The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-03
MISS R|TTENbERRY TELLS OF PLAN FOR JACKSON HIGHWAY Project for Road From the Lakes to Gulf and Its
 Historical Basis
IS FITTING HONOR
 FOR "OLD HICKORY
Writes of Some of the Historical Incidents Along Route Proposed For Great Trans Conti-
 mental Highway
BY ALAMA RITurENBERRY,

Highway of the National society or
 United states Daughters of 1872, State
 of Alabama.
 You wish to know about the Jackson Highway, how it originated, and how it is progressing.
 Well, to begin with. I was born on the side Of "a wide place in a big road in an old gray farm house, win. its brown roof stained by time. When a child, ny father ased to take us-my older broth CTS, John and Bob-every summer down into Lawrence and Lewis counties for a few weeks. There you find the Natche'. Trace road. Distance Is measured by the Trace-in fact, every good ro;,d is called the Natohez Trace in Lewis coun- the summer time. When one road gets worn into ruts, some black jacks arc cut down and the road curves little. and there you are still on the Trace. How we children used to enjoy scil through ''the Barrens,'' as the thous- ands Of acres in Lewis county covcc with dense growth of black jacks Is called Somehow the horses seemed to trot with less effort and the carriage wheels made less noise on the white 6irt roads on the blue limestone turnpike. We did not have rubber tires on our buggy wheels then, and bicycles and so- tomobiies were not in use.
 Often I have passed by Meriwether Lewis grace by the roadside. You know he was the young friend of Thomas lief. ferson, and after attending to some bus- ness pertaining to the government he was returning to Washington under th.
 orders of Jefferson, when, one night. he was either murdered or committed suicide at a wayside inn. He was buried amid cluster of black jacks by tine side of the Trace, and after many years d monument was erected there to r,drk he spot. Lewis county is named for him. Fa4- Then my school girl days were spent at -,snwood, six miles west of Columlia on the Mt. Pleasant Pike that runs through Gods Country This section of Maury county, the home of the Polk and Pillow families, was famous for it's beautiful trees. blue grass and palatial residences. This pike is famous in story. It was along this pike that Buell. marched with his soldiers and helped Grant at Shiloh to win one of the bloodiest bat ties of the civil war.
 Antoinette Folks Ride
 It was along this pike during the war that Antoinette Polk, beautiful girl ia her teens, raced for six miles just ahead of half dozen federal soldiers, who de- manded of sher her pony which she was riding. having ridden horseback into .Co- lumbia. She defied them to take ~ The race began, with the girl far in the lead. She beat them to her home. She was the daughter of Col Andrew Polk, and 9 niece of Bishop Polk, who was killed at Missionary Ridge. During the last year of the war, she went abroad with her family where she became famous for her daring horsemanship, often go- ing fox hunting with King Emmanuel, then on the throne of Italy. She married Baron 6e Charette who made record for bravery and gallantry in the Franco German war They live in an old chateau in ths Province of Brittany. It was their -ln who married Susanne Hinning of Kentucky, "a year or so ago.
 This pike runs from Columbia by St Johns Episcopal church, built by the Polk family, and one of the most beau- tiful of the many beautiful spots along this pike, to Mt. Pleasant. in later years famed for It's phosphate beds and, 1t is good road, with hard surface for several miles further on. l believe >the direct route is to Clifton. on the Tennes- see river a distance of seventy miles. About seven miles from Mt. Pleasant to the left road over an almost level stretch leads to the pretty little town of Lawrenceburg. It is down grade al
 
 talking of a highway along that route which should be rightfully called the Co- lumbian highway as the long stretch was called years ago.
 Miles of It Are Perfect
 have often gone from Columbia to my birthplace, ''the wide place in the big road" over the Campbellsville Pike, along this pike which then had been neglected for years. There are miles of it that
 l1 ,,,,fa the blue grass growing close to its side. Passing by well kept farms and through stretches of woodland, it still remains a picture of beauty in my mind which l have not words to. describe.
 And I know well that portion of ihe old Louisville and Nashville Turnpike, called the Pulaski and Elkton pike. l have gone over it when my heart was bubbling with joy and happiness, and when my heart was heavy with sorrow that wide place in the big road" is our buryng ground. The old Pulaski and Ellxton turnpike is assured as link in the Jackson highway. Why should it not be? My grandfather, Hamilton Crockett Campbell-named for two kins- men, Alexander Hamilton and Davy Crockett--of Cambellsvile, Giles county, Tennessee, was one of the Tennessee vol unteers who followed Andrew Jackson into Alabama to avenge the Ft. Mimuls massacfe of August 30 1S13 Giles county will be with me, if not from sense of patriotism, because everybody in Giles county loves me and I love everybodi in Giles County-the same in Maury county. So you sec l was raised on roads.
 There is an inexhaustable supply of romance and legend in the old roads and trails in America. l read some time ago in Touring, the magazine that is doing a great good work in aiding and helping to spread the highway spirit of a man and his family from. Kansas who went in an automobile over the old Post Road in New York and who said that if the state of Kansas had the old Post Road it would pave it with dolars and charge people to ride over it. That Kansas man did not stop to think that the old Santa Fe Trail runs through he state Of Kansas. and It's pioneer history, it's romances and legends, are just as important and interesting as is the CO., lonial and revolutionary history of the Old Post Road.
 Jackson Highway Movement
 My story is long. yes, it is as long as the Jackson Highway, which reaches from Chicago to Mobile, on to New Or leans.
 The Alabama Daughters of 1872 are be- hind the movement in building this trans ( continental highway connecting the lakes and the gulf-a connection long needed in honor of Andrew Jackson. a monl- ment to the man who did much for this great section traversed bO the Jackson Highway. but who has very few monu- ments built in his honor. The Daughters of 1872 is young organization in Ma baua. strong in effort and brave fin en- Miss Maud AlcI4lre Kelly the society in this state end