I’ve driven by the historic marker at Coley Chapel Church in Goodway dozens of times over the years, but until today, I’d never taken the time to stop and actually read the marker there.
Those of you who live in Monroe County will know exactly where I’m talking about. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the area, Coley Chapel Church is located on Butler Street in Goodway, about 100 yards from the Escambia County line.
Here’s what the marker says:
“OLD FEDERAL ROAD
“Coley Chapel is the present day site of the former town of Hadley. MacDavid’s Hotel was also located here and was recorded by travelers in the 1830s as a hotel, which had ‘plenty of very nice pork, which in some shape or other is the food generally used in this thinly peopled country…’
“Erected in 1998 by Monroe County Heritage Museums and J.L. Bedsole Foundation.”
As many of you will remember from you history lessons, the Old Federal Road dates back to 1805 when the relatively young U.S. federal government established a “road” from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans. I say “road” because in the beginning it was not much more than a horse trail. A portion of this old road now follows the Monroe-Conecuh county line.
I have to say that I’ve never been inside Coley Chapel Church, but from the outside, it looks to be a well-maintained, old-timey, country church. According to the sign out from, Ronnie Williams is the preacher there, and they have Sunday School every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. followed by a worship service at 10:30 a.m.
Those of you who stop by to read the marker for yourselves should also take a minute to look at the old church bell outside the church. It harkens back to the old days when communities actually used bells to let their neighbors know that church was about to start.
My grandmother in Frisco City grew up not too far from here on the Old Stage Road, and she told me that there used to be a sizable school near Coley Chapel. That school closed when J.U. Blacksher School opened at Uriah (not far through the woods) in the 1920s.
Those of you who live in Monroe County will know exactly where I’m talking about. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the area, Coley Chapel Church is located on Butler Street in Goodway, about 100 yards from the Escambia County line.
Here’s what the marker says:
“OLD FEDERAL ROAD
“Coley Chapel is the present day site of the former town of Hadley. MacDavid’s Hotel was also located here and was recorded by travelers in the 1830s as a hotel, which had ‘plenty of very nice pork, which in some shape or other is the food generally used in this thinly peopled country…’
“Erected in 1998 by Monroe County Heritage Museums and J.L. Bedsole Foundation.”
As many of you will remember from you history lessons, the Old Federal Road dates back to 1805 when the relatively young U.S. federal government established a “road” from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans. I say “road” because in the beginning it was not much more than a horse trail. A portion of this old road now follows the Monroe-Conecuh county line.
I have to say that I’ve never been inside Coley Chapel Church, but from the outside, it looks to be a well-maintained, old-timey, country church. According to the sign out from, Ronnie Williams is the preacher there, and they have Sunday School every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. followed by a worship service at 10:30 a.m.
Those of you who stop by to read the marker for yourselves should also take a minute to look at the old church bell outside the church. It harkens back to the old days when communities actually used bells to let their neighbors know that church was about to start.
My grandmother in Frisco City grew up not too far from here on the Old Stage Road, and she told me that there used to be a sizable school near Coley Chapel. That school closed when J.U. Blacksher School opened at Uriah (not far through the woods) in the 1920s.
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