Claiborne

Overview

Three governors and a missing railroad

Claiborne stands on a bluff above the Alabama River, where US 84 now crosses it 13.6 road miles west of Monroeville. It began late in 1813, during the Creek War, as Fort Claiborne, a stockade built by troops under Gen. Ferdinand L. Claiborne beside a ferry near the Federal Road. A town grew on the fort site from 1816. It became the seat of Monroe County in 1819 and was incorporated in 1820.

River trade made it rich. Claiborne was one of Monroe County's two main shipping points, and steamboats brought goods up from Mobile. Future governors John Gayle, John Murphy and Arthur P. Bagby lived or practiced law here, and William B. Travis, later killed at the Alamo, lived here until he left for Texas in 1831. When the Marquis de Lafayette came in April 1825, about 2,500 people lived in Claiborne.

Then the county seat moved to Monroeville in 1832, and yellow fever and cholera checked the town's growth. It stayed an important river port through the 1850s but was looted at the end of the Civil War and had about 350 people by 1872. Railroads, among them the line from Pensacola to Selma, later passed Claiborne by on both sides of the river. The Masonic hall where Lafayette was feted and the Travis house were later moved to Perdue Hill. The Encyclopedia of Alabama calls Claiborne largely abandoned.

Timeline

From stockade to bluff-top fields

1. Late 1813During the Creek War, troops under Gen. Ferdinand L. Claiborne build a stockade, Fort Claiborne, on the bluff by a ferry crossing near the Federal Road.
2. 1816A town grows up on the old fort site.
3. 1817William Locklin builds Alabama's first Eli Whitney-style cotton gin here.
4. 1819Gen. John Coffee surveys the town and lots are sold. Claiborne becomes the Monroe County seat, and the Alabama Courier starts printing.
5. Dec 20, 1820The legislature incorporates the town.
6. 1821The steamboat Harriet reaches Claiborne. About 2,000 people live here.
7. 1823–1824The Masonic hall goes up. Sources give 1823 and 1824.
8. Apr 1825The Marquis de Lafayette visits at James Dellet's invitation and is entertained in the new Masonic hall. The town has about 2,500 people.
9. 1830sThe population peaks at about 5,000, by Wikipedia's figure. Yellow fever and cholera stop the growth.
10. 1832The county seat moves to Monroeville.
11. 1835–1840James Dellet, the first Speaker of the Alabama House, builds his plantation house.
12. 1865At the end of the Civil War the town is badly looted.
13. 1872About 350 people are left.
14. 1880The only census to list Claiborne counts 199 people, still the largest place in Monroe County.
15. 1884The Masonic hall is moved to Perdue Hill, to the southeast.
16. Early 1900sRailroads, among them the line from Pensacola to Selma, bypass the town on both sides of the river.
17. 1985The William B. Travis house is moved from Claiborne to Perdue Hill.
18. 2008Wikipedia, citing a report of that year, lists the Dellet house and three 19th-century cemeteries as all that is left.
19. 2017The Encyclopedia of Alabama calls Claiborne largely abandoned and says its three historic cemeteries are open to visitors. It is the newest dated report we found.

What's left

A house, three cemeteries and the markers

Wikipedia, citing a 2008 report, says the only things left are the James Dellet house and three 19th-century cemeteries, and a photo caption in the Encyclopedia of Alabama calls the house the town's only remaining residence. Most sources put the house across the river from the old town, though. The encyclopedia's town article places the plantation and house on the west side of the Alabama River, and Wikipedia's article on the plantation puts them about three miles northwest of the townsite. The plantation's National Register coordinates fall on US 84 on the west bank, about 2.8 miles northwest of our map point. The Historic American Buildings Survey files the house under Claiborne, on US 84, which fits a house on the highway in the wider Claiborne area rather than on the town plat. Dellet built it between 1835 and 1840, and the 4,000-acre plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

One of the cemeteries is a small Jewish burial ground. Jewish merchants acquired the land in 1843 and the last burial was in 1899. High school students from a Mississippi summer camp cleared it in 2000 and found 32 graves, and a 2009 note says it was in good condition. An older, undated note on the same page says it is reached by a dirt road off US 84 near the Dellet house, then through a cow pasture on private property. The Encyclopedia of Alabama's town article, first published in 2017, says the three cemeteries are open to visitors. We found no newer description of the site. Historic markers stand for the town, the fort, the Travis home and the Dellet plantation.

