Gilbertown, AL

Gilbertown is a Choctaw County town that grew from a planned settlement into one of Alabama's best-known oil places. The Gilbert Townsite Company established it in 1910, and the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad arrived in 1912, giving the new town a stronger connection to timber, farms, and county trade. The railroad years set the stage for a bigger turn in 1944, when Hunt Oil drilled the A.R. Jackson Well No. 1 and struck Alabama's first producing oil well at roughly 2,580 feet.

That oil story is still visible around town. A historic marker and an old Hunt rig stand near town hall, while a refurbished caboose recalls the railroad era. Gilbertown's present-day calendar has its own gathering points: the sports complex and amphitheater, the annual Praise Fest, and a park with a walking trail. Choctaw County's forests, wildlife areas, and long energy history surround the town, but Gilbertown keeps its particular chapter easy to spot. The place connects a railroad town's beginnings, an oil-field breakthrough, and the community events that keep the town moving today.