Eufaula: A walk through the antebellum houses of Alabama
Collage of our best photos of the buildings of Eufaula. |
We spent a day in Eufaula, Alabama. The attraction here is the antebellum
houses. After our walking tour of the old town, we pulled the bikes and rode
the Yoholo Micco Trail.
Eufaula saved its precious architecture because surrendered to the Union forces during the Civil War.
The city was founded in 1823 and named after a local Creek tribe. There is
another city named Eufaula in Oklahoma - the old
Indian Territory. The Creeks were obligated to move there in 1832 and founded that town.
In the Eufaula of Alabama, we stopped by the Kendall Manor mansion (top-left
image). The Civil War halted the construction of this three-story home that
wasn't finished until 1872.
The dilapidated Bluff City Inn from 1885 barely survives at the center of the
city (top-fourth image). Facing it, at the center of the crossroad, there is a
monument commissioned by the
United Daughters of the Confederacy. They paid $3,000 for this work made of Italian marble and granite from
Georgia.
Shorter Mansion is the architectural jewel of Eufaula (bottom-left image in the previous collage). Eli Sims Shorter, the son-in-law of the owner of S.S.S. Tonic—a popular patented medicine at the time—, built this house in 1884 for $100,000. The price was a fortune in those times.
There is a curious note written by Horace King in the Shorter Mansion Museum. Horace bought his freedom after 39 years of slavery. Interestingly, he kept a friendship with his former slave master. The
former slave became a respected architect and in 1868 was elected to the House
of Representatives for Alabama.
After the long walk and lunch in a restaurant, we took the bikes to the Yoholo Micco Trail.
Views from the Yoholo Micco Trail. |
Yoholo Micco was a Creek Chief that lived in this area between 1790 and
1838. The trail begins in the old train depot of Eufaula and follows an old
railway. Beautiful views of the Chattahoochee River reservoir that
separates Alabama and Georgia.
The first part of
this video has shots from our visit to the old houses of Eufaula and the Yoholo Micco Trail.
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