Florence in Lauderdale County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Kennedy Gun Factory

(1823 - 1837)

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, July 10, 2022

1. Kennedy Gun Factory Marker

Inscription. The famous Kennedy Long Rifle was introduced at Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War by Alexander Kennedy who fled to Moore County, N. C., when the British invaded. About 1823 his son David moved the factory to Green Hill, Alabama locating, 400 yards east of the present Tabernacle Cemetery. Green Hill became an early gun manufacturing center with the advent of other gunsmiths: McDonalds, Garners, Stutts, Keys, Higgins, Richardsons, Davidsons, and Myricks. Property willed to the City of Florence by Hiram Kennedy Douglass, a Kennedy descendant, became the Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts.

Erected by Florence Historical Board and the Kennedy - Douglass Trust.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • War, US Revolutionary. A significant historical year for this entry is 1823.

Location. 34° 56.764′ N, 87° 31.863′ W. Marker is in Florence, Alabama, in Lauderdale County. It is on County Road 47, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 12550 Co Rd 47, Florence AL 35634, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally,

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this marker is in North Alabama

and in the Shoals.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Deep South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Tabernacle Cemetery (approx. 0.9 miles away); World War I (approx. 1.2 miles away); Old Pleasant Grove Primitive Baptist Church & Cemetery (approx. 1.7 miles away); Lone Cedar Church of Christ (approx. 2.4 miles away); Shoals Creek Preserve Tract (approx. 5.8 miles away); Town of Killen (approx. 6 miles away); Muscle Shoals Canal (approx. 6.2 miles away); Tate Springs Estate Early 1800’s (approx. 6.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Florence.

Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, July 26, 2009

2. Kennedy Gun Factory Marker

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, July 10, 2022

3. Kennedy Gun Factory Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on June 28, 2025. It was originally submitted on October 29, 2022, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 2,228 times since then and 212 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on October 29, 2022, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. 2. submitted on May 30, 2023, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. 3. submitted on October 29, 2022, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.