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| Reminiscing In Courtland The character of a Southern town’s heritage is captured in the historic district of Courtland, Alabama. Just a short jaunt off a major highway, Courtland offers a trip through the history of a nineteenth century town. Reflecting the town’s beginning as a local trade center rooted in the surrounding plantation economy are more than 100 homes, buildings, and sites dating from c.1820 to c.1938. Courtland was named to the National Register of Historic Places for its 1818 development of the early town plan built with an unusually large concentration of significant buildings. Built on a site that was formerly an Indian village on Big Nance creek, Courtland’s location was chosen by planters from Virginia and the Carolinas who saw great potential in the fertile cotton land combined with market access to New Orleans by way of the Tennessee River. Even in the initial design, the developers of Courtland planned for their town’s future and included a main square for the county courthouse had Courtland become the county seat. Based on these early roots, Courtland is one of the few places in Alabama where one can visit and experience architectural styles spanning nearly 175 years of history. Federal period architecture of the first 60 years of Courtland’s development reflects the town’s early ties to the influence and traditions of Virginia and the upper South. The late 1800 and early 1900 homes reflect the Victorian, Colonial Revival and bungalow styles ranges from large multi - story homes with wide sweeping verandas to cottage style dwellings. We invite you to enjoy Courtland through this easy walking and driving tour as you discover places of history and a sense of the past. For additional information contact Darlene Thompson, (256) 637-8893 or (256) 637-2500. |
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1. Branch-Sanderson House c. 1870 Originally the home of Mary Watkins Branch, it is in the style architectural historians call an “I” house, a central hallway with two room upstairs and two down. This home is distinguished by the Victorian bay windows flanking the front door. |
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2. Edward Pippen House c.1905 Typical of Courtland’s larger turn-of-the-century homes, it features neoclassical detailing. The builder, Ed Pippen lived there until his death in the 1950s. |
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3. Cunningham-Bynum House c. 1830 and later This small hipped-roof house is one of Courtland’s oldest. It reputedly was built by the Cunningham family. Originally fronted by a narrow, two-story portico, the house was remodeled in c. 1910. |
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4. Moore-Rebman House c. 1905 The frame two-story house has an irregular one-story rear wing and a wraparound single-story neoclassical porch. Typical of the larger early 20th century Courtland homes is a semi-detached single-story hipped roof kitchen. |
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5. Clarke-McNeece House c. 1860 This is a good example of a small early Victorian cottage, with tall windows and a simple-trimmed porch. |
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6. Lile-Ashford House c. 1850 and later The two-story frame house with a one-story wing to the north is believed to have been erected for Thomas Lile. It has a beautiful two-tiered porch with a flat, pierced-worked balustrade. |
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7.Edgar Swoope Ballentine House c. 1830, 1910 This L-shaped cottage resulted when Mr. Ballentine joined two houses together by the addition of a hall to create a larger home for his new bride. |
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8. Garth-Shackelford House c. 1880 This two-story house with a one-story side wing was built for Mrs. George Martin Garth when she moved from her plantation, Bonnie Doon. Her town residence was a Victorian version of her Federal style plantation home which burned in 1935. |
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9. Courtland Cemetery c. 1820 to present The 170 year old cemetery contains varied examples of funerary sculpture from simple early 19th century slab markers and box tombs to Greek Revival obelisks and later, more ornate Victorian grave monuments with crosses, floral motifs and sentimental eulogies. Graves of many notable early settlers can be found here, including those of Benjamin Sherrod (1776-1847), planter-baron and chief promoter of the Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad, and Dr. Jack Shackelford (1790-1857), organizer of the ill-fated volunteer military company, the “Red Rovers”, who fought for Texas’ independence. There are also graves of Confederate soldiers who dies at the hospital in Courtland during the Civil War. The landscape of the cemetery includes old cedars, oaks and english boxwoods. |
