
![]() In the decades just before and after the Civil War, the Pearce Mill complex along the Buttachatchee River near Hamilton, south of Tuscumbia, was a bustling economic hub. In the early 1870s, James P. Pearce developed the grist mill his father had built in the 1840s into a thriving community by adding a saw mill, cotton gin, and general store that were surrounded by support structures, operatives quarters, and his impressive two-story Victorian home. Today little of the built environment of the Pearce Mills National Register Historic District is left amid the heavy vegetation that has all but reclaimed the woodland site. Pearce’s derelict home, a few outbuildings, a steel truss bridge, a Depression-era tenant house, and a cemetery remain on the remote 3,000 acre tract that is privately owned. What does the future hold for this historic agricultural service center that railroads and other modern transportation innovations have marginalized?
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Alabama's Endangered Historic LandmarksEach year since 1994, Alabama Heritage has highlighted threatened historic sites throughout Alabama. The “Places in Peril” list has identified more than 215 imperiled historic resources throughout the state, and is compiled by the Alabama Historical Commission and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation. The locations highlight the results of deferred maintenance, perceived obsolescence, development pressures, and lack of funding—forces that now more than ever threaten our cultural legacy. But awareness is a powerful force, too, and can cultivate a renewed determination to be responsible stewards of our heritage. For more information, visit the AHC or the ATHP websites. Alabama Heritage is proud to bring to you a selection of the places designated as perilous. Please keep your comments to information relevant to the featured place in peril. Alabama Heritage reserves the right to delete any comment that we deem inappropriate. Archives
May 2023
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