As Dr. John Watkins and other settlers disembarked from steamboats at Holly Creek in 1813 the river culture of Southwest Alabama was already beginning to take shape. Predating Anglo settlers were Native Americans who lived in the river delta for generations before the arrival of the Europeans and who had a rich and vibrant culture of their own.
The river culture that Dr. Watkins met on his journey to Burnt Corn would flourish in Antebellum Alabama until the storm clouds of the Civil War ushered in a new era of change.
In a time where roads were few and other forms of transportation were nonexi...