Monroe County, Alabama's historic Jeddo community had its own post office from 1898 to 1918

Poplar Springs Baptist Church

Monroe County’s Jeddo community is located, as the crow flies, about three miles northwest of Uriah. The best way to get there, if you’re traveling by car, is to turn west off of State Highway 21 onto County Road 8 (aka Jeddo Road) and drive about three miles. When you reach the intersection of Jeddo Road and Rocky Hill Road, you have arrived in “downtown” Jeddo, according to most historic maps of the area.

There is little doubt that Jeddo is one of the most uniquely named communities in all of Monroe County, but the origin of its name is shrouded in mystery. Oddly, there is no entry for “Jeddo” in Virginia O. Foscue’s authoritative book, “Place Names in Alabama.” However, records reflect that this area was once known as McGill before the establishment of a Jeddo post office in 1898. That post office closed in 1918.

The earliest reference to Jeddo that I could find in old newspapers was in the April 26, 1900 edition of The Monroe Journal. In news from the Weatherford community, located west of Jeddo on Waller’s Creek, a correspondent to The Journal reported that “Miss Pauline Bell, who has also been quite ill, is better and is now visiting friends at Jeddo.”

I found myself passing through Jeddo on Friday, which many of you will remember was a day of dark clouds and stormy weather. When I arrived at the intersection of Jeddo Road and Rocky Hill Road, I was struck by the sight of expansive fields of tall corn that stretched off in row upon row as far as the eye could see. It was a scene that conjured up images of Nebraska and Iowa rather than South Alabama.

Those of you who have been to Jeddo before will know that the two most prominent landmarks there today are a pair of old churches: Poplar Springs Baptist Church and St. Paul Baptist Church. Poplar Springs Baptist Church, which I visited many times as a young person, includes a large cemetery that contains hundreds of graves. During my walk through the cemetery on Friday, the oldest grave that I could find was a small antebellum headstone that belonged to a Nancy Dees, who passed away in 1832.

Back in my truck, I pulled out my trusty National Geographic map of this area and saw that Dees Creek flows through the woods just north of the church. Perhaps years ago, the presence of poplar trees along the banks of this “spring” lent its name to this historic church. I would not be surprised to learn that baptisms were once commonly conducted in this creek, which also bears the name of some of the community’s earliest settlers.

You’ll find St. Paul Baptist Church a little farther down the road, at the end of a dim lane that runs south off of Jeddo Road. This church features a distinctive cornerstone near its entrance. It reads – St. Paul Baptist Church, Built March-April 1948, Trustees: E. Harris, J. Johnson, W. McCreary, Sec., Rev. A.J. Stokes, Pastor.

The grounds of this church also include a small cemetery that I would say contains less than 50 graves. The oldest that I could find there on Friday belonged to a woman named Vinnie Logan, who passed away at the age of either 73 or 74 in 1951. The inscription on her headstone reads: Mother, Wait For Us In Heaven.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience with more information about the early history of the Jeddo community. I’m especially interested in any old ghost stories, local legends and Indian lore from this part of the county. If you know of anything along these lines that you’d like to share, please let me know.