Prairie Bluff, Alabama
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Prairie Bluff, also known as Dale and Daletown, is a
ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
in Wilcox County,
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
.


History

Prairie Bluff first appeared on maps in 1819, the same year that Alabama was
admitted to the Union Admission to the Union is provided by the Admissions Clause of the United States Constitution in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, which authorizes the United States Congress to admit new states into the Union beyond the thirteen states that a ...
as a state. It was listed erroneously as Prairie Blue on Fielding Lucas' ''Geographic, Statistical, and Historical Map of Alabama'', printed in Philadelphia in 1822. However, another of Lucas' Alabama maps, also printed in 1822, lists it as Prairie Bluff. It is interchangeably listed as Dale, Daletown, or Prairie Bluff on subsequent maps from the 1830s until the mid-1850s, after which time Prairie Bluff is the only name used. It disappeared from maps altogether around 1900. The historic Greek-Revival style Dale Masonic Lodge No. 25 in Camden, completed in 1848, was originally established in what was known as Dale during 1827. The members voted to move their lodge during the 1840s to the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
in Camden, incorporated in 1842. The county seat had been a short distance from Prairie Bluff, in the community of Canton Bend, until moved to Barboursville (later renamed Camden) in 1833. The town was located at the midpoint of an early road that connected Cahaba, the first
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
, and St. Stephens, the territorial capital. Situated atop a cliff overlooking the
Alabama River The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa River, Tallapoosa and Coosa River, Coosa rivers, which unite about north of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery, near the town of Wetumpka, Alabama, Wetumpka. Over a co ...
, the town grew as river trade increased. A large
cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
slide, used to move bales of cotton from the top of the cliff to
paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...
s on the river below, was located at the site. The steamboat ''Pittsburg'' sank near Prairie Bluff in May 1828, followed by the ''Jewess'' on October 28, 1841. The town was at its height in 1861, but declined rapidly in importance with the introduction of new
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
s following the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Portions of the site were inundated by the William "Bill" Dannelly Reservoir with the construction of the nearby
Millers Ferry Lock and Dam Millers Ferry Lock and Dam is a lock and hydroelectric dam on the Alabama River, near the community of Millers Ferry, Alabama. It was built by and continues to be operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Construction of the complex ...
in 1963. The only physical feature that remains at the site today is the Prairie Bluff Cemetery, with marked graves dating from the 1830s to the 1860s.


Geography

The site of Prairie Bluff is located at , it has an elevation of . The site is located on an exposed portion of the Prairie Bluff Chalk Formation, a geological formation that was named after the town.


Notable native

* William H. Gaston,
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
landowner and co-founder of the first banking house in the city of Dallas * William Q. Atwood,
Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in Saginaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 44,202 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Saginaw River, Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township, ...
lumber baron was born at Shell Creek plantation near Prairie Bluff. * Mrs. I. Lowenberg, author, clubwoman, reformer, socialite


See also

*
Ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...


References

{{Wilcox County, Alabama Ghost towns in Alabama Geography of Wilcox County, Alabama Towns in Alabama