Guided bike tour of Old Cahawba is a 'must do' for Alabama history buffs

The "Crocheron Columns" of Old Cahawba.

My nine-year-old son and I got up early on Saturday morning and rode up to Old Cahawba to participate in the annual “Bring Your Own Bike Tour.” We’d been to Old Cahawba before, on a Civil War tour of the old ghost town, several years ago, but we’d never been on their bike tour, which is now in its ninth year.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Old Cahawba, it was once a sprawling city of several thousand residents and was the Alabama state capital in the state’s early history. Cahawba was selected as an early capital due to its location where the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers run together, but for various reasons, the capital eventually moved to Tuscaloosa. Today, Old Cahawba is a ghost town that’s operated now as an archeological park by the Alabama Historical Commission.

Located a short drive from Orrville in Dallas County, this park is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. One of the best ways to see this ghost town up close and personal is to tour the park by car or by bike with a map that you can pick up at the visitors center near the park entrance.

Saturday’s tour was expertly led by Jonathan Matthews, the park’s assistant site director, and he took our group on a guided tour of the park’s major sites, including the site of Morgan’s Castle, an old Civil War prisoner of war camp, and the famous Crocheron Columns, a set of tall brick pillars that are all that remain of the antebellum Crocheron family home that once overlooked the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers. Fans of Kathryn Tucker Windham’s “13 Alabama Ghosts” books will be familiar with these spooky locations.

Historical marker at Old Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Ala.

The bike tour covered four miles and lasted around an hour, and we got back to our truck around 12:30 p.m. We loaded up our bikes, and with lunch on our minds, we headed toward Selma, which is about 15 miles from Old Cahawba. While in Selma, we also swung by the Old Live Oak Cemetery, one of Alabama’s most famous and historic cemeteries. Not only is it on the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage, but it’s also on the National Register of Historic Places.

While I’d read about this old cemetery a number of times, I’d never been there in person prior to Saturday. When we turned into the cemetery’s main entrance, we happened upon a historical marker and jumped out to read it. Here’s what it had to say – “LIVE OAK CEMETERY: East portion reserved for graveyard, 1829; west part purchased (by) City of Selma, 1877; Here are buried William Rufus King, 1786-1853, Vice President of United States, 1853; John Tyler Morgan, 1824-1907, U.S. Senator, Brig. Gen. CSA; Edmund Winston Pettus, 1821-1907, U.S. Senator, Brig. Gen. CSA; Nathaniel H.R. Dawson, 1829-1895, U.S. Commissioner of Education; William J. Hardee, 1815-1875, Lt. Gen. CSA, author “Hardee’s Tactics.” Catesby ap Roger Jones, 1821-1877, Commander CSN, commanded Virginia (Merrimac) in battle with Monitor, 1862; Robert W. Barnwell, 1849-1902, Episcopal Bishop of Alabama.”

In the end, if you ever get the chance to visit this historic cemetery or visit Old Cahawba, I highly recommend you do so, especially if you like Alabama history. Old Cahawba operates a nice Facebook page, and they often post their upcoming events online. Checking their site on Tuesday morning, it looks like the next big event at Old Cahawba will be a “True Crime Walking Tour” on Aug. 4, which is the first Saturday in August. If that tour is as good as the other two that I’ve been on there, then history buffs have a lot to look forward to on Aug. 4.