Old Cahawba Collage

Visitors aren't just visitors at Old Cahawba. 

They're explorers!

The archaeological park located at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama 

rivers was best known as Alabama's first state capital (1819-1826),

 but in the 16th Century, it served as an Indian village. Then, in the 1800s,

 Cahawba became a wealthy town with some 3,000 residents.

 During the War Between the States, a federal prison housed Union soldiers,

 and after the war, emancipated slaves took refuge there. 

Now a ghost town, St. Luke's Episcopal Church (recently moved back

 to Old Cahawba) greets guests as they enter the park.

  At right above stand brick pillars that are all that remain of the Crocheron home

 and store that overlooked the rivers. Below at right sits the Perine

 artesian well which furnished air conditioning to the Perine mansion.  

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Artesian Air Conditioning

HOT! It is hot here with temps hovering around 100 degrees F. and heat indexes in the 110- degree range. Our air conditioner is running nonstop, still unable to keep up with the heat and humidity by mid-afternoon. So, how did people survive this weather in the 19th Century in a sticky, swampy environment?

At Cahawba, E.M. Perine pumped cold water from an artesian well through pipes in his mansion, creating the first air-conditioned house in Alabama. The house is long gone, but the well is still there, and this sign at Old Cahawba Archealogical Park marks the spot.