A County Older Than the State–Limestone County AL28
Created Feb. 6, 1818 by Alabama Territorial Legislature from lands ceded by Cherokee Nation 1806 and by Chickasaw Nation in 1816. Named for creek (and its limestone bed) which runs through county. Few settlers here until Indian treaties. Athens became county seat in 1818. Limestone was the first Alabama county to be occupied by Federal troops during the Civil War. Location: Limestone County

---

Chickasaw Indian Agency AL133
Was moved by Benjamin Smith from Pontotoc, Mississippi in 1825 to this site, known as Bennkhinah, where it remained until 1837. Bennkhinnah Post Office, established at the Agency in 1829, was named Newport in 1837. In 1856 with D. C. Oates as postmaster, it was moved to Cherokee, Alabama. Benjamin Reynolds replaced Smith as Indian Agent in 1830. From this Agency he worked with Indian leaders arranging for the removal of the Chickasaw nation from Alabama and Mississippi in 1837.

---

Chickasaw Old Fields AL226
This place has been known by three names: Chickasaw Old Fields-1769. Cherokee Indians attacked Chickasaws who were invading their lands. After severe battle Chickasaws withdrew. Ditto's Landing–Early boat landing on Tennessee River established by John Ditto, Indian trader. Town of Whitesburg–Old river port, incorporated 1824 by James White, Abington, Va., "Salt King."

---

Fort Tombecbee–3/4 mile - 674
1736 Erected by French against intrusions of British traders arousing Choctaws and Chickasaws. 1763 Renamed Fort York by British who soon abandoned the post. 1783 Renamed Fort Confederation by Spanish and occupied until ceded in 1795. 1802 Here Choctaws ceded large areas to United States, and the post was continued as Indian trading post. Location: Sumter County

---

Madison County - 378
Made a county in 1808 by order of Governor of Mississippi Territory. Area ceded 1805, 1806 by Cherokees, Chickasaws. This was the first land in Alabama ceded by these great civilized tribes. Location: Madison County

---

Triana, Alabama - 415
Originally called “The Prairie” by the Chickasaw Indians who settled here, Triana was incorporated November 13, 1819 as the second town in Madison County. The community purportedly was named after Rodrigo de Triana, the crewman who first sighted land while sailing with Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the Americas. Located on the Tennessee River at the terminus of Indian Creek Canal, Triana was a thriving port through which cotton and other Madison County produce moved to market prior to the building of railroads in North Alabama. Triana was rejuvenated when rechartered July 13, 1964. Location: Madison County

---

Western Boundary of Cherokee Nation - 444 AL68
Boundary line established between the Cherokee Indian Nation and the United States by Treaty of Chickasaw Council House, September 14, 1816. The line surveyed by Col. William Barnett in spring of 1817. The established line remained as the Western Boundary of the Cherokee Indian Nation until their forced removal to Oklahoma Territory in 1837. It continues to be shown on official Quadrangle Maps, even today.

---

White Bluff AL105
Composed of limestone or "Selma Chalk" which abounds in fossils. Called "Ecor Blanc" by eighteenth-century French explorers and cartographers. Named "Chickasaw Gallery" because early Indian inhabitants harnessed boats from here. Landing site of Bonapartist exiles who established the "Vine and Olive Colony" in 1817.

---

Pigeon Roost Road 4E31
Leading to a large roost of the now-extinct messenger pigeon, this road followed partly the present routes of Lauderdale and Marshall Avenues, and of Lamar Boulevard. Before settlement days it was a dry-weather trail used by the Chickasaw Indians. It was improved into a plank road about 1855, and frequently so called.

---

Fort Pickering 4E81
A fort named for Timothy Pickering, U.S. Secretary of State, stood near here 1799-1814. Zachary Taylor was a commandant. Here in 1801 the U.S. signed with the Chickasaws and Choctaws the treaty opening the Natchez Trace. In the I840s a town of Ft. Pickering was laid out, but in 1870 was annexed by Memphis. After the fall of the city in June 1862, Federal forces built a large fort also named Pickering, reaching south from Vance Ave. to include DeSoto Park. Part of Ashburn-Coppock Park was in the inner "keep."

---