The Alabama Baptist Children's Home Site
The Louise Short Baptist Widows' and Orphans' Home, consisting of a 10-room brick residence and related buildings on 80 acres of land fronted on Main Street, Evergreen, for more than 1/4 mile.
It was established by the Alabama Baptist State Convention in 1891 and was chartered by the Legislature of Alabama in the same year.
The idea had been approved by the Alabama Baptist State Convention in 1863 as a haven for children of soldiers killed in the War Between the States.
The Home opened on March 8, 1893, with the Reverend John W. Stewart as the first superintendent. For 30 years it served on this site.
On June 14, 1923, it was removed to Troy, Alabama, and in 1938 was renamed The Alabama Baptist Children's Home.
[1991: Evergreen]
Alexander Travis
August 23, 1790—December 2, 1852
In the fall of 1817 Reverend Alexander Travis settled his affairs in South Carolina and immigrated to Conecuh County, where, in the spring of 1818, Beulah Baptist Church was constituted. In rapid succession Travis’ firm resolve and his devotion to the Gospel of Christ led to the successful constituting of other churches in Conecuh County including Belleville, Burnt Corn, Brooklyn, Owassa (now Olive Branch), and Evergreen, as well as others in the surrounding counties and even in Florida.
In 1830, he was elected Moderator of the Bethlehem Baptist Association, a position he filled for twenty years. Reverend Travis’ ministry extended far beyond his ability to interpret the Scriptures to multiple congregations. His zeal for missions conclusively led to his being considered the father of the Baptist denomination in the area where he preached and baptized and adjudicated disputes with courage and unconditional love. Primarily known as a spiritual leader, Reverend Travis was also an advocate for education and was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees for Evergreen Academy.
[2014: 100 Williams Ave., Evergreen]
Anderson Stage Stop
The Old Federal Road connected Washington D.C. to New Orleans, allowing mail, munitions and settlers to come into and through this part of the country. The one remaining stage stop building of the many once along the Old Federal Road is in Monroe County. Its livery stables were on this side of the road, in Conecuh County. Mathew Anderson settled on this property in 1852, farming and running an inn across the road. Carriage, or stagecoach, travelers were allowed to stay in the inn while horsemen were delegated to the livery stables. The well that supplied water still remains. [2012]
Highway 84 – The Old Federal Road
The Old Federal Road was the major highway connecting Washington, D.C. to New Orleans from 1806 through the late 1830s. Only horse paths existed until there was a need for the U.S. Government to get mail, munitions and troops to New Orleans. A treaty signed with the Creek Nation on November 14, 1805 allowed for a Post Road to be built which later became the Old Federal Road. Stops were built every 13 to 16 miles. The Old Federal Road remains the main street of Burnt Corn, Alabama. Notable travelers on this road have included General Lafayette, Francis Scott Key, William Bartram, Colonel Sam Dale, Joseph Thompson Hare (a notorious highwayman) and Vice President Aaron Burr, in 1807 while under arrest for treason. [2012]
Maggie Taylor Richardson Ausby, Nymph Postmaster, 1903-1906
Born in Conecuh County on June 24, 1883, Maggie Taylor was a daughter of Daniel and Millie (Moye) Taylor. Her parents were among thirteen enslaved people brought to the rural community of Nymph by their owner, Stephen D. Miller. With little access to public education for African American children, members of Taylor’s family taught her to read and write.
On May 11, 1903, upon the resignation of Nymph’s postmaster, Maggie Taylor, who was not yet twenty years of age, was appointed to the position. She served in this capacity until November 1, 1906, and is among Alabama’s earliest African American femalepostmas- ters. She inaugurated a long family history of postal service, which included her brothers Thomas and Herbert Taylor and other descen- dants.
Early during her tenure as postmaster, Maggie Taylor married Walter Richardson (1879-1929). Together, the couple had nine children. Later in life, she married A. J. Ausby (1865-1945). She remained active in her rural community, and a dedicated member of Nazarene Baptist Church, all her life. She served on the parent- teacher association, ensuring a better public education for the schoolchildren of Nymph. During the Second World War, she raised funds for the Red Cross. Maggie Taylor Richardson Ausby died on November 4, 1964. She is buried in Evergreen’s Greater Nazarene Cemetery.
[To be located at 2251 Nymph Road, Evergreen]
DR. MODDIE DANIEL TAYLOR, (1912-1976)
Born into poverty in Nymph, Conecuh County, on March 3, 1912, Moddie Daniel Taylor was the only child of Herbert and Celeste (Oliver) Taylor. After the family relocated to Missouri, Taylor attended Lincoln University, graduating as valedictorian in 1935 with a degree in chemistry. He then earned two postgraduate degrees from the University of Chicago.
Upon completion of his doctorate, Taylor worked as an associate chemist on the Manhattan Project, the top-secret mission to create an American atomic bomb. One of the few African American scientists who worked on the project, he received an award of merit from the Secretary of War Robert Patterson for his efforts in 1946. Thereafter Taylor became a professor of chemistry at Lincoln University. He became a chemistry professor at Howard University in 1948 and chaired the department from 1969-1976.
Taylor’s First Principles of Chemistry became a standard textbook for colleges throughout the country. In 1960, the Manufacturing Chemists Association named Taylor one of the nation’s leading chemistry professors. During a distinguished career, he received honors from the Washington Institute of Chemists, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Moddie Daniel Taylor died on September 15, 1976, in Washington, D.C.
[Nymph Road, Evergreen]
Nazarene Cemetery
Among the nearly four hundred graves in Nymph’s Historic Nazarene Cemetery are the unmarked resting places of enslaved men and women brought to this rural Conecuh County commu- nity by their owner Stephen D. Miller Jr. in 1850. These included Dan and Dilsey Taylor, Isaiah Richardson, London and Serena Richardson, Ezra and Sarah Moye, Armstead Ferguson, Ben Sims, WallaceStephens, Spencer Taylor, Sam Taylor, and Albert Ausby, to name a few. Many of these men and women remained in the Nymphcommunity after freedom came at the end of the Civil War. They were skilled carpenters, midwives, business owners, and religiousleaders. Their legacy still lives on in their descendants, some of whom made significant contributions to the state, nation, and the world.
The cemetery was later affiliated with the Greater Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church, established in 1875. It is Conecuh County’s oldest and largest African American Baptist congrega- tion. Throughout much of Conecuh County’s history, there existed few places other than Nazarene Cemetery for the burial of African Americans. The oldest marked grave is dated February 1907.The site
includes the graves of more than a dozen veterans of the world wars, Korea, and Vietnam.
The Nazarene Cemetery was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register in 2018.
[2250 Nymph Road, Evergreen]
Richard Thomas Baggett
March 30, 1817 - October 26, 1881
Richard Thomas Baggett was born and buried here on the Baggett family farm, NE 1/4 Section 4, Township 4 North, Range 10 East. According to early local histories, Richard, the son of pioneers Jesse Baggett and Zilla T. Godwin Baggett, was the first child born to white settlers in Conecuh County. Richard Baggett married Octavia Olivia Tippins and fathered four sons: James Augustus, Jesse Pinkney, George W., and Phillip Henry Baggett.
[2001]