Bigbee in Washington County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Ellisville
Photographed by Jimmy Emerson, 2022
1. Ellisville Marker
Inscription.
Ellisville logging camp had it's beginnings as a turpentine still 5 miles west of Yarbo off the Chatom Bigbee road around 1911. The operation was expanded greatly after 1919 when Ingram Day Lumber company bought the sawmill in Yarbo. Ingram Day built a standard gauge rail line to the site of the turpentine still and expanded the camp. The residents lived in box cars that were on each side of the rail line for almost a mile. The camp featured a blacksmith, maintenance shop, general store, a boarding house and stock pens in addition to the turpentine still. At it's peak about 500 workers were employed there. The train carried logs to the sawmill and turpentine to the AT and N Railroad in Yarbo. Ingram Day began the move to Pickens County in 1938 and the camp was abandoned. EL Jordan bought out Ingram Day in 1946 and moved the entire operation to Schell's Landing.
Ellisville logging camp had it's beginnings as a
turpentine still 5 miles west of Yarbo off the Chatom
Bigbee road around 1911. The operation was expanded
greatly after 1919 when Ingram Day Lumber company
bought the sawmill in Yarbo. Ingram Day built a
standard gauge rail line to the site of the turpentine
still and expanded the camp. The residents lived in
box cars that were on each side of the rail line for
almost a mile. The camp featured a blacksmith,
maintenance shop, general store, a boarding house
and stock pens in addition to the turpentine still.
At it's peak about 500 workers were employed there.
The train carried logs to the sawmill and turpentine
to the AT and N Railroad in Yarbo. Ingram Day
began the move to Pickens County in 1938 and the
camp was abandoned. EL Jordan bought out Ingram
Day in 1946 and moved the entire operation to
Schell's Landing.
Location. 31° 32.627′ N, 88° 12.012′ W. Marker is in Bigbee, Alabama, in Washington
Click or scan to see this page online
County. It is at the intersection of Chatom Bigbee Road (County Road 31) and Bodie Carpenter Road, on the right when traveling north on Chatom Bigbee Road. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3849 Co Rd 31, Millry AL 36558, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Alabama’s Mobile Bay. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Deep South. 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 territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 12, 2025. It was originally submitted on October 12, 2025, by Jimmy Emerson of Dalton, Georgia. This page has been viewed 69 times since then and 29 times this year. Photo1. submitted on October 12, 2025, by Jimmy Emerson of Dalton, Georgia. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.
Editor’s want-list for this marker. A wide view photo of the marker and the surrounding area together in context. • Can you help?
