City of Pelham
Following the Civil War, the settlement of Shelbyville was renamed Pelham in honor of Maj. John Pelham, a Civil War hero who fought in more than sixty battles. He was killed during the Battle of Kelly’s Ford in 1863 and was promoted to Lt. Col. after his death. In the early 1960s, an annexation attempt by the neighboring City of Alabaster prompted local residents to seek incorporation of the community into a city. Pelham was incorporated on July 10, 1964, with a population of 654. Paul Yeager Sr. became the first mayor and was joined by councilmembers Burk Dunaway, A.M. Hinds, Joe Hodges, J.T. Shelton, and Allen Wilson.
[3162 Pelham Parkway, Pelham]
Confederate Forts
Near this site are the remains of three forts built in 1863 by Confederate troops under the command of Major W.T. Walthall, commander of the military post at Talladega. The forts, built for protection of the Alabama-Tennessee River Railroad trestles across the Coosa River and Yellow Leaf Creek, were manned during the last months of the war by reserve companies consisting of young boys and old men. Barbiere's Reserve Cavalry was stationed here in February 1865. Union troops commanded by General James H. Wilson captured the forts in March 1865.
David Lindsay History Cemetery Site
In honor of revolutionary war soldier and Shelby County pioneer.
Pvt. David Lindsay served with the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolutionary War and moved to Alabama with wife Mary Casey Lindsay before 1820. The David Lindsay Historical Cemetery Site was listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register on June 19, 2017. Marker placed by the David Lindsay Chapter, NSDAR, September 9, 2018
[Highway 17, Alabaster]
Side 1
James Daniel Hardy
May 14, 1918 – February 19, 2003
James Hardy and his twin brother, Julian, were born and reared in Newala, Alabama, 3 miles east of Montevallo. He attended the consolidated grammar school nearby which had 3 rooms for the 6 grades, then attended high school in Montevallo. James received his BA from the University of Alabama in 1938, and his MD in 1942 from the University of Pennsylvania, and continued there for his surgical residency and junior faculty experience. In 1951, he became Director of Surgical Research at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Three years later he became the first chairman of the Department of Surgery at the new University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1987.
As a surgeon, researcher, teacher, and author Dr. Hardy made signal contributions to medicine over his long career.
Side 2
James Daniel Hardy
May 14, 1918 – February 19, 2003
In 1963 Dr. Hardy and co-workers did the first human lung transplant. In 1964 he and co-workers excised a living human heart for the first time and performed the first heart transplant in a human utilizing a chimpanzee heart. The procedure emphasized the need for generally accepted criteria for brain death so donor organs could be secured.
Dr. Hardy trained over 200 surgeons. He authored, co-authored, or edited 23 books, including 2 that became standard surgical texts, and 2 autobiographies; published over 500 articles in medical journals; and served on numerous editorial boards and as editor-in-chief of the World Journal of Surgery. br> Among numerous other honors James Hardy served as president of the Southern Surgical Association, the American Surgical Association, the American College of Surgeons, the International Surgical Society, and the Society of University Surgeons. [2012: 7444 Hwy. 25 South, Calera]
Salem Cemetery
Salem Cemetery was established in conjunction with a nearby Methodist church constituted by some of Shelby County’s earliest pioneer families, whose surnames included Bowdon, Cunningham, Harrison, Lovelady, McGaughy, McHenry, and McMath. The earliest marked grave, dated 1831, is the unnamed infant son of Joseph and Elizabeth Cunningham. Earlier unmarked graves dating to the time of white settlement in 1815 are probable. The Salem Memory Chapel, completed in 1957, houses the memorial and homecoming day, an annual event held since 1902.
A private subscription school stood nearby from the 1830s until after the Civil War.
(Reverse)
Salem School
From the late nineteenth century until 1927 a one-room public school operated on the site of the Memory Chapel. The children of many of the area’s leading families attended the school, including those with surnames Bearden, Burgin, Harrison, McGaughy, and McHenry. T. A. Bearden deeded the property for the school to the community. McGaughy Farms supplied the school with drinking water from a nearby spring.
Gertrude Kirklay was the school’s last teacher, with 28 students from grades one through seven in its final year. In the 1940s, Herman McGaughy dismantled the schoolhouse and added the remnants to his home, since demolished.
Erected by H. G. and Doris McGaughy.
[To be located in Salem Cemetery, Salem Road, Montevallo]
Shelby County Courthouse
1854-1908
Original seat of government of Shelby County established in 1818 at Shelbyville (Pelham). Moved to Columbiana 1826. First courthouse a small wooden building located on this site.
Replaced 1854 by two-story brick structure which forms central portion of this building. Later major alterations undertaken. Front and rear extensions added. Renovated structure designed in classical Jeffersonian style.
Continued to serve as seat of county government until 1908 when new courthouse completed two blocks north.
Shelby Furnaces
Erected 1849 and 1863, 5 miles. Major source of pig iron for the Confederacy. Furnished iron to Selma arsenal for heavy cannon, naval armor plate. Furnaces destroyed in 1865 by Wilson's Cavalry raiders U.S.A. Rebuilt 1873, closed 1923.
[Before 1965: Ala. Hwy 25, Columbiana]
Shelbyville, Alabama Territory
Near this site stood Shelbyville, Alabama Territory, first county seat of Shelby County; named for Isaac Shelby, first governor of Kentucky. Shelby County was established February 7, 1818, by an act of the Alabama Territorial Legislature. The first Orphans Court was held on the fourth Monday of April 1818. Justices were: Patrick Hayes, Needham Lee, George Phillips, James Walker, and Bennet Ware.
Shelbyville, A.T.
Near this site stood Shelbyville, A.T., first county seat of Shelby County; named for Isaac Shelby, governor of Tennessee. Shelby County was established February 7, 1818 by an act of the Alabama Territorial Legislature. The first orphan's court was held April 4, 1818. Justices were: George Phillips, Patrick Hays, Bennet Ware, Needham Lee, and James Walker.
University of Montevallo
National Historic District
Originally named Alabama Girls' Industrial School and later Alabama College, this institution was founded Oct. 12, 1896, by the Alabama Legislature. It was the state college for women until 1956, when it became coeducational. In 1969 the name was changed to the University of Montevallo. In Dec., 1978, the central portion of the campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The oldest buildings are King House (1823) and Reynolds Hall (1851).