Larkinsville, Alabama

Larkinsville is a historic village and populated place in Jackson County, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1828 by David Larkin,[1] it was incorporated into the nearby City of Scottsboro in the late 1960s.[2] In 1895, Larkinsville had a population of 216.[3] As late as 1940, the population was 320 according to the U.S. Census.[4] The historic Blue Spring Cemetery is located one mile southwest of the old village center. [5]

Larkinsville, Alabama
Unincorporated community
Larkinsville Railroad Depot, 1920s
Larkinsville
Larkinsville
Coordinates: 34°41′23″N 86°7′36″W
CountryUnited States
StateAlabama
CountyJackson
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
35766
Area code(s)256 & 938
GNIS feature ID121399

History

David Larkin, third son born to a family of pioneers in Tennessee, established a trading post at Larkin's Landing on the Tennessee River near Hollywood shortly after Alabama gained statehood in 1819.[6] In the 1820s, he established a plantation of 32,000 acres[7] two miles west of present-day Scottsboro, and the village of Larkinsville developed around it. A post office was established in 1830, with David Larkin as postmaster, and Larkinsville became the most populous town in Jackson County up until the Civil War.[8] The first overland route through Larkinsville, now known as the Old Stage Road or County Road 30[9] ran from Huntland, Tennessee, across Cumberland Mountain and ended at Larkin's Landing. In 1850 the Memphis and Charleston railroad extended its line through Jackson County; David Larkin, as a railroad commissioner, established a station at Larkinsville.[10]

In the Civil War, Company K, the Larkinsville Guards, was organized in Larkinsville and served with the 4th Alabama Regiment under Captain A.C. Murray.[11] The war devastated Larkinsville, as it did most of North Alabama. On June 30, 1862, shortly after the fall of Huntsville, the Tenth Wisconsin regiment occupied Larkinsville.[12] As a stop along the strategically important railroad, Larkinsville would be occupied by Union forces for the remainder of the war, including the 13th Wisconsin,[13] the 10th Iowa,[14] the 116th Illinois,[15] and the 101st U.S. Colored Regiment.[16]

The postwar establishment of the county seat at Scottsboro began a gradual movement of people and business away from Larkinsville.[17] The railroad kept the village alive into the 1930s, but after both Alabama State Road 35 and U.S. 72, the main east-west highways in Jackson county, bypassed Larkinsville entirely,[18] the formerly thriving village has survived as little more than a ghost town.[19]

References
  1. Kennamer, John Robert, Sr., History of Jackson County Alabama, Jackson County Historical Association, Scottsboro, Alabama 1935 (reprinted 1993), page 164
  2. Jim Forte Postal History, https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=AL&county=Jackson&searchtext=&pagenum=4
  3. "1890 Communities Near Larkinsville",Roadside Thoughts,https://roadsidethoughts.com/al/larkinsville-xx-jackson-1890s.htm
  4. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940
  5. Blue Spring Cemetery,https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/21686/blue-spring-cemetery
  6. Kennamer, p. 23
  7. 1850 Agricultural Census - Jackson Co., AL, Alabama Department of Archives and History,http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/jackson/census/1850/1850jacksonag.txt
  8. Kennamer, page 164
  9. Kennamer, page 26
  10. The Democrat (Huntsville AL),March 21, 1850, page 1, https://www.newspapers.com/image/349179488
  11. Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle,1/1/1862,https://books.google.com/books/about/Miss_Priscilla_Larkin.html?id=Uw34oQEACAAJ
  12. Miss Priscilla Larkin, 6/30/1862
  13. Union Regimental Histories, Civil War Archive, http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unwiinf1.htm#13thinf
  14. Union Regimental Histories,http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/uniainf2.htm#10thinf
  15. The Civil War Letters of William Samuel Craig,3/8/1863 and 4/15/1864, Ohio State University, https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/letters/craig/default
  16. OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. U.S. War Dept., Washington Government Printing Office 1897. Series I, Volumes 3 1881, Series IV Volume 2.1900. Washington Government Printing Office 1900, https://www.buffalosoldier.net/101stRegimentU.S.ColoredInfantry.htm
  17. Kennamer, page 165
  18. Milepost Maps (Map) (1999 ed.). Alabama Department of Transportation
  19. Larkinsville United Methodist Church,photo and caption,https://www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/451426598
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