Is there more than meets the eye to the stone monument at Claiborne?

Old stone monument at Claiborne.

One of my favorite pastimes is looking through old newspapers because I never fail to find something interesting. By way of example, on Monday I ran across an interesting historical item that was published on the front page of The Journal way back on June 16, 1938.

According to that brief paragraph, “Mrs. John Lewis Cobb, President of the Alabama Society of Colonial Dames of America, Mrs. B.J. Baldwin, the Chairman of Historic Activities Committee of Colonial Dames, and Mr. P.A. Brannon of the Department of Archives and History, spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Deer. This party is interested in placing a boulder at Claiborne to mark the site of an ancient Indian village.”

This “boulder at Claiborne” may sound familiar to modern readers, especially to local history buffs familiar with the Claiborne area today. In fact, if you go to the intersection of Old Fort Claiborne Road and U.S. Highway 84 at Claiborne today, you’ll see a large stone monument that’s believed to be the oldest historic marker in the county.

Those of you who have been there before will know that the following words are inscribed into the marble face of the monument – “Piache, an Indian town visited by DeSoto in 1540, was near here. DeLuna made a settlement here, Nanipagna, in 1560. Fort Claiborne was erected on the south bluff in 1813. LaFayette was entertained here, 1825. Erected by the Alabama Society of Colonial Dames, March 1939.”

I had presumed that a significant dedication event or ceremony had been held in March 1939 to mark the official unveiling of the monument. Oddly though, when I looked through March newspapers published in 1939, I didn’t find any stories about this “boulder” being put in place. I even looked through February and April newspapers published that year and still didn’t find anything about the monument’s placement.

Before I move on, I feel that should mention that the location of the Indian village of Piache is still a hotly debated historical controversy. The 1977 book “Dead Towns of Alabama” by W. Stuart Harris notes that many historians believe the village was located on a high bluff on the east side of the Black Warrior River in Hale County. The 2018 book “Claiborne: A River Town” by preeminent local historian Steve Stacey also points out that the DeSoto Commission of 1976 and the Alabama Desoto Commission of 1985 say that Piache was in Dallas County.

The name “P.A. Brannon” mentioned in the original newspaper clipping may sound familiar to some of The Journal’s older readers. P.A. Brannon is Peter Alexander Brannon, who wrote a long-running historical column for The Montgomery Advertiser called “Through the Years.” His columns were often reprinted in The Journal because he would often write about Monroe County in relation to early Alabama history.

Brannon died in Montgomery in 1967. During his long career, he served as curator for the Alabama Department of Archives and History from 1910 to 1941, then as archivist from 1941 to 1955 and then as the department’s director from 1955 to 1967. He was also a member of numerous historical groups, including the Commission on State Archaeological Surveys and the Alabama Anthropological Society.

In the end, I’d be interested in hearing from any readers who have any additional information about the stone monument at Claiborne. I’m especially interested in any accounts that tell of the day that it was put in place and of any ceremonies held to mark the occasion. My feeling is that there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to this large monument.