Williamson Hawkins plantation

A slave cabin on the "Old Hawkins Plantation" as it appeared in a 1912 publication

The Williamson Hawkins plantation was a 2,000-acre cotton plantation established by pioneer settler Williamson Hawkins in the area surrounding the present Thomas neighborhood in the early 1820s.

Originally worked by himself and his wife, Betsy, the operation grew to the point that, by 1860 Hawkins owned 150 slaves, which he employed to produce 100 bales of cotton. Hawkins traded at the nearby commercial center of Elyton.

In 1865 a division of Wilson's army camped at the Hawkins plantation and consumed all of the family's food and grain stores. Hawkins later sold much of his land to the owners of the Republic Iron Works.

References

• Hamrick, Peggy and Jeff Norrell (1981) Elyton-West End: Birmingham's First Neighborhood. Birmingham: Birmingfind
• Nabors, Sarah Elizabeth Hawkins (July 31, 1903) "The Hawkins Family of Jefferson County." typed manuscript located in the Special Collections at the Samford University Library.
• Nabors, Lula Hawkins (n. d.) "Williamson Hawkins," and "Hawkins Family Papers." typed manuscripts in the Hill Ferguson Collection (3: 6; 47: 3-4) in the Birmingham Public Library Archives