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10. The Cedars c. 1935 - 1936 Though built in the 1930s for Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Ussery, this Colonial house incorporates many older features, including the lovely Federal fanlite doorway from the 1829 Swoope house which stood on the same site. Inside, mantelpieces, stairs and other features also survive from the Swoope home. To the rear are original brick service buildings. Originally from Virginia, Courtland merchant John Swoope was an ancestor of Mrs. Ussery. He and other family members are buried in the Swoope cemetery that lies east of the house. |
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11. McMahon-Trotter House c. 1830-1831 Built for Virgina born merchant John Trotter, this house was owned from 1838 until 1987 by the family of John McMahon, an early cotton broker with offices in Courtland and New Orleans. McMahon’s wife, Harriett, was the daughter of Dr. Jack Shackelford. One of the most notable Federal houses left in northern Alabama, it is an excellent and very formal example of the “I” house. It has Federal woodwook throughout, including molded chair rails and Adam mantelpieces. Donated to the Alabama Historical Commission, the house was then sold and restored by Mr. and Mrs. Ben W. Wilson under protective covenant. |
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12. Hubbard-Blythe House c. 1825-1919 Originally a story-and-a-half brick Williamsburg cottage, this house was extensively remodeled and enlarged to its present appearance just after World War I. From about 1829 to 1840, it was the home of U.S. Senator David Hubbard (1792-1874), a distinguished Alabama lawyer and a fiery Secessionist at the time of the Civil War. The old frame service building on the east side of the house, perhaps a kitchen or slave quarters originally, retains some interesting early woodwork inside. |
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13. Gilchrist-Terry House c. 1830-1912 Built as a two-story hewn-log house, and later covered with weatherboarding, the house was remodeled for George Gilchrist in 1912 to its present appearance, including the addition of a columned portico. |
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14. Courtland Presbyterian Church c. 1859-1868 Begun prior to the Civil War as the second building for a congregation organized in 1821, this tall church still retains the interior gallery. A fire in 1957 destroyed all but two of the Victorian era stained glass windows. Of note are are the handsomely paneled front doors and the fine brickwork. This is Courtland’s only remaining 19th century church. |
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15. Presbyterian Manse c. 1870 The simple Victorian cottage with its graceful trellis porch and floor-length front windows formerly housed the ministers of the neighboring Presbyterian church |
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16. Campbell & Gilchrist Houses c. 1850 & earlier Built originally as log “dogtrots”, these nearly identical dwellings were remodeled as one-story Greek Revival style cottages c. 1850. An interesting feature is the mounting block near the sidewalk in front of the house on the west side. |
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17. Wells House c. 1830 Once a tavern with an outside staircase, this house, although considerably remodeled, joined three other historic residences in a stately cluster. However, in 1990 the c. 1860 Chardavoyne house, which stood directly across the street, was dismantled and moved to a location near Huntsville where it was rebuilt. |
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18. Bynum-Simpson House c. 1912 Courtland’s most distinguished example of the Colonial Revival style popular between 1900 and the first World War, this house is fronted by a dignified portico composed of two pairs of Corinthian columns, and has a drive-through porte cochere to one side. Although no formal archeological study has been undertaken on the property, evidence of Civil War earthworks are located to the rear of the house. |
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19. Harris-Simpson House c. 1820-1830 This is reputedly the oldest house in Courtland. Though remodeled in the early part of this century, this house still contains fine Federal woodwork inside. Dr. Jack Shackelford lived here in the mid-1800s. The building was used as a hospital during the Civil War. |
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20. Mariah’s House c. 1895 Built as the cook’s quarters for the Harris-Simpson House, this small frame cottage is an excellent example of turn-of-the-century servants dwellings typical of small towns in the Deep South, and is one of only a few left standing in Courtland. |
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21. Town Square A public gathering place for 175 years, the square was set aside in 1818 for a courthouse which was never built. Just south of the square runs the routes of one of the earliest railroads west of the Appalachians - The Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad, later to become part of the Memphis & Charleston Line. It is also the site from which the “Red Rovers” left. To the northwest of the square on Alabama Street stands the former Sherrod Hotel (1935), refurbished in the late 1980s as offices. Just south of the square on Alabama Street is the old town firehouse built around 1930. |
