Old Hampden Ridge community was Conecuh County's first county seat

Old Hampden Ridge Cemetery in Conecuh County, Alabama. 

I got the itch to get out and do some riding around last Thursday morning and headed south out of town on U.S. Highway 31. With no particular destination in mind, about five and a half miles south of downtown Evergreen, I turned onto County Road 17, which took me down into the old Hampden Ridge community.

As I eased along this old country road, without another car in sight, I remembered that Hampden Ridge was Conecuh County’s first county seat, established way back in 1818, about a year before Alabama even became a state. According to “Place Names in Alabama” by Virginia O. Foscue, Hampden Ridge was founded and named by early pioneer Alexander Autrey, probably for a town in the east honoring the English member of Parliament, John Hampden. Historical records say that the first courthouse here was a one-room structure built of chestnut logs with a dirt floor, and its only furniture was a “rough table.”

Today, the most prominent landmark at Hampden Ridge is the Hamden Ridge Missionary Baptist Church, a pristine white block building that apparently replaced an older structure in the early 1970s. If you go there today, you’ll see a cornerstone that reads: Hamden Ridge Baptist Church, Rebuilt 1971 – Rev. T.R. Sellers, March 25, 1956 – Deacons, H. McIntyre, G.H. Douglas, H. Crosby, H. Mitchell, D. Peters Jr. – Trustees, T.S. Sheppard, C.M. Davison, D. Peters Sr., B. Douglas, Clerk – Rev. M.S. Stallworth, Pastor – S.J. Bennett, Grandmaster – Dec. 18, 1987.

As I stood there in the church yard, I tried to imagine what the old Hampden Ridge community must have looked like in its heyday. I’d been told that in the woods across the road from this church you’ll find the Old Hampden Ridge Cemetery, which is sometimes called the Ashley-Suddith Cemetery. Fort Autrey, an old frontier fortification, was said to have been located somewhere nearby as well.

According to B.F. Riley’s “History of Conecuh County,” the early settlers and native Indians of this area had a mutual agreement to stay on their respective sides of Murder Creek. Eventually, the two sides got into a bloody dispute over livestock, which resulted in a battle near Old Town. After this battle, whites began to move into areas east of Murder Creek, and Sparta replaced Hampden Ridge as the county seat a short time later.

I eventually got back in my truck and continued south on County Road 17. A little farther down the road, I came upon the Jordan Creek Bridge and parked for a closer look at the creek. On the east side of the bridge, I shook my head at the sight of bagged trash that had been tossed over the side of the bridge and into the creek. On the other side of the bridge, I could see the remains of what looked like an old wooden structure, perhaps the remnants of a much older bridge that travelers once used to cross this creek.

On my way back to town, I took a few minutes to turn down Pate Road, which led me to the Hamden Ridge Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. This old cemetery sits on a high hill not far from the Pate Road Bridge over Interstate Highway 65. As I walked among the graves there, I could clearly hear the vehicles zooming up and down I-65, oblivious to the presence of the old Hampden Ridge community.

A few minutes later, I eased down to the bridge over I-65 and got out for a look around. To the north, the modern highway stretched far away and out of sight, but to the south I could see the rest stop where so many travelers get out to stretch their legs. As I stood there, several low-flying, orange and white Navy planes passed overhead, reminding me of how close through the woods I was to Middleton Field.

In the end, if you ever get the itch to get out and ride around, you might want to check out the old Hampden Ridge community. As you pass through this quiet community, think back on its heyday, when it served as a military outpost and center of Conecuh County government. Those days are long gone, but they are far from forgotten.