Little remains of the old Xebec community near Perdue Hill

Randons Creek off Turkey Trot Road.

After lunch last Thursday afternoon, I got the itch to get out and do a little rambling. I grabbed my best two or three maps, jumped into my truck and struck off west towards Perdue Hill. About 10 miles from Monroeville’s downtown square, I turned off of U.S. Highway 84 and onto Turkey Trot Road.

Those who regularly travel Turkey Trot Road know that this old dirt road runs from Highway 84 to Bear Creek Road. I’ve heard people say over the years that this road is one of the oldest in the county. It’s said that it was once the main route between Old Claiborne and Pensacola in the long-ago days of early statehood.

I continued south for three or four miles until I came to the old wooden bridge across Randons Creek. I pulled off the side of the road, got out and walked out onto the bridge for a closer look at the creek. Farther along its course, it takes on the waters of Bear Creek, Porter Branch and Lovetts Creek before emptying into the Alabama River, south of Marshalls Bluff.

As I walked back to my truck, I realized that I was near the almost forgotten community of Xebec, which was sometimes spelled “Xbec” on old maps and papers. At one time, there was even a post office at Xebec. It opened in 1904 and closed about two years later in 1906.

No one seems to know how this community got its name. Noted Monroe County historian Steve Stacey says that a Xebec was a sailing vessel with three masts that originated in Mediterranean countries. How it was applied to a post office in Monroe County is anyone’s guess, Stacey said. There is no entry for Xebec or Xbec in the authoritative book, “Place Names in Alabama” by Virginia O. Foscue.

There are very few references to Xebec in old editions of The Monroe Journal. The earliest I found was in a community news column written by correspondent “Black-Eyed Boy” in the April 19, 1906 edition of The Journal. In that column, readers learned that the “weather has been fine for a few days and the farmers have made the best possible use of it. Cotton planting is the order of the day.”

After November 1906, references to Xebec fade from the pages of The Monroe Journal. A close reading of the community columns that ran between April and November of that year indicate that members of the Blanton family were a prominent part of that community. Names like Sid Blanton, Wiley Blanton and Wayne Blanton received frequent mention in the local news. Other Xebec names mentioned in The Journal include Barzile Ward, Becky Little, J.T. Walston, Fate Ward, Janie Joiner, Mary Smith and Drusilla Norris.

These long dead Monroe County residents would probably be surprised to know that little remains of the old Xebec community. In fact, other than a few references on old maps and postal records, almost nothing remains from the heyday of this old Monroe County community. At no time was it ever a large place, but it was at least home to more than a few families in the early 1900s.

In the end, if anyone in the reading audience knows more about the Xebec community, please let me hear from you. It would be interesting to know if the community had any stores, a school or churches. As best that I can tell, there are no cemeteries in the immediate area, so reach out to me if you know anything more about this community’s history.