Boatyard Landing and Aaron Burr Spring
⎯⎯⎯
Peirce's School and Mill

Boatyard Landing and Aaron Burr Spring, also, Peirce's School and Mill. . Boatyard Landing and Aaron Burr Spring . For over 200 years Boatyard Landing has been used for transportation, commerce, and recreation. This historic landing was named “Boat Yard” during the 1790s when settlers-built boats here with lumber from nearby Peirce’s mill. Boats of all types have been launched from here, including dugout canoes used by Native Americans for centuries and steam-driven vessels in the late 1800s into early 1900. , An intermittent spring feeds into the lake from the bank near the boat launch. According to local legend, the Spring was named for Aaron Burr when he drank from it in February 1807. Federal troops from Fort Stoddard escorted Burr under guard to Boatyard Landing during their journey north on the Federal Road. The former Vice-President of the United States had been accused of treason and was being taken to Richmond for trial and eventual acquittal. Peirce’s School and Mill . The first public school in what would become Alabama was located near Boatyard Lake and near the site of Peirce’s Mill. John Peirce founded the school around 1800. Students arrived daily on foot, by canoe, or on horseback and they were of European-American, Creek Indian, and mixed heritage. Lessons were taught by oral repetition and it was called a ‘blab’ school. , Brothers John and William Peirce began operating their saw mill in the 1790s. They produced lumber for home and boat construction. With news of the Creek uprising, the Peirce brothers fortified their home and mill site. During the attack on Ft. Mims on August 30, 1813, some 200 settlers who sought refuge inside the stockade at ‘Ft. Peirce’ could hear the gunfire, being only a short distance up the lake. Fearful of being attacked, the following day those settlers headed down the river to Mobile.