At 06:08 PM 06/16/2001 -0500, Valerie J. Adams wrote: >I've seen queries about the "Three Notched Road" that crossed Alabama. Valerie, The Federal Road crossed Alabama from Georgia to Mississippi. The Three Notch Road was designed as a military road, connecting Fort Barrancas at Pensacola with the Federal Road at Fort Mitchell in Russell County, Alabama. The following may be more than you wanted to know about the Three Notch Road; however, since I have the information, it might as well be disseminated: The Three Notch Road The Three Notch Road that crosses Pike County was not just a local thoroughfare, but a part of a much larger network of early roads. Before the birth of our nation, there were many roads that followed Native American trails. One such road was the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road that ran from Philadelphia westward to Gettysburg and then southward through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia into the Carolinas, terminating at Augusta, Georgia. During the last 16 years of the Colonial Period, tens of thousands of our ancestors came south along this road. From this road many spurs developed linking the road to the West. One of these roads was Daniel BOONE's Wilderness Road. The Wilderness Road could be followed to Nashville or by taking "a right hand turn" into what was to become Kentucky. The importance of the French City of New Orleans prompted the development of the Natchez Trace that ran from Nashville to Natchez. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the Natchez Trace took on new importance as a mail route between Washington City and New Orleans. The Trace proved to be a slow and poor route for mail or travel. In a further attempt to speed up mail from Washington City to New Orleans, the Old Federal Road came into being. It ran from Augusta, the southern terminus of the Great Philadelphia Road, across Georgia to Montgomery, south to Old St. Stephens and west to Natchez. The Old Federal Road became the great highway from the East into South Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Mail, settlers, commercial goods, troops and military supplies made use of the road. Following the acquisition of Spanish West Florida, it became necessary to have an overland military road to connect Fort Barrancas at Pensacola to the rest of the nation. In 1824, a road was laid out, following in part old Native American Trails. The road ran from Pensacola, generally in a northeasterly direction, ending at Fort Mitchell, Alabama on the Old Federal Road. This road traversed Covington, Pike (and what is now Bullock), Barbour and Russell Counties in Alabama and was known as the Three Notch Road. In the terms of a military engineer, the road was a "ridge-runner"; it was laid out in such a manner that no bridges or ferries (except near Pensacola) were needed to traverse its entire 233-mile length. Never of much importance as a military road, it did serve as a route for our ancestors to come from the Carolinas and Georgia to Southeast Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. It seems that the route of the Three Notch Road from Gainer's Store (Henderson) at the southern boundary of Pike County to Deer Stand Hill (now the City of Troy) has never been questioned. Some researchers have consistently challenged the route from Deer Stand Hill to the northeast. This disturbs me; my family has lived on and or near the Old Three Notch Road since 1836 and it is part of my heritage. The Three Notch Road did not follow what is now the Butter and Egg Road nor did it go through Monticello. The Three Notch Road predated Monticello. From an Anthropological point of view, Indian Trails (which the Three Notch Road followed in part) normally followed high ground. From that of a Military Logistician and Engineer, a military road should be on terrain that is the easiest to traverse. It would also have followed high ground and not up and down the hills and valleys of the Chunnenuggee Ridge in northeastern Pike County. A lone copy of a 1902 map of Pike County, Alabama survives. It is on display at the Troy Public Library and shows that the Three Notch Road followed a route from Troy to Catalpa (Ebenezer), to Sandfield (Zebulon) and continued northeasterly to Blue's Old Stand in what is now Bullock County. At some time after the Pike County Court House was moved from Monticello to Deer Stand Hill (now Troy), Pike County Officials had mile posts placed on the main roads that radiated from the County Seat. These mileposts