Tannehill slave cabins
The Tannehill slave cabins were a group of cabins housing slaves at the Tannehill Ironworks before the end of the Civil War.
Slaves were used in the construction of the first blast furnace and associated works at the site, begun in 1858. It has been estimated that around 500 - 600 slaves may have lived on site in a group of cabins across Roupes Creek from the furnace. Those slaves left the area in advance of General John Croxton's 8th Iowa Cavalary, detailed from Wilson's Raiders, that demolished the furnaces on March 31, 1865.
Some of the cabins may have housed families while others served as bunkhouses for laborers. During the raid they were burned and, by the time the Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park opened in the early 1970s, were evident only as low piles of stone from foundation piers hidden in overgrowth.
Excavations of the area where the cabins were located began in 2006 under the direction of Jack Bergstresser.
References
- Bennett, James R. (2005) Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry. Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, 2nd Edition.
- Toner, MIke (July 9, 2007) "Cabins prove slaves were Alabama's early iron workers." Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Nance, Rahkia (July 6, 2009) "Birmingham, Alabama's Tannehill State Park may host memorial to unheralded labor, lives of slaves." Birmingham News