Daily camera. [volume] (Boulder, Colo.) 1891-1928, 1900-06-22
PASSING OF CAHABA.
ONCE A CENTER OF SOUTHERN
CHlVALRY.
Magnificent Mansions, Stately Edifices
and Beautiful Fountains Now Mass
of Ruins-Wllere Genius, Wealth and
Beauty Reigned. q


the magnificent chivalry of the south.
Now it is heap of ruins. A few
cabins occupied by negroes, one grand
old mansion, four stately columns ris-
ing out of the midst of a cotton field,
a desolate graveyard where the
willows droop over neglected graves,
scores Of grand fountains over which
glorious magnolia trees cast their
scented shade, great piles of brick and
mortar draped in the Cherokee rose,
and crumbling walls over which 'snom
laden vines creep. form the ,..-sent
monument that marks the site Of the
former beautiful wealthy and thriving
city Cahaba is one of the unwritten
tragedies Of the civil war. 1t fell with
the aristocracy of the slave owner. Its
ruins mark the path of progress, and
on such ruins the new south is build
ing up an even grander civilization.
Cahaba the center of culture and
learning and society in the south, stood
on the north bank of the Alabama riv-
er, 10 miles west of Selma, the city
which sapped the life out Of the old
capital. When Cahaba fourished
Selma was "Moore's Bluff"
In 1918, when Alabama was asking
| for the right of statehood, the terrific
rial legislature, being assured the ter
| ritory would be admitted, appointed
committee to select a site for a new
capital, near the center of the state.
The territorial capital was at Hunts
vile. The committee, in February,
1878, visited the place where the Ca
h2ba and Alabama rivers meet. The
| site seemed an ideal one. 1t was in
the center Of the famous 'black belt"
the finest cotton district in all the
south, and the land rolled gracefully
back from the top of the high bluff,
seventy feet above the Alabama river.
The committee reported, and on No
vember 16, 1918, the legislature passed
an act making Cahaba the permanent
capital of the state. Gov. Bib, in ac
cordance with instructions, laid Oft
| 1920 acres of land. and on December
| Within year the town had risen to
| the position of one of the first cities of
the state. The state house, erected 100
yards back from the edge of the bluff,
formed the center, and almost before
the stores had been finished the plant
ers began to erect magnificent houses.
The town was in the center of the
south. Three miles below the town
stood the Matthews mansion surround
| ed by 10000 acres Of grand cotton land,
| To the east were the Hunter, the Jones
and other mansions, and within the ra-
! dius of few miles lived many fami-
| lies of the southern arOsticracy whose
country seats rivaled in elegance the
feudal castles of England. Across the
river were other great families. and
Cahaba soon became the social center
Of that section Of the south. In the
winter it was the social capital OF
Dixie. In 1924 Lafayette then making
ing tour of the United States, visited
| The city and the splendor of his recep-
ton was not surpassed by any other
city. Nowhere was the generous hos
ptality of the south more fully eX.
emplified than here. During the ses-
siOns of the legislature every citizen
of Cahaba kept open house and the
beauties Of Dixie flocked there to dance
on the waXed floors. The gallants
and the great men came to gamble and
drink, for Cahaba, like many of those
old southern cities, was a lively place.
Great poker games flOurshed and
drinking was the chief enjoyment of
the men Below the culture and the
brilliancy of that old southern court
were stories Of heartbreaks, of young
men ruined, and never a winter passed
without dueis between the lords Of the
land. Not until 1916 was church
built in Cahaba and that church, built
mainly by the efforts of Maj. Craig as
worshiping place for all creeds, still
stands. AfteTward there was an Epis-
copal church, a Baptist church,a Cum
berland church and a Presbyterian
church. The original church still
stands above the ruins of the others,
and the negroes who hold the lands
worship there The decline of Cahaba
really began with the commencement
of the civil war Almost to a man the
citizens went TO the front. Trade al
most ceased and Cahaba was a strick-
en- city. Real war did not approach the
city, but it suffered as severely in the
end as if it had been burned The
most southern prison of the Confed-
cracy was established here during the
war, and in the stockade many a Yam
kee soldier died After the war there
was no money to work the plantations
and the while people began moving to
Selma and other cities. Selma ten
miles up the river, was on the line OF
through railroad, and was in closer
touch with the world. Family after
family deserted Cahaba. Stores and
dwellings were torn down and the
bricks hauled up the river to Selma.
In 1866 by popular vote the county
seat was removed to Selma and each
succeeding year brought added ruins
10 fot al