A concise illustrated guidebook for those wishing to explore and know more about the storied gateway that made possible Alabama’s development.

Forged through the Creek Nation by the United States, the federal road was developed as a communication artery to link the east coast with Louisiana. The postal road created tensions within the Creek Nation that resulted in a devastating war in 1813-1814. The Federal Road served as the primary artery of emigration into Alabama after the forced surrender of vast acreage by the Creek Indians following the Creek War.

Central to understanding Alabama’s territorial and early statehood years, the Federal Road was both a physical and symbolic thoroughfare that cut a swath of shattering change through the land and cultures it traversed. The road revolutionized Alabama’s expansion, altering the course of its development by playing a significant role in sparking a cataclysmic war, facilitating unprecedented American immigration, and enabling an associated radical transformation of the land itself.

The first half of The Old Federal Road in Alabama: An Illustrated Guide offers a narrative history that includes brief accounts of the construction of the road, the experiences of historic travelers, and describes major changes to the road over time. The authors vividly reconstruct the course of the road in detail and make use of a wealth of well-chosen illustrations. Along the way they give attention to the very terrain it traversed, bringing to life what traveling the road must have really been like and illuminating its story in a way few others have ever attempted.

The second half of the volume,
Touring on the Old Federal Road in Alabama,
is divided into three parts-Eastern, Central, and Southern-and serves as a modern traveler’s guide to the Federal Road. This section includes driving tours and maps, highlighting historical sites and surviving portions of the old road and how to visit them.