Kirk-View in Old Cahawba

In the years during and after the Civil War the population of Cahawba was rapidly diminishing. The area had been undulated several times by flood. The Confederacy had removed the railroad and in 1866 the Dallas County courthouse was moved to Selma. The once elegant city and former state capitol was rapidly becoming an abandoned ghost town.

As the town dwellers were dismantling their homes and moving out, Civil War Veteran Samuel McCurdy Kirkpatrick and his wife Sarah saw opportunity. The Kirkpatricks purchased a large estate complete with a brick home and outlying structures known as the "Barker Place". In addition they acquired many of the vacated lots on the northern outskirts of town and turned them into a large farm and pecan orchard. Thereafter three generations of the Kirkpatrick family maintained the estate and operated a productive farming operation.

While visiting the ruins of Old Cahawba one could hardly miss seeing one of the town’s few remaining structures situated on the north end of Oak Street. The building is across the street from a very large pecan orchard and together they are known as the "Kirk-View". The present building, a two story with a four column front portico was constructed as a slave quarters. The original mansion was destroyed by fire in 1935.

Anna M. Gayle Fry describes the estate in her book "Memories of Old Cahaba" published in 1908. "An impressive brick residence, two stories in height, with big "Corinthian columns" in front. A prominent resident of Cahaba familiarly known as Shoestring Barker built it. It is said to have cost him $25,000 to $30.000 and purchased by Samuel Kirkpatrick for a few hundred dollars."

Samuel McCurdy Kirkpatrick's son Clifton was born in Cahawba during the Civil War. For many years Clifton Kirkpatrick served as the unofficial mayor and tour guide of Cahawba and became well known as the “Duke of Cahawba.” Clifton served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1927 until his death in 1930.



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