifacts from the early days. It is the plan to complete a map of the entire town site with the results of the dig. Volunteers as well as students from the college are welcome to come and participate in the dig.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 9:27 am and is filed under Water Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.