HISTORIC MARKERS IN TALLADEGA COUNTY
& OUR SISTER COUNTIES

Inscription:
"1492 - Columbus visits Caribbean islands
1519 - Pineda visits Mobile area
1528 - Narváez reaches Mobile area
1540 - De Soto explores Alabama
1559 - De Luna retraces De Soto’s route in Alabama
1702 - French establish first permanent colony at Dauphin Island

"Today, after 450 years of searching, the exact route of Hernando de Soto through the southeastern United States remains the foremost historical mystery of the South. Despite the work of professional and amateur archaeologists and historians, and a national commission, there are still several alternate routes that have their defenders.

"The problem is that even with a large army, De Soto left very little physical evidence along the route and neglected to record accurate latitude and mileage measurements.

"A major study in the search for the De Soto route was in the 1939 (400th anniversary) United States De Soto Commission report. This report presented an “official” route that was intended to combine the best features of the various hypotheses developed at that time. Since then a great deal of archaeological work has been done (over 300 Indian sites have been studied in Alabama alone).

"The route that now has the widest acceptance is that of Dr. Charles Hudson of the University of Georgia and his associates. Most scholars in Alabama agree with that route from the point where it enters northeastern Alabama near Piedmont, down the Coosa River Valley and into the Montgomery-Selma area. There are those who believe that from there De Soto went south to the forks of the Alabama-Tombigbee rivers. This route tends to follow that of the 1939 United States Commission. Other scholars think De Soto may have gone west from Selma. Hudson thinks he went northwest.

"The route that has been marked as the Alabama Highway Route of the De Soto Trail is primarily that of Charles Hudson. It has been approved by the Alabama De Soto Commission as being based on the best currently available evidence. Only further archaeological exploration is likely to settle this question definitely.

"Chief Coosa And His Dominion
"Hernando de Soto first heard of the chiefdom of Coosa in April 1540 while traveling through eastern Georgia. Three months later, as his army approached the main town, the Spaniards were met by a large procession of Indian noblemen arranged in military rank and file, some singing and playing flutes. A number of them carried a litter on their shoulders bearing the powerful Chief Coosa. Seated on a cushion, the chief was wearing a fur cloak and a crown of feathers. The Spaniards were so impressed by this chief, his subjects, and his country that the later expedition of Tristan de Luna planned to return and settle a European town there.

"The chief and his principal town both bore the name Coosa. The Spaniards described the center of this area as being thickly settled in numerous communities with corn fields in between. There were two streams which united within the main town, and a mountain range lay to the north. Coosa had three earth mounds, and on each one was a building belonging to the chief, in which De Soto and some of his men quartered themselves.

"After a stay of three weeks, De Soto's army left Coosa, bearing southward in order to rendezvous with supply ships at Ochuse on the Gulf of Mexico. De Soto abducted Chief Coosa and carried away many of his subjects in chains. When soldiers and priests under Tristan de Luna arrived at Coosa twenty years later, they were amazed at how the once-thriving country had diminished in the wake of De Soto's pillaging and slave-taking.

"At its height, Chief Coosa's dominion covered a large area including portions of the present Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. It was clearly one of the most important chiefdoms in the eastern United States during the sixteenth century. Its descendants formed an important segment of the Creek Confederacy some 200 years later, with the main town located at that time near what is now Childersburg, Alabama."

Location. 33° 16.624′ N, 86° 21.564′ W. Marker is in Childersburg, Alabama, in Talladega County. Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Childersburg Fayettville Highway (State Highway 76), on the right on U.S. 280.

Inscription:
"Named for the famous Spanish explorer who traveled through this area in 1540. Over its rich history it offered shelter for native Indians for centuries (a 2,000-year-old Woodland Period burial was excavated by archeologists in the mid-1960s), became the first officially recorded cave in the U.S. (1796), and served as a Confederate gunpowder mining site during the Civil War.

"One of the largest show caves in the southeastern U.S., the main room of the caverns stands 12-stories high and is as large as a football field. The caverns' onyx-marble stalagmites and stalactites are among the most concentrated accumulations to be found in America."

Location. 33° 18.356′ N, 86° 16.675′ W. Marker is near Childersburg, Alabama, in Talladega County. Marker can be reached from DeSoto Caverns Pkwy (State Highway 76). Marker located next to the park's main entrance gate.

Inscription:
"Important Indian town for over 250 years and capital of Coosa province.

"Visited by DeSoto in 1540, and later by Spanish, French, British colonial explorers and traders. Early writers tell of abundant food crops, wild and cultivated, supporting a large population."

Erected 1953 by Alabama Historical Association.

Location. 33° 18.528′ N, 86° 21.282′ W. Marker is in Childersburg, Alabama, in Talladega County. Marker is on Plant Road (Alabama Route 235 at milepost 2), on the left when traveling north.

Inscription:
"Childersburg traces its heritage to the Coosa Indian village located in the area. DeSoto, accompanied by 600 men, began his march across North America in June 1539. Traveling from Tampa Bay, Florida, northward through what became the Southeastern United States, DeSoto's expedition began searching for riches. Upon entering the area that would become Alabama, DeSoto and his men marched southward along the Tennessee River to Tali. From Tali, they marched to the banks of the Coosa River. In the middle of July 1540, the conquistadors reached the empire of the great Coosa. On July 16, 1540, the army of Spaniards entered the town of Coca (Coosa) located on the east bank of the river between two creeks, now known as Talladega and Tallaseehatchee. The young chief of the Coosas greeted DeSoto. For approximately a month, these invaders enjoyed the hospitality of the chief and his tribe, receiving an offer of land to establish a Spanish colony. After offering reasons for not accepting, the Spaniards departed Coosa in August 1540, leaving behind members of the expedition.

"The report of the 1939 DeSoto Commission, authorized by the U.S. Congress and chaired by John R. Swanton, irrevocably stated the site of Coca was the area in proximity to the present town of Childersburg. Dr. Walter B. Jones, Secretary of the DeSoto Commission and noted Alabama geologist, wrote many articles supporting this conclusion. Beginning with men left by DeSoto and continuing during a period of approximately 250 years, explorers, conquistadors, traders, and pioneer settlers penetrated the vicinity and occupied the area that is today known as Childersburg, Alabama. From settlers came the development of what would become the City of Childersburg."

Erected 2010 by The Alabama Tourism Department and the City of Childersburg.

Location. 33° 16.718′ N, 86° 21.221′ W. Marker is in Childersburg, Alabama, in Talladega County. Marker is at the intersection of 1st Street Southwest (State Highway 76) and 6th Avenue Southwest, on the right when traveling east on 1st Street Southwest.

Inscription:
"Two miles
north of this spot was
the Indian town
Cosa
visited by
De Soto
July 16, 1540

"This stone erected by
the National Society of
Colonial Dames of America
in Alabama
1936"

Erected 1936 by National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Alabama.

Location. 33° 16.624′ N, 86° 21.564′ W. Marker is in Childersburg, Alabama, in Talladega County. Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Childersburg Fayettville Highway (State Highway 76), on the right when traveling south on U.S. 280.