Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church remains the center of Monroe County's historic Eliska community

Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church at Eliska.

Monroe County’s old Eliska community is located on County Road 1, between Perdue Hill and Mt. Pleasant, about 24 miles, as the crow flies, from downtown Monroeville. The origin of this community’s name appears to be lost to history, but according to the book “Place Names in Alabama” by Virginia O. Foscue, the name may have been that of a local person. Some say that “Eliska” was the name of the daughter of a local minister who served that area over a century ago, but details are unclear.

Most maps show “downtown” Eliska to be at the intersection of County Road 1 and Eureka Landing Road, and if you visit this intersection today, you’ll see a number of homes, a pair of old churches and a large cemetery. Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church sits on one side of County Road 1, and the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church is located on the other side of the road.

I found myself traveling through Eliska the other day and stopped for a few minutes to visit the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Cemetery. Just eyeballing it, I’d say this historic cemetery contains about 250 graves, including some that date back to the 1800s. This cemetery is so historically significant that it was placed on the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register in 2018.

During my walk around the cemetery, I noticed the names of many pioneer families that had a big impact on early Monroe County history: Brantley, Cole, Dean, Hayles, Jay, Lambert, McMillian, Peavy, Reed, Snow, Upton, Weatherford, Weaver and others. The oldest marked grave that I could find belonged to an infant named Nellie King. The daughter of Edmund and Maude King, young Nellie was only about 18 months old when she passed away in September 1883.

Before leaving, I took a few minutes to visit the final resting place of Army Pvt. Louis Hayles, which is one of the most unique graves in all of Monroe County. During World War I, Hayles served in the Army’s 81^st Division and was sadly killed on the very last day of the war – Nov. 11, 1918. I’ve been told that he was originally buried in France but was later exhumed and transported to where you will find his grave today behind the Methodist church at Eliska.

Leaving the cemetery, I took a long, slow walk around the Methodist church, which is one of the oldest churches in the entire county. No one is exactly sure when the church was built, but sources say that it was constructed from pine logs cut from the area’s virgin forests in the 1820s by Capt. Thomas Waller of Selma. It’s said that Waller built the first sawmill in Monroe County on Waller’s Creek, which is a short distance east of the church.

Sources say that Waller sawed the lumber for the church at his mill and floated the wood down Waller’s Creek to the Alabama River. From there, the lumber was moved downstream to Mount Pleasant Landing, where it was loaded on ox carts and hauled to the church site. In its early days, the building served as what was known as a Union Church, that is, it served the community’s Methodist and Baptist congregations.

The Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church was founded in 1886 and was originally located about one mile west of the Methodist Church on what was then known as the Gainestown Road. At some point, the Baptist congregation constructed a new building, which is currently located just a stone’s throw away from the Methodist church on the opposite side of County Road 1.

As I stood there admiring both churches, I recalled that County Road 1 has gone by a variety of names over the years. It was once known as the Old Claiborne & Stockton Road at one point in its history and was later renamed the William Weatherford Highway. Over the years, countless people have traveled up and down this old road, and many no doubt stopped at Eliska.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience with any additional information about the Eliska community. I’m especially interested in any old ghost stories, local legends or Indians tales from this part of the county. Also, let me hear from you if you know any details about how Eliska got its name.