The City of Brent was founded in 1898 in the southern portion of Bibb County along the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Rail line. The town was named after Mr. Brent H. Armstrong, a surveyor for the railroad. Brent was later incorporated in 1913. The . . . — — Map (db m217202) HM
Absalom Pratt built this house 8 miles west of here circa 1835 though a section was constructed earlier. It was moved to this site in 1994 by the Cahaba Trace Commission, restored by the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, 1997-98, and dedicated . . . — — Map (db m37078) HM
The Bibb County Iron Company under the direction of C. C. Huckabee of Newbern, Alabama, constructed a furnace here and poured the first iron in November 1862. Within a year, the Confederate government purchased the works and completed a second and . . . — — Map (db m37090) HM
Wilson Hayes constructed this typical farm house for his wife and six children just south of Six Mile around 1900. After he moved to Oklahoma c. 1915, his daughter Ollie and her husband Levert Rotenberry lived in the home until 1928. Between 1928 . . . — — Map (db m37136) HM
Originally located off Patton Chapel Road in what is today Hoover, Alabama, the Sunshine and Dorothy Morton house was moved to the Brierfield Park in March 2005 by the Morton family and restored over the next two years by restoration specialist . . . — — Map (db m37177) HM
Centreville Cemetery is older than the town of Centreville itself. The earliest known burial is that of Willie Coleman, dated 1822, and Centreville was established in 1823. One half of the cemetery, known as Cooper Cemetery, contains mostly the . . . — — Map (db m156403) HM
Years before 1859, two acres of land were donated for a school by Mr. and Mrs. Good. A two-story wooden structure was built. Among its first teachers were John Alexander, W. J. Peters, R. M. Humphries, and R. H. Pratt. Under Pratt’s leadership the . . . — — Map (db m37054) HM
Incorporated in 1859 though organized earlier and operated continuously through 1897. First trustees were William P. Thomas, Leroy T. McGuire, Ezekiel C. Smith, Simpson W. Hederick and Pulaski Wallace. This noted center of learning in Bibb County . . . — — Map (db m37053) HM
One and a half miles northeast of here, the mining town of Belle Ellen was established by the Bessemer Coal, Iron and Land Company in the fall of 1895 and named for Henry F. DeBardeleben's daughter, Belle, and wife, Ellen. DeBardeleben was a noted . . . — — Map (db m37226) HM
Blocton
Centered around the coke ovens, Blocton, first called Gresham, was the Cahaba Coal Mining Company town founded by Truman H. Aldrich in 1883-84. Other company officers included W. A. Clark of Muscatine, Iowa, and Cornelius Cadle, Jr., . . . — — Map (db m37228) HM
Piper
The town of Piper was established in 1901 a half mile northeast of here by the Little Cahaba Coal Company, named for Oliver Hazzard Perry Piper, a partner of industrialist Henry F. DeBardeleben. Two coal mines were opened in 1901 and . . . — — Map (db m83225) HM
The railway system was an important part of the iron and steel industry and the operation of the Blocton coke ovens. The ovens were constructed with rails on top for the charging car, often called a larry. There were rails between each row of ovens . . . — — Map (db m215680) HM
History of coke ovens
In the park are four rows of the remains of the Cahaba Coal Company's coke ovens. These beehive block ovens were not the earliest coke producing units in the Cahaba Coal Field but may very well have been the largest . . . — — Map (db m215677) HM
West Blocton began as a business and residential community adjoining the Cahaba Coal Mining Company's town of Blocton in 1883-84. West Blocton incorporated in 1901. Eugene D. Reynolds was the first mayor, 1901-1904, followed by Dr. L.E. Peacock, . . . — — Map (db m72283) HM
Coke ovens, such as the ones you see in the park, are used to convert coal into coke, a cleaner burning fuel that produces little smoke. Construction here started in the late 1880's, with 140 ovens producing coke by 1889. The end buttresses that . . . — — Map (db m215681) HM
Woodstock was first settled in the 1820’s with a formal land grant to William Houston on Feb. 27, 1826. The settlement was established along the old Tuscaloosa to Huntsville Stage Coach Line. Woodstock got its name when Dr. J.U. Ray named it after . . . — — Map (db m63697) HM
