Historic marker for Anderson State Stop
The Old Stage Road provided an artery connecting remote communities in the piney wilderness of South Alabama. The mail hack, which ran twice weekly between Mobile and Greenville brought news, company and travelers to stage stops which were strung along the road about every 16 or so miles. The Anderson stage stop was one such stop.
According to Lee Peacock's Dispatches From the LP-OP of May 7, 2014, the stop was located on the Conecuh side of the Middleton Road north of the Mixonville community, on the Conecuh-Monroe county line and not far from the Butler County line. The stage stop building, which is a large wooden, tin topped structure still stands today as a testimony to the craftsmanship of the builders.
Matthew Anderson arrived on the property in 1852. The settler thereafter set about farming and running an inn across the road. Travelers were allowed to stay at the inn while horsemen were housed in the livery stables nearby. A well still remains which gave water to the thirsty.
Mr. Anthony Black remembers this stage stop when he was growing up. "I can remember people living there when I was a kid. There was a barn across the road with an old horse drawn buggy in it. There is a small roof in the back yard with a rectangular hole in the ground. My father said it was built to put the potted plants in during the winter," noted Mr. Black.
Black notes there is a lot of history in this remote corner of the area. "About 2 miles away, down the Old Federal Road, is where Elizabeth Stroud is buried in the Middleton Cemetery. She was killed in the Ogley massacre by Creek Indians," said Black. It has been handed down and said by some that a trade dispute resulted in the massacre; the Strouds, who were not involved in the dispute, apparently had the bad misfortune of being present when the attack occurred.
Mr. Ricky Middleton of the Butler Street area recounted that his family moved to the Butler Street area from Old Texas and the Middleton Cemetery area. He also noted that many settlers from Butler County came south to the area around Butler Street and this is how it came to be called Butler Street.
Mr. Ben Black owns a hunting camp nearby the Anderson stage stop and had ancestors from the area. "My grandpa, Yancy Stinson, lived about a half mile east of the stage stop in a big wood house by Salem Cemetery and church, there was also a hotel in the area" stated Ben. Mr. Stinson lived to be 101 and knew the Andersons.
Stage travel could be a dangerous mode of travel, as recounted by the Montgomery Advertiser, as it reflected on an old accident at Bell's Landing. The Sunday April 9, 1893 edition remembered the wreck:
"When Judge Dargin was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, Ben Wade ran a stage coach line from Montgomery to Bell's Landing. At that time Ben Wade was particularly handy with the ribbons and called himself the best stage driver in the South. One morning Judge Dargin came up from Montgomery on a steam boat and got off at Bell's Landing to take the stage," noted the paper.
"Ben Wade had a good way of picking up fine, fiery young horses to work in the lead. With a good set of ribbons and steady horses at the wheels he stated he could handle even the wildest of horses," added the article.
Judge Dargin expressed his concerns to Wade that the lead horse just seemed a little too spirited but Wade assured him he knew what he was doing, so the white haired judge clambered into the coach and away they went. Yet within a short time the wild horse led the stage tumbling through the woods and at the end of the rolling, thrashed trip through the woods the Judge looked like he had been through a rock tumbler.
A doctor and a preacher were called, in that those in the community were sure Judge Dargin was done for. Yet Dargin survived the event and the preacher said to him, "I would like to know what your thoughts were while the coach was crashing through the thicket and you was lookin' to be hurled into eternity....tell me about it so that I may go forth to preach the gospel to my people and I can tell them what Judge Dargin, the great lawyer and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama thought when he was brought face to face with death and eternity."
Dargin's reply to this line of inquiry was, "Well, parson, if you must know, I thought if I but only had Ben Wade down in the bottomless pit of hell I would choke the life out of him!" Apparently a stage coach lacked air bags and seatbelts but at least Judge Dargin survived.
Available now: The Butler Street Chronicles; Selected histories of the communities surrounding Butler Street and will include information on settlers at Steadham, Pond Fork, Sizemore, Sardine, Butler Street, Hollinger and other communities along this route. Pick up your copy for $15. Copies can be published from the author or at Amazon.com or Lulu.com.
Shadows and Dust Volume III: Legacies is available for purchase in the amount of $30.00+$5.00 shipping and handling to PO Box 579 Atmore, AL 36502 or visit Lulu Publishing.com; Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com OR at the Monroe County Heritage Museum in Monroeville, Alabama or by calling 251 294 0293.
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