Wilcox County's Estelle community was once a prominent railroad stop

The Estelle community was once a thriving railroad stop east of Camden, but little remains today to remind us that thousands of travelers once passed through this community during the heyday of the old rail lines.

I became interested in learning more about the Estelle community a while back when I saw it listed on a historical map produced by the Department of Geography at the University of Alabama. According to that map, Estelle was located between what is now State Highway 10 and Pursley Creek, not far from the intersection of Wilcox County Road 65. Sources say that Estelle was an important rail station that first began appearing on maps around 1910.

According to “Place Names in Alabama” by Virginia O. Foscue, the Estelle community was named after a person, but that person’s exact identity is unknown. Naming rail stops after individuals was a common practice during the early days of the railroads. For example, the Town of Beatrice in Monroe County was named after Beatrice Seymour, the granddaughter of a Col. Seymour of Nashville, who was the general superintendent of construction while the Selma to Pensacola branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was being built.

On Friday morning, my young son and I set off for the Estelle community to see it for ourselves. We scouted around the community for the better part of half an hour and saw no readily visible sign of the old railroad. Today, if you go to “downtown” Estelle you’ll see that the most prominent landmarks are the Meadowbrook neighborhood, the Last Chance Church and a couple of old block buildings covered in overgrowth at the intersection of Highway 10 and County Road 65.

Perhaps the most visible reminder of the old Estelle community is a street sign just off Highway 10 that reads “Estelle Circle.” I hopped out of my truck to take a picture of this sign on Friday just about the same time that the mail lady passed down the lane on her appointed rounds. She threw me a big, friendly wave as she continued on down the road, and I was caused to wonder if perhaps this community had its own post office at one time.

Dulaney AME Church in Wilcox County, Alabama.

While in the area, my son and I rode a little farther east and visited the historic Dulaney AME Church and cemetery, which are located just off Highway 10, between Estelle and the Rosebud community. The Dulaney Cemetery was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register on May 29, 2003 and the church building itself was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage on April 18, 2007. We took a few minutes to walk through the cemetery and noted that while most of it is located on the west side of the church, many graves can also be found amid the tall wildflowers growing far behind the church.

My son asked how old the church was, and I had no good answer for him at first. However, a few minutes later, we found a cornerstone near the church’s entrance that said the building was erected in March 1914 when the Rev. G.W. Harris was pastor. A.L. Thompson was the building contractor and members of the building committee included H.C. Cook, A.A. Hicks, A. Hines, W.D. Daniel and M. Cook.

My son, who is only 10 years old, was especially fascinated by an old outhouse he spotted in the woods just east of the church. As we eased toward Jackson’s Fried Chicken in Camden for lunch, we had a long talk about the miracle of modern indoor plumbing and about how old-fashioned privies actually worked. To say that all of this made a big impression on him would be an understatement.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone with more information about the old Estelle community. Who was it named after? Is there anything left of the old rail bed and where was the old depot located? Did Estelle once have a post office, and, if so, where was it located? Please let me know and I’ll be sure to pass this information on to readers at a later date.