Background history
-
the 1800s
Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819. Even though a north Alabama
town, Hunstville, was the first state capital and white settlers
were coming there in large numbers, it was over 25 years before
white settlers started moving into the lands where Rainsville
now sits. Two major factors accounted for this fact. The counties
of DeKalb, Cherokee, and Marshall were part of the lands owned
by the Cherokee nation until their forced removal started. All
three counties were founded 11 days after the Cherokees ceded
these lands to the federal government in 1836. The second factor
was geographic. These lands were isolated by the Tennessee River
and the mountain terrain. Settlement of the region did began
in earnest when the Cherokee started vacating the area in 1837.
Many settlers
came from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. Pouring into the
valleys between Sand and Lookout Mountain, settlers favored the
lower grounds. The steep slopes and cliffs of the mountains were
obviously a strong geographical barrier. By the 1860s several
of the valley towns of northeast Alabama - Gadsden, Bellefonte
(just north of present-day Scottsboro), Guntersville, Centre
and Lebanon - appeared on pre-Civil War maps. At that time the
area that is now downtown Rainsville remained a rough, frontier
crossing deep in the woods.
Between 1860 and 1880 that slowly started
to change. By that time Wills Valley had the railroad and a growing
population along the rail route at Fort Payne, Portersville,
Lebanon and Collinsville. The people had began to come, pushing
deeper into the woods, and eventually some hardy pioneers started
carving out their lives on Sand Mountain.
|
Heritage
Project Home |
