Gourdsville / Gilbertsboro

Gourdsville / Gilbertsboro (HM2FY0)

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N 34° 59.364', W 87° 5.412'

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Gourdsville
Gourdsville is the colorful place-name of one of the earliest settlements in Limestone County. It was little more than a camp of shanties established by intruders on the Chickasaw lands who were driven back to the Tennessee line by U.S. soldiers from Fort Hampton in 1809, 1810 and 1811. The story goes that one enterprising settler operated a still and sold corn liquor there served in gourds, there being no other containers for serving it In small quantities. The proprietor created a bar of long boards or smoothed logs supported by barrels for dispensing his liquor. The trails to and from Gourdsville were said to be so strewn with broken gourds that one could tell far in advance of his arrival that he was headed to the right place for a drink.

Gilbertsboro
Revolutionary War patriot Caleb Gilbert (1748-1805) was the progenitor of the Gilbert family who would move from South Carolina to a farm in Limestone County near the site of Gourdsville. Caleb's son, Thomas Gilbert (1773-1835) and Thomas's sons Carey (1793-1865) and David (1796-1871), relocated their families to northwest Limestone County about 1828. The Gilberts farmed and lived in the settlement that came to be known as Gilbertsboro. David Gilbert, to whom Thomas Hobbs referred in his diary as "Major" because

of his service in the Alabama Militia, survive six wives to marry a seventh before his death in 1871. Sons George A. Gilbert (1839-1923), Dr. Van Gilbert and Thomas H. Gilbert all served in the Confederate Army. Descendants of this family were among the most prominent citizen of Athens and Limestone County.

Details

HM Number	HM2FY0
Tags	Early Settlers, US Revolutionary War
Year Placed	2016
Placed By	Limestone County Historical Society, Alabama Elk River Development Agency & Athens Limestone Tourism Council
Marker Condition	No reports yet
Date Added	Wednesday, April 24th, 2019 at 8:01am PDT -07:00

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Locationbig map

UTM (WGS84 Datum)	16S E 491768 N 3871871
Decimal Degrees	34.98940000, -87.09020000
Degrees and Decimal Minutes	N 34° 59.364', W 87° 5.412'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds	34° 59' 21.84" N, 87° 5' 24.72" W
Driving Directions	Google Maps
Which side of the road?	Marker is on the right when traveling West
Closest Postal Address	At or near , ,
Alternative Maps	Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap