Wilcox County, Alabama's Oak Hill community was settled in the 1830s

The Town of Oak Hill is one of the most historic and picturesque communities in all of Wilcox County, and while it’s said to be the smallest municipality in Alabama, there’s a lot to see there if you take the time to look.

If you go to Oak Hill today and stop at the intersection of State Highway 21 and Dale Drive, you’ll find a historic marker that was erected by the Alabama Tourism Department and the Town of Oak Hill in April 2010. According to that marker, Oak Hill was originally known as “The Ridge” and was settled around the 1830s by pioneers from South Carolina. Due to a malaria outbreak, settlers from the nearby Hamburg community moved to Oak Hill in the 1840s, which prompted the town to grow.

According to this historic marker, Oak Hill once had a Baptist Church, one of the first African-American Lutheran congregations and was once home to the Ebenezer Methodist Campground. The Oak Hill Academy, a boarding school for girls, existed here from 1849 to 1869. In the 1870s, a coeducational school was established there and was eventually absorbed into the public school system before closing in the 1940s.

A post office was established at Oak Hill in 1894, and around 1900, Oak Hill had four general stores, a drug store, gin, blacksmith shop and a Masonic hall. Oak Hill was officially incorporated as a town in 1940, and Oak Hill is also the hometown of Benjamin Meek Miller, who served as Alabama’s governor from 1931 to 1935. Oak Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

I found myself in Oak Hill on Friday afternoon and took the time to explore some of the town’s most prominent features and landmarks. My first stop was the Bethel Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1856. I’ve driven past this beautiful, old church many times before but had never taken the time to stop for a closer look.

While there, I also spent a few minutes exploring the large cemetery behind the church. Just eye-balling it, I’d say this cemetery contains about 300 graves, many of which predate the Civil War. The oldest marked grave that I spotted there on Friday belonged to young Mary Louisa Fox, who passed away around the age of three in 1850.

From there, I motored down to the Oak Hill Grocery, where I chatted with some nice folks sitting outside on a bench beneath the store’s wide, green awning. We talked about the age of the old store building, and discussed the deep gorge behind the building. They said that over the years there is no telling how many vehicles have run off the road into that gigantic gully.

I stepped inside the store and while buying a bottle of Coke and a 50-cent bag of salted peanuts, the lady behind the counter, Kim Anderson, told me that she didn’t know how old the store building was. She said that she’s in her early fifties, and the old store was there when she was a little girl. “I don’t know how old the store is, but it’s been here for as long as I can remember, and it hasn’t changed a whole lot,” she said with a smile.

Back outside, one of the men sitting on the bench suggested that I check out the old Ebenezer Methodist Cemetery, which we could see from the front of the store, a short distance up State Highway 10. He said he’s seen people from all over the place, walking around in that old graveyard, and that he knows there’s some really old graves there. I took his advice, said goodbye, and a few minutes later, I found myself strolling among the headstones of this historic cemetery.

As best that I could tell, this cemetery contains about 100 graves and many of them are very old, going all the way back to the origins of Oak Hill. In fact, I’d say the vast majority of these graves date back to the 1800s. The oldest grave that I saw belonged to a man named Green Vickers, who passed away at the age of 36 in August 1838.

In the end, if you’re ever in the vicinity of Oak Hill and have a few minutes to spare, take the time to check out some of the town’s landmarks and historic places. No doubt there are many other historic sites in this area, so if you’d like to tell me about them, please send me an e-mail. I’m especially interested in hearing about ancient Indian sites in this area as well as any ghost stories or local legends associated with Oak Hill.