Demopolis, Alabama...

November 24 - December 3, 2022

Toby met us traveling into the marina.  He lives 2 slips down on a houseboat with a retired Veteran.  He is 7 years old and the owner has had him for 5 years.  He talks if he knows you so I was not successful.  He welcomes everyone as their boat comes into a slip close by squawking loudly.  Toby did raise his wing to me when I was speaking to him.  I was told this was Toby saying hello!


This coming weekend is the Christmas on the River in Demopolis Celebration.  We will miss it as we are leaving tomorrow(Friday).  The lighted boats to go down the river are here in the parking lot of the marina for the last few days as they check out their lights and setting them up.  We get a show every night around 5pm lasts for about an hour.  They have a big BBQ contest Friday night, a parade Saturday and then the lighted boats on Saturday night.   Even though we were here for a week (the boat was), we chose to travel to places in Mississippi and Alabama we had not visited.  I will go into more of that later.   

The history of Demopolis is very interesting.  I have seen 3 words in town consistently and I wanted to understand their meanings.  Those words were Canebrake, Black Belt, and Rooster City.  

Demopolis was founded in 1817 by the French people escaping Napoleon's reign.  The US government paid them to come to this area to grow olives and grapes.  It was known as the Vine and Olive Colony.  Many of these people from France were aristocrats and soldiers (although this has been questioned) who knew nothing about growing crops and working the fields.  The Indians in this area grew bamboo that they used to build their homes and villages and even weapons.  The French would call the bamboo, canebrake because when they tried to clear a field they would have to "break the cane" (bamboo) to accomplish the clearing.  It was a disaster.  They did not stay long and American pioneers moved into the area.  
The Black Belt area of Alabama is for the very black and fertile soil in this area.  This land was good for growing crops of almost any kind.  As people in the US were encouraged to move west, the attempt was made by many people moving to grow crops grown from the early colonists.  Some were successful and some were not.  Lastly, Rooster City got its name in the creative way they built a bridge over the TomBigbee River.  In 1918, to finance the bridge to connect their town across to the town on the other side of the river, they auctioned off Roosters.  People would come from all over and bring roosters to buy and sell.  In England there has been a long history of Rooster Day and the King of England was contacted to send one of his Roosters to Demopolis.  He did and President Woodrow Wilson not to be outdone sent a rooster as well.  All the proceeds went to build the bridge one lane with alternating traffic and it opened for ship traffic.  The bridge is no longer standing and has been replaced.  Rooster Day is still celebrated every spring. 


TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED 410.3 miles

TOTAL DAYS 21














    


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