Adventures in Eufaula

Oct 25^th

We planned a full day of activities – A trip to Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge, downtown Eufaula and Historic District and the Yoholo-Micco Creek Indian Trail.

Starting our drive in the Eufaula NWR

With the day warming up we all headed out around 10:00 AM for the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge (http://www.fws.gov/eufaula/) just east of our campgrounds. We’re at the peak of the dry season so a lot of the areas we drove through are void of any water. But closer to the lake, where they are managing the water levels with dikes and pumps there is a lot of water for birds, alligators and other marsh inhabitants.

Sure enough - alligators on the beach

This was a driving tour and covered about a third of the land in the NWR open to the public. As we drove down to Lake Eufaula we passed a large open area along the marsh bank. I said to Tina, “it looks like an alligator haul-out. Sure enough, as we drove another hundred yards we got to an expanse of water where we saw several alligators sunning themselves on the banks.

Just a few of the birds we saw today

Continuing our drive we came to another large open area of water and there were hundreds and hundreds of Great Egrets, Herons, Storks and other wading birds. We stopped to take photos and it was apparent we were actually looking at one of the bays of the lake rather than a marsh area. We continued our drive making several stops to walk out to observation platforms.

Our lunch stop - more BBQ!

Leaving the NWR we returned to the coach to leave the dogs, it would be too warm for us to leave them in the car. Once the A/C was set we headed into town and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce to get some information and directions to our lunch stop – Phil’s BBW (http://bestbuttsinalabama.com/). We got to Phil’s and Tina had Ribs while I had the “Smokehouse Special” BBQ sandwich and a side of Eufaula Stew. Ummmm, umm good!

Barbour Street and Broadway

After lunch we drove back to the Historic District to see some of the stunning examples of southern architecture from the early 1800’s through the early 1900’s. A little history of the area - Overlooking Lake Eufaula from the bluffs on the Alabama shore, the beautiful city of Eufaula is one of the most picturesque and historic in the South.

The Old Post Office Building

Named for one of the principal towns of the Lower Creek Indians, Eufaula was settled on the site of Creek villages at a time when the land was still claimed by the Creek Nation. Called Irwinton until 1843, the town was the source of much controversy with the Creeks during its early days and served as one of several bases for attacks by federal and state troops during the Creek War of 1836.

Masonic Temple

By the time of the Civil War, Eufaula was a prosperous river port on the Chattahoochee River and a commercial center for much of the surrounding area. Many of its elegant antebellum homes still stand today, saved from destruction when Union troops halted just west of town after receiving a truce request from Major General Samuel Jones who had just learned that the war was ending.

Downtown Shopping District

Today the city and surrounding area are home to more than 20 structures and districts that are listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. Some of the old homes in Eufaula are considered the finest examples of their architectural styles in the United States. Two now function as museums and a number of others are open to the public during the annual Spring Pilgrimage held in early April.

Historic Shorter Mansion

We parked in town and walked through the Historic District stopping at the Shorter Mansion where we got a personalized tour of the house. The Shorter Mansion is a Classical Revival-style house. The two-story masonry structure was built in 1884 by Eli Sims Shorter II and his wife, Wileyna Lamar Shorter. They extensively remodeled the house from 1901 to 1906 at a cost of over $100,000, with the results of that effort being the facade that is seen today.

Eli Sims Shorter died in 1908, but his wife resided in the house until 1927, when it was passed to their daughter, Fannie Shorter Upshaw. It was in turn inherited by Upshaw's daughter, Wileyna S. Kennedy, in 1959. The Kennedy family moved away from the city and the house was purchased by the Eufaula Heritage Association, initially formed in order to buy and restore the house, at auction for $33,000 in 1965. The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 14, 1972.

Russell-Kellogg House

Leaving the Shorter Mansion we continued our walk through the Historic District (see our photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski) winding up back downtown where we took several photos of downtown Eufaula. This is a real nice small southern town that appears to be doing relatively well during this current economic downturn.

Starting our afternoon hike

Returning to the Chamber of Commerce we parked next to the trail head for the Yoholo-Micco Creek Indian Trail. This is a Rails-to-Trails project that is about 1.5 miles in length (3.0 miles round trip) and passes along the Eufaula Lake ending up at Old Creek Town recreation area, the former site of a Creek Indian village.

One of the many birdhouses along the trail

Old RR Abutment dating back to the 1800's

Along the way are bird houses, a waterfall (hidden off of side trail), nesting bald eagles, an old cemetery (another side trail) old RR crossing signs including the warning lights, a retaining wall dating back to the 1800's, great views of Lake Eufaula - a horizontal rock shelf that drips water year-round and an old rail road trestle crossing the lake.

Tina on the trestle across the lake

We stayed on the main trail (unfortunately we didn’t know about the hidden waterfall) and walked from town to the RR bridge across the lake before turning around for a two mile hike. We figured all told we did over three miles of walking today – pretty good for us as we haven’t been getting much exercise.

We got back to the car and returned home around 4:30 PM to take the kids for a walk before dinner. After all our walking we took the rest of the evening off.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski