Little remains from Conecuh County's old Galatia community

Jackson Bridge, looking west towards Galatia.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and the weather was too pretty not to get out and enjoy the sunshine. My wife and kids like to ride around almost as much as I do, so we took the Jeep and four-wheeler and set off down some of the local dirt roads. We eventually found ourselves on the Old Stage Road, which makes up much of the border between Conecuh and Monroe counties.

A few miles southwest of Repton, we cut down the Range Road, a long dirt road that runs all the way from the Old Stage Road to State Highway 41. About halfway between the Old Stage Road and Escambia Creek at Jackson Bridge, I was reminded that we were passing through one of Conecuh County’s old, forgotten communities. It was here, many years ago, that you would have found the community once known as Galatia.

According to historical records, a post office existed at Galatia from 1890 to 1901. This community probably takes its name from the place in the Bible called Galatia, which is located in modern-day Turkey. The apostle Paul visited Galatia, and the Bible includes his famous letter to the Galatians.

The earliest reference to the Galatia community that I’ve seen in local newspapers was in the Jan. 5, 1893 edition of the old Evergreen Star newspaper. In that edition, Conecuh County Tax Assessor D.L. Carter announced that he planned to be in Galatia on March 10. During his visit, he planned to assess state and county taxes for the year 1893.

The last reference to Galatia that I could find in old papers was in the April 30, 1964 edition of The Courant. On the front page of that paper, in a story about a local election, readers learned that county voters would use the same polling places as used in the 1962 elections with the exception of one box, which had been moved. That box – Beat 5, Box 3 – formerly located at Galatia, had been moved to Faircloth’s Store at Sandcut to serve voters on the southwest side of Interstate Highway 65. Apparently, so few people lived at Galatia at this time that the county had a hard time finding people to work the polls there during elections.

Today when you pass through this area, you’ll see that it’s heavily wooded. Thick pines line both sides of the Range Road, and it’s hard to imagine what Galatia must have looked like in its heyday. More than likely the community once had a number of houses, stores, churches and maybe even a school.

I’ve closely examined old maps of this area and have been unable to identify any old landmarks like cemeteries, which is somewhat surprising. In addition to Escambia Creek, this area is also riddled with many other streams and branches. All of this fresh water would have made this part of the county prime real estate for ancient Indians and pioneer settlers.

In the end, I’d like to hear from any readers who know more about the old Galatia community. I’m especially interested in hearing any old ghost stories, local legends or Indian lore from this part of the county. You never can tell, someone in the reading audience may even have a picture of the old Galatia post office.