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22 & 23 Commercial District c. 1880 - 1938 Surrounding the Town Square was historic Courtland’s business district. The basic structure of the building on the southeast corner of College Street and Tennessee Street was built possibly as early as 1850, and was believed to have been constructed for local merchants, the Swoope Brothers. In 1938, it housed a general merchandise store owned by Daniel Gilchrist. On the northwest corner of the same intersection stood the local drugstore in the early 20th century. The building on the corner of Alabama and Tennessee Streets was built by cabinet maker D. B. Campbell, and in the early 1900s its basement housed a saloon entered via an outside stairwell on the west side of the building opposite the town hotel. Other buildings held stores and offices that, though deteriorated and abandoned, are still largely intact. |
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24. Tennessee Valley Bank c. 1900 Formerly the Tennessee Valley Bank which closed with the Depression in 1929, the interior of this building still retains the original safe with its ornamental cast iron trim, the pressed tin ceiling, and marble floor. In late 2000, the building was restored by Dana and Linda Charles and now serves as an antique shop. |
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25. Old Southern Railroad Depot c. 1887 This site served as a railroad depot between 1834 and 1980. The railway began operation in 1834, and its first steam engine was a large-stacked Stephenson locomotive imported from England. During the Civil War the railroad facilities were destroyed. The present structure, rebuilt after the war and now the town’s community center, appears to be the fourth building on this site. |
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26. E. V. Chardavoyne House c. 1885 This finely detailed house was first owned by longtime depot agent E. V. Chardavoyne. Significant is the canopy type roof to the front bay window. |
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27. Pippen-Garth-McBride House c. 1900 The dignified late Victorian house is distinguished by its wrap around front porch and the wrought iron fence enclosing its yard. It was built by Sam Pippen and was later the home of Kate Winston Garth after her former residence Bonnie Doon burned in 1935. |
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28. Twin Stone Bungalows c. 1930 During the 1920s and 1930s, several smaller bungalows, employing native warm sandstone, were built in and about Courtland. Good examples are these did-by-side dwellings, which have so far remained relatively unaltered. |
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29. Tweedy-Norton House c. 1825, 1910, 1988 This is one of the earliest brick houses in Alabama. The most striking feature of this dignified two-story Federal house is an elaborately molded brick cornice which runs beneath the front eaves. (Although found frequently in the Valley of Virginia, this feature rarely occurred in Alabama during this time period.) The present porch and a number of other features date from the early 1900s. Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss Norton refurbished the house during the 1980. |
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30. Robert Tweedy House c. 1927 A fine example of a Craftsman-style bungalow with clipped gable roof and pier porch. |
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31. Wayside* c. 1880s, 1915 Although enlarged and remodeled during the early 1900s after the manner of the popular California bungalow, this house originated as a Victorian cottage. One of the early dependencies still stands behind the house. * Road leading to this home is a private drive. Please respect their privacy. |
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32. Arcadia* This large frame “four square” house with Colonial Revival detailing was built just before World War I by the Daniel Gilchrist family, whose plantations lay to the south and east. Also found on the property are two barns, two outbuildings and a carriage house. At the original Gilchrist plantation dwelling, nearby Summerwood (now destroyed), actress Tallulah Bankhead spent carefree girlhood summers with her Courtland cousins. * Road leading to this home is a private drive. Please respect their privacy. |
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33. Rebman-McGarry House and Schoolhouse c. 1905 Beautiful transitional Queen Anne and neoclassical detailing still remain on this two-story Victorian house built for A. F. Rebman, Sr. Behind the house stands a small single-room building with a front porch originally erected to house a private school. A one-story frame carriage house is also located on the property. |
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34. Peter Torian House c. 1830 One of Courtland’s best examples of a small, Federal period cottage, the Torian House has a fanlite doorway flanked by a pair of large, three-part windows. Although marred by incompatible remodeling several years ago, the Torian house is now being restored by Dr. and Mrs. Dan Winzell of Muscle Shoals. The builder, Peter Torian, came to Courtland from Halifax County, Virginia. |
| Historict District Map |