Which of Wilcox County, Alabama's antebellum structures is the oldest building in the entire county?

Dunn-Fairley-Bonner-Field House in 1937.

I read an interesting article the other day about the oldest building in each of the 50 states. According to that article, the Joel Eddins House is the oldest building in Alabama. Currently located in Huntsville, this two-story log cabin was built by Eddins in 1810.

Sources say that this cabin was originally built in the Town of Ardmore in Limestone County. However, in 2007, as part of preservation efforts, the cabin was “painstakingly pulled apart” and then reassembled at the “Burritt on the Mountain” living history museum in Huntsville. This museum was established in 1955 and is located on Round Top Mountain, east of downtown Huntsville.

While reading about the Joel Eddins House, I could not help but wonder about the oldest building in Wilcox County. Wilcox County is blessed with many well-preserved, antebellum houses, churches, schools and public buildings. Question is, which is the oldest?

Most sources say that the Dunn-Fairley-Bonner-Field House in Camden is the oldest documented building in Camden. Located near the intersection of Broad Street and Clifton Street, this house was built by early Wilcox County settler Thomas Dunn around 1825. This house is so old that it’s even older than Camden itself. In fact, when it was built Camden was actually still known as Barboursville.

Close on the heels of that structure is Gaines Ridge. This old house, which now houses one of the finest restaurants in Alabama, was built around 1827. This (supposedly haunted!) house is so old that no one is 100-percent sure who exactly built it, but one of its earliest owners was Methodist minister Ebeneezer Hearn.

Out in the county, the oldest building that I know of is the old Dry Fork Plantation House, which is located near Gulletts Bluff. This house was built between 1832 and 1834 by owner James Asbury Tait, and some sources say that most of the work was done by a pair of slaves named Elijah and Hezekiah. Tait, a Georgia native who served as a captain in the War of 1812, as well as his father, U.S. Senator Charles Tait, are both buried at Dry Forks.

In addition to Dry Fork, Gaines Ridge and Thomas Dunn’s old house, there is a long list of other antebellum structures throughout the county. Those include a number of buildings at Furman, Pine Apple, Canton Bend and Pebble Hill. Some of the other older structures in Camden include the Dale Masonic Lodge, the Wilcox Female Institute and the Old Wilcox County Courthouse.

One of the reasons that there aren’t more old buildings in Camden is due to a large fire that occurred downtown in 1869, when most buildings were made entirely from wood. Sources say that during that fire, every store in Camden was burned, and Camden suffered a severe setback in its progress. One of the few buildings to escape the blaze was the old Wilcox Hotel, which was built in 1847.

Street-widening projects in Camden over the years have also resulted in the destruction of old buildings. By way of example, the old J.M. Watson Store was demolished in 1959, so that the city fathers could widen Claiborne Street. At that time, this old store served as a warehouse, and it was one of the oldest buildings in Camden, well over 100 years old.

In the end, let me hear from you if you have any additional information about the origins of any of the buildings mentioned above. Also, if you know of a building older than those mentioned above, please let me know. It’s possible that there’s an older, lesser-known, building in the county that deserves the title of oldest building in Wilcox County.