Near Tensaw in Baldwin County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Montgomery Hill Landing ⎯⎯⎯ Mims Ferry and Holley Creek
Photographed by Mark Hilton, May 28, 2024
1. Montgomery Hill Landing Marker
Inscription.
Montgomery Hill Landing, also, Mims Ferry and Holley Creek. .
Montgomery Hill Landing. In the late 1800s and into the early 20th Century, Montgomery Hill Landing was used by local plantations to send and receive goods from Mobile or points North. Huge paddlewheel boats would dock here for loading and unloading. Spices, bolts of material, and ice were popular items to be brought into the area. Corn and baled cotton were major commodities shipped out. Harvested timber would be floated down the river. Travelers heading north and south were also frequent passengers on these large steam boats., Names of vessels often seen here included the Nettie Quill and the Steamer American. There was fierce competition between the captains and crews to provide the best and quickest service. Tales of riverboat races and travel have been passed down through generations of local families.,
Mims Ferry and Holley Creek. For centuries Native Americans depended on the creeks, lakes, and rivers as ready sources of food as well as a means of transportation between their fields and towns. European colonists settled in this area in the early 1700s followed by American pioneers in the 1800s. Between 1799 and 1813, Samuel Mims ran a flatboat ferry across the Alabama River. The site chosen by Mims for his ferry was just below the mouth of Holley Creek, where it flows into the Alabama River. The natural lay of the land provided an easy method to load and unload the craft. Prominent among his passengers were pioneers with their loaded wagons and livestock who journeyed down the Federal Road heading toward Mobile, Natchez and New Orleans. There are written accounts of mounted federal troops paying to cross the river at Mims Ferry in 1813.
Montgomery Hill Landing
In the late 1800s and into the early 20th Century, Montgomery Hill Landing was used by local plantations to send and receive goods from Mobile or points North. Huge paddlewheel boats would dock here for loading and unloading. Spices, bolts of material, and ice were popular items to be brought into the area. Corn and baled cotton were major commodities shipped out. Harvested timber would be floated down the river. Travelers heading north and south were also frequent passengers on these large steam boats.
Names of vessels often seen here included the Nettie Quill and the Steamer American. There was fierce competition between the captains and crews to provide the best and quickest service. Tales of riverboat races and travel have been passed down through generations of local families.
Mims Ferry and Holley Creek
For centuries Native Americans depended on the creeks, lakes, and rivers as ready sources of food as well as a means of transportation between their fields and towns. European colonists settled in this area in the early 1700s followed by American pioneers in the 1800s. Between 1799 and 1813, Samuel Mims ran a flatboat ferry across the Alabama River. The site chosen by Mims for his ferry was just below the mouth of Holley Creek, where
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it flows into the Alabama River. The natural lay of the land provided an easy method to load and unload the craft. Prominent among his passengers were pioneers with their loaded wagons and livestock who journeyed down the Federal Road heading toward Mobile, Natchez and New Orleans. There are written accounts of mounted federal troops paying to cross the river at Mims Ferry in 1813.
Erected 2016 by Baldwin County Historic Development and Baldwin County Commission AL200.
Location. 31° 10.967′ N, 87° 51.188′ W. Marker is near Tensaw, Alabama, in Baldwin County. It is on Holly Creek Landing Road 1.1 miles west of Holly Creek Road, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Stockton AL 36579, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Alabama’s Gulf Coast and in Mobile Bay. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and on the Gulf Coast. 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 New Spain, the Viceroyalty of New France, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
3. Montgomery Hill Landing Marker looking north on Holley Creek.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, May 28, 2024
4. Marker with the Alabama River in distance.
Credits. This page was last revised on May 29, 2024. It was originally submitted on May 28, 2024, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 742 times since then and 69 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on May 28, 2024, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.