enabled travelers to determine their distance from the County Seat. The old "10 Mile Post" is still to be seen at the Hussey Cemetery, near Westminster Church on Alabama State Highway 223. The "15 Mile Post" is still in existence and is located just inside the fence of the Sandfield Cemetery at the Zebulon Baptist Church on Alabama State Highway 223. There are residents of the Ebenezer and Sandfield communities that remember the old-notched trees that once stood on the side of the road. That area of Pike County has been known as "Cross Roads Beat" since the earliest days of Pike County. This was the junction of two most important roads in Pike County the Three Notch Road and the Old Federal Post Road from Montgomery to Monticello and on to Fort Gaines, Georgia on the Chattahoochee River. The recorded history of the STANALAND family states that Hugh STANALAND (1794-1860/66) settled in Pike County, Alabama at the "15 Mile Post" on the Three Notch Road in about 1836. The history of the REEVES family states that John Hamilton REEVES (1811-1886) settled at the "14 Mile Post" on the Three Notch Road in about 1842. Both of these families lived in the Sandfield Community. The original 1831 plat of Monticello displays the layout of the Town, with the names of the various streets. There is no indication of a street or road named Three Notch. The minutes of the Pike County Court, at Monticello, consistently refer to the Three Notch Road as being at some distance from Monticello. An entry on 6 July 1829 stated in part: "Precinct No. 16 from Pike C H to the Three Notch Road to leave Monticello by the Street between George B. AUGUSTUS and Jesse COLEMAN, thence north to A MILES Mill, thence north to the three Notch Road to be a public highway of the 3rd grade, and Wiley UNDERWOOD overseer." An entry on 1 February 1830 stated in part: "Precienct no. 14 from Monticello to the 3 notch Road 3rd Grade, Laborn T. AUSTIN everseer." An entry on 6 February 1832 appointed James LOVE as the overseer of the road "From Monticello by Jesse T. REEVES' Mill to the Three Notch Road". At that time Jesse T. REEVES' mill was located in or near Section 18, Township 10 North, Range 23 East, St. Stephens Meridian, which is at least two miles north northeast of Monticello. In addition the Three Notch Road is mentioned in the "metes and bounds" description of the deed for the store property of Seaborn R. HICKMAN (corner of U. S. Highway 29 and the Needmore Road). Part of the old roadbed is still to be seen at the western end of the "Five Mile Curve", a few miles east of Union Hill Church on U. S. Highway 29. The Three Notch Road is also mentioned in deeds pertaining to the Westminster Presbyterian Church (Deed Book 30, Page 420) and the Sandfield Cemetery at the Zebulon Baptist Church (Deed Book 145, Page 889), both on Alabama State Highway 223 (Saco Road). According to the MORGAN family (of the Ebenezer Community) tradition, the large and ancient oak that presently (A. D. 2000) stands in front of Buren and Olene Griswold THOMPSON's house at the intersection of U. S. Highway 29 and Alabama State Highway 223 may be the "Turning Oak". It was at this point that the Three Notch Road left its southeasterly direction and turned toward the northeast. This turn enabled the traveler to follow the main spine of the Chunnenuggee Ridge, which ran through Ebenezer (Catalpa) and the Sandfield Community on its way to Blues Old Stand and to Fort Mitchell. In summary, the Three Notch Road enters Pike County from the south, following Alabama State Highway 21 from the Coffee County Line through Henderson (formerly Gainer's Store), Hephzibah, Allred, and into Troy (formerly Deer Stand Hill) where it then follows U. S. Highway 29 northeasterly, through Corcoran, and Dunn's Crossing, and then follows Alabama State Highway 223 (Saco Road) through the Hussey Settlement, past Westminster Church and the Hussey Cemetery, through Catalpa (Ebenezer, which was formerly Oates Cross Roads), through Sandfield (Zebulon) and then veers slightly eastward on Pike County Road 19 to Sellers' Cross Roads and to Blue's Old Stand in Bullock County. From Blue's Old Stand, the Three Notch Road crosses Bullock County and terminates at the Old Federal Road at Fort Mitchell in Russell County. Wm. Flake Joiner 311 East Church Street P. O. Box 406 Troy, AL 36081-0406 <wfjoiner@p-c-net.net> in Pike County, Alabama Daytime VOICE 334-566-9968 VOICE/FAX/DATA/MODEM 334-566-8250 "Progress was fine for a while; it just went on too long!" - Annette Shackelford Parks