Our Story
Little Beaver Creek Plantation
Little Beaver Creek flows north through the rolling red hills of southern Marengo County, between the communities of Half Acre and Campground. The plantation straddles about a mile of this creek and its bottoms, and includes over 350 acres of surrounding hills, fields, and forests. The terrain ranges from 95 to 255 feet above sea level. Until recently (in
geologic age) this part of Alabama was under water, part of a shallow continental shelf that extended from Texas to Massachusetts. For over 100 million years erosion of the Appalachian Mountains to the north deposited layers of gravel, sand, mud, and clay into the shallow sea. Around 15 million years ago the southeastern part of the United States began uplifting, pushing hundreds of feet of sediments in this area above sea level and tilting them slightly to the southwest. The result was a movement of the coastline several hundred miles to the south and the creation of new rivers and drainage areas. Continuous erosion of the soil has now exposed formations within the boundaries of the plantation that are approximately 60 million years old, with older formations to the north and younger formations to the south. At the time these sediments were laid down the coastal areas were covered by river deltas, lagoons, estuaries, shallow seas, forests, and wetlands. Fossilized wood and lignite coal beds from that time period are present, but no marine fossils have been found. Natural gas from an unknown depth discolors runoff areas where it comes to the surface, and gas bubbles can be seen in the pond. Just to the south of the plantation are exposed beds of coral and limestone that are a bit younger, dating to about 55 million years ago when this area teemed with marine life similar to what can be found along today’s Gulf Coast. Shark’s teeth and other fossils are abundant in roadside cuts running along the plantation’s southern boundary. More recently, this area was occupied by the Choctaw people for about 1700 years. Stephens transferred 10,000 acres of Choctaw land east of the Tombigbee River to the US government. Over the next few decades many families from Georgia and South Carolina moved into these lands and converted the wooded hills and valleys into farmland. Large plantations grew nearby, the most notable being Rembert Hill; it was established in 1836 by Caleb Rembert a few miles to the north. The crossroads community of (Hell’s) Half Acre dates to this time, and once boasted a hotel, saloon, post office, school, and general store. The old Linden to Nanafalia stage coach road passed through Rembert Hill and Half Acre, and runs just south of Little Beaver Creek Plantation. Adjoining the eastern edge of the plantation was the village of Luther’s Store, home to over 20 families, a blacksmith, and a post office. Today all that remains is the cemetery, piles of bricks marking where the homes once stood, and plenty of myrtle trees now growing wild. The present property boundaries include land once lived on and farmed by the Faile, Etheridge, Jordan, Mann, and Sessions families. None of the original homes of these settlers survive, but several house sites, wells, and old roads have been identified. The last standing structure, a barn that belonged to the Etheridge family, was carefully dismantled in 2016 and the old wood was preserved to be used for furniture and future construction projects. Today the plantation no longer contains large planted fields, homes, livestock, and barns, but instead is focused on restoring the original mix of hardwoods and pine trees that are native to the area. The deer, turkey, and other wildlife are plentiful here. It is a quiet place to relax and spend time with your family.
