Burnt Corn, Alabama

Burnt Corn
Unincorporated community
Burnt Corn

Location within the state of Alabama

Coordinates: 31°33′13″N 87°9′37″W / 31.55361°N 87.16028°WCoordinates: 31°33′13″N 87°9′37″W / 31.55361°N 87.16028°W
Country United States
State Alabama
County Monroe
Elevation 427 ft (130 m)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-6)
ZIP codes 36401
Area code(s) 251
GNIS feature ID 115265[1]

Burnt Corn is a small unincorporated community on the boundary between Monroe County and Conecuh County in Alabama. It lies at a historic crossroads near the source of Burnt Corn Creek and the intersection of two trading paths. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.[2][3]

The town and the creek may have been named for an incident in which passersby found a pile of parched corn, a food often used by Creek Indians when traveling, although the oral tradition of some Burnt Corn families holds that the name came from the burning of corn fields as part of the scorched earth policies during the Creek War in the early 1800s. Those same oral traditions say that nearby Murder Creek was named because victims of the Creek War were thrown into the creek during the conflict.

In 1798 the area was included in the Mississippi Territory but was controlled by the Creek Nation. Between 1805 and 1811 the area became a stop on the Federal Road through the Creek Nation. Burnt Corn was a regular stopping point for stage coaches traveling between the east and the port cities along the Gulf Cost.

The Battle of Burnt Corn, an episode of the Creek War in July 1813, did not occur at Burnt Corn, but at a ford of Burnt Corn Creek to the south, in present-day Escambia County, Alabama. When the Creek Nation was forced to cede land to the United States in 1815, Burnt Corn Spring was included in a 640-acre (2.6 km2) land grant to Jim Cornells, a Creek Indian who fought on the U.S. side in the war.[4]

U.S. postal service to Burnt Corn began in 1817, when the village also became part of the Alabama Territory. The post office was closed in 2002[5] and the 36431 ZIP code retired. Burnt Corn is now served by the Evergreen post office in ZIP 36401.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Burnt Corn, Alabama
  2. ↑ Thompson, George E. (2009). You Live Where?: Interesting and Unusual Facts about where We Live. