Perry County

Coretta Scott King Memorial Located in the west-central part of the state, Perry County is part of Alabama’s Black Belt region. Civil-rights leader Coretta Scott King was born in Heiberger and attended Lincoln Normal School in Marion, which is also home to Marion Military Institute and now-defunct Judson College. Perry County is governed by an elected five-member commission and includes the communities of Marion and Uniontown. Literary figures Zitella Cocke, Louise Clarke Pyrnelle, John Trotwood Moore, Mary Ward Brown, and Florence Glass Palmer were natives of Perry County, as were historian William Garrott Brown and politician and businessman A. N. Johnson.

  • Founding Date: December 13, 1819
  • Area: 719 square miles
  • Population: 8,511 (2020 Census estimate)
  • Major Waterways: Cahaba River
  • Major Highways: U.S. 80
  • County Seat: Marion
  • Largest City: Marion

History

Perry County Courthouse Perry County was created by the Alabama legislature on December 13, 1819, from land acquired from the Creek Indians in the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson. It was named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry of Rhode Island, a hero of the War of 1812. When the area was officially opened to settlement, pioneers came from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee. The first towns in the area were Muckle’s Ridge (now known as Marion), Perry Ridge, Uniontown (originally known as Woodville), and Heiberger.

Old Marion City Hall The first courthouse, a log cabin, was erected at Perry Ridge, located approximately seven miles southeast of present-day Marion. The county soon found that a more centrally located county seat was needed, and in 1823 Marion became the county seat. A two-story log cabin was erected on the site of the present-day courthouse. A modest brick building replaced the log cabin shortly thereafter in 1837. In 1854, construction began on a new marble-and-brick Greek Revival courthouse. Two-story porticos flanked each end of the building, with six Ionic columns supporting the massive pediments. The building was completed in 1856 and underwent renovation in 1954 and 2012. It continues to serve as the county courthouse today. The county became a major center for education in the Black Belt. Baptists founded both Judson College (1838) and Howard College (1842). Lincoln Normal School was founded in 1867 by freed slaves as a school for African American children. It later moved to Montgomery and was renamed Alabama State University. A museum is currently underway on the site of Lincoln to house historic memorabilia regarding Lincoln School. Many of the buildings on the campus of the Marion Military Institute pre-date the Civil War, and its chapel, built in 1857, served as a Confederate hospital during the war. During the civil rights era, an incident in Marion triggered the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the ensuing Voting Rights Act of 1965. Baptists also made Marion the headquarters of the state-wide newspaper and the first location of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Major Cities and Demographics

Pitts’ Folly in Uniontown, 1936 According to 2020 Census estimates the population of Perry County was 8,511. Of that total, 67.8 percent of respondents identified themselves as African American, 30.2 percent as white, 1.6 percent as Hispanic, 0.9 percent as two or more races, 0.6 percent as Asian, 0.4 percent as Native American, and 0.1 percent as Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The county seat Marion is the largest city and had an estimated population of 3,196. The other significant population center in the county is Uniontown. The median household income was $23,875 compared with $52,035 for the state as a whole, and the per capita income was $13,833 compared with $28,934 for the state as a whole.

Economy

Like most of Alabama’s counties, farming was the prevailing occupation in Perry County until well into the twentieth century. The Canebrake region, a section within the Black Belt between Marion and Demopolis, contains some of the richest soil in Alabama. Cotton remained the county’s largest crop until well into the twentieth century, although corn and sweet potatoes were also important crops. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, livestock became an important part of the county’s economy. Unlike neighboring counties, Perry County did not benefit much from the industrialization boom of the mid-twentieth century, remaining largely rural and agricultural, and this remains the case today.

Employment

According to 2020 Census estimates, the workforce in Perry County was divided among the following industrial categories:

  • Educational services, and health care and social assistance (23.9 percent
  • Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (22.7 percent
  • Manufacturing (12.8 percent
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (8.4 percent
  • Retail trade (8.1 percent
  • Public administration (5.4 percent
  • Construction (4.7 percent
  • Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste management services (4.5 percent
  • Other services, except public administration (4.1 percent
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (3.9 percent
  • Wholesale trade (1.5 percent)

Education

Judson College The Perry County school system oversees four primary and secondary schools. Until its closure in 2021, Judson College in Marion was Alabama’s only women’s college (and the second oldest women’s college in the South). Founded in 1842 as Howard College, the Marion Military Institute (as it was named after Howard College moved to Birmingham and was renamed Samford University) is the nation’s oldest two-year military college, serving both male and female cadets.

Geography

Perry County Map Comprising approximately 719 square miles, Perry County lies in the west-central part of the state. It is part of the Coastal Plain physiographic section of the Atlantic Plain region. Its northern forests cover the trailing end of the Appalachian Mountains, and the hills and valleys give way to grass-covered prairies and farmlands of the Black Belt in the southern half of the county. The county is bordered by Bibb County to the north, Chilton County to the east, Dallas County to the southeast, Marengo County to the southwest, and Hale County to the west.

The Cahaba River, one of the most endangered rivers in North America, runs through the middle of the county. The Cahaba is one of Alabama’s most diverse river systems in terms of the number of species it supports, 69 of which are considered rare and imperiled. Ten species of fish and mussels are threatened or endangered. Numerous tributaries of the Cahaba River run throughout the county, offering scenic views and recreational opportunities.

U.S. Highway 80 runs east-west along the southernmost part of Perry County. Perry County Airport in Marion and Uniontown Municipal Airport are the county’s two public airports.

Events and Places of Interest

Talladega National Forest Perry County offers a range of recreational opportunities for visitors. The Talladega National Forest, in the north and northeast part of the county, covers 375,000 acres at the southern edge of the Appalachian Mountains. Rugged mountains, forests, waterfalls, and streams afford visitors various opportunities for camping, hiking, backpacking, fishing, and bird watching. The Perry Lakes Park and Barton’s Beach Cahaba River Preserve near Marion includes an outdoor park as well as a nature preserve. Visitors can hike and picnic along the park’s interpretive nature trails, which offer views of more than 60 native tree species.

Historic Marion is home to many important public museums and cultural centers. The Alabama Military Hall of Honor Museum displays portrait plaques of inductees and military artifacts. First built in 1832, the building initially served as a law office for John Lockhart. The building was then used until 1968 as the Marion City Hall. In 1988, the building was moved to the Marion Military Institute, where it was restored and preserved and continues to serve the community as a museum. Until its closure in 2021, Judson College’s A. Howard Bean Hall was home to the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame; it is now hosted by the University of West Alabama. It serves as a permanent place of honor for Alabama’s most outstanding women, including Helen Keller, Julia Strudwick Tutwiler, and Tallulah Bankhead.

Marion Female Seminary Perry County is home to a variety of historic educational institutions as well. The Female Seminary in Marion was founded in 1836 as a school for girls. Prussian immigrant Nicola Marschall, usually credited with designing the first Confederate flag and the Confederate uniform, was an art teacher at the school. Visitors can tour the campus of Judson College and the original Female Seminary building in Marion, which now houses the Perry County Historical Society and the Perry County High School Alumni Association.

Moore-Webb-Holmes Plantation Several important historic homes are also located in the county. The family home of Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., is located in Marion. Near Marion is Carlisle Hall, also known as Kenworthy Hall. Completed in 1860, it is one of the best examples of the Italian Villa style in Alabama. The Governor’s House, built in the 1830s, was the home of Alabama’s first Civil War governor, Andrew Barry Moore. The basement of the Huntington-Watters house (c. 1835) served as Confederate headquarters for Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who left accounts of the war written on the basement walls. Other important sites include the Holmestead Plantation (also known as the Moore-Webb-Holmes Plantation), possibly the only working plantation remaining in the state; the Lockett-Martin House, the 1840s house where several Marion women sewed the original “stars and bars” flag of the Confederacy; and King-Colburn house, an 1819 one-story raised cottage structure rarely seen in the Black Belt. Reverie Historic Home (1858) is a privately owned house museum within the West Marion Historic District.

Further Reading

  • Caver, Joseph. From Marion to Montgomery: The Early Years of Alabama State University, 1867-1925. Montgomery, Ala.: New South Books, 2020.
  • English, Bertis. Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama’s Black Belt: A History of Perry County. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 2022.
  • Harris, W. Stuart. A Short History of Marion, Perry County, Alabama: Its Homes and Its Buildings. Marion, Ala.: [s.n.], 1970.
  • The Heritage of Perry County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1999.

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