The 1972 USGS sheet shows a crossroads of small lanes and a scatter of buildings at Claiborne, with Mt. Zion Church to the southwest and US 84 crossing the river on the Claiborne-Murphy Bridge. The 1986 sheet marks Claiborne Landing by the river next to the bridge.

• James Dellet house (1835–1840), about 3 miles northwest, across the river
• Three 19th-century cemeteries
• Jewish cemetery (1843–1899), reached across private land according to an older note
• Historic markers for the town, the fort, the Travis home and the Dellet plantation

Perdue Hill

The buildings that left

Two of Claiborne's best-known buildings now stand at Perdue Hill, about 2 miles southeast on US 84. The Masonic hall, built in the early 1820s and used as a courthouse as well, was moved there in 1884. William B. Travis's house followed in 1985.

Historic maps

Claiborne on USGS maps, 1953–1986

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19531:250,00019721:24,00019861:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Monroeville is the closest city, 13.6 miles away by road. From Mobile the route runs up I-65 and US 43, then east on US 84 across the Alabama River. Both routes end on Wilson Road at the townsite, just off US 84.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Claiborne in photos

The James Dellet house from the road, 1939A Claiborne street, dated to the 1850sThe Dellet house from the side, 1939The Dellet house portico, 1939The rear of the Dellet house, in a Historic American Buildings Survey photo (date not recorded)

Visitor reports

Been to Claiborne?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Claiborne

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Alabama index.

• Clarkesville24.9 mi NW · Clarke
• Nadawah27.7 mi NE · Monroe
• Choctaw Corner30.7 mi NW · Clarke
• St. Stephens30.7 mi W · Washington
• Wakefield31.0 mi W · Washington
• Ruthven35.8 mi NE · Wilcox
• Failetown39.8 mi NW · Clarke
• Prairie Bluff41.6 mi N · Wilcox

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Claiborne": fact sheet fields (road, climate, best time).
2. Wikipedia, "Claiborne, Alabama", retrieved October 2026: ferry and Federal Road, 1816 town, Coffee survey, 1820 incorporation, the Harriet, population figures, Lafayette, residents, decline, the 1880 census, the Masonic hall's 1884 move, the 2008 remains, coordinates (GNIS).
3. Encyclopedia of Alabama, "Claiborne" (Grace London, published October 23, 2017, updated July 28, 2025): Fort Claiborne in 1813, the 1817 cotton gin, 1819 county seat, Lafayette on April 5, 1825, 1832 move, 1872 population, the railroad bypass, the Dellet plantation and house on the west side of the river, the Perdue Hill moves, the three cemeteries open to visitors, and the markers.
4. Encyclopedia of Alabama, "Dellet House in Claiborne": the house as the town's only remaining residence (a photo caption), its building dates, Dellet as first Speaker.
5. Wikipedia, "Dellet Plantation": location three miles northwest of the townsite, the 4,000-acre district, NRHP listing in 1994, and the coordinates, which fall on US 84 west of the river on OpenStreetMap and the 1953 USGS Andalusia sheet.
6. Wikipedia, "Perdue Hill, Alabama": the Travis house, on US 84, moved from Claiborne in 1985.
7. Wikipedia, "Perdue Hill Masonic Lodge", retrieved October 2026: built in 1824, used as a courtroom, moved from Claiborne in 1884 to Perdue Hill about two miles south, at US 84 and Dales Ferry Road.
8. JewishGen Cemetery Discovery Project, "Claiborne" (an older undated entry and notes of 2001 and 2009): the Jewish cemetery's dates, the 2000 clearing, its condition in 2009, and the dirt road and private pasture off US 84 in the undated entry.
9. Historic American Buildings Survey and Frances Benjamin Johnston (1939) photo records for the James Dellet House, via Wikimedia Commons: the house's listing at US 84, Claiborne.
10. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• The James Dellet house from the road, 1939: Frances Benjamin Johnston, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• A Claiborne street, dated to the 1850s: Unknown author (Alabama Department of Archives and History), Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The Dellet house from the side, 1939: Frances Benjamin Johnston, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The Dellet house portico, 1939: Frances Benjamin Johnston, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The rear of the Dellet house, in a Historic American Buildings Survey photo (date not recorded): Unknown author (Historic American Buildings Survey), Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Claiborne on the 1972 USGS sheet, with Mt. Zion Church, US 84 and the Claiborne-Murphy Bridge: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Andalusia 1953, 1:250,000; Claiborne 1972, 1:24,000; Monroeville 1986, 1:100,000.