Pickensville, AL

Pickensville is the oldest town in Pickens County, with a post office dating to 1823 and a history tied to the Tombigbee River. It was named the county seat before Pickens County was formally incorporated, then lost that role to Carrollton in 1830. During the steamboat era, cotton moved through the port toward Mobile, and the town supported hotels, newspapers, lawyers, doctors, and other businesses. The river made Pickensville a place of movement; the end of steamboat traffic and Civil War destruction changed that scale.

ATTRCarol M. Highsmith / Public domain

Today the waterway story is still visible at the Tom Bevill Visitor Center and Museum on the river. The 1984 center occupies a replica Greek Revival house and interprets the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, while the National Historic Landmark snagboat Montgomery is moored nearby. Aliceville Lake adds boating and other water recreation, and State Highways 14 and 86 cross the town. Pickensville also carries the Pickensville Methodist Church and Rosenwald School on the Alabama Register. It is a rural community where river commerce, Black and white local histories, and a modern navigation project share the same shoreline.