Welcome to Ambersonville
The early settler of Ambersonville came from South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee in late 1820's and early 1830's. Families such as the Ambersons, Stewarts, Savages, Craigs, Montgomerys and Akins played a large part in the early settlement of this community. The community was orginally named Spring Garden, but was changed to Ambersonville, named for the Amberson family who moved from South Carolina to this area in early 1830's. In 1870, the Southern Railroad secured the right to build a rail line from Selma, Alabama through the area to Rome, Georgia. The land was purchased from the Amberson family. The family agreed to the purchase with the provision that the passenger train would make daily stops in the area. If the railroad failed to meet the agreement, the land would return to the Amberson family. The railroad depot was built and several trains came through the area daily and was a very busy stop on the rail line. At the turn of the century, the town was a thriving community. It was one of the most prosperous cotton markets in North Alabama. Several merchandise stores, a drug store, barber shop, cotton gin, saw mill, and a livery stablewere located there. A cotton mill, operated at the foot of Frog Mountain. A minister named Tucker built a winmill about 1860. He built two large reservoirs and water was transported with iron pipes from Glades Springs. The water system, which had fire-hydrants throughout the area, was one of the best water systems in the United States. It was the smallest community in the country to have a water system. In the early 1900's when the name was changed back to Spring Garden.
Amberson Valley, Franklin County, Pennsylvania was settled by Francis Amberson by 1763. The family homestead was in the center of the valley not to far from the Town of Concord. This is the first settlement of the Ambersons that we know of in America.
Over the next few weeks I will be adding more files on the following families: Amberson, Westbrook, Gober, Gilley, Gassaway(any spelling), Hardwick, Pendergrass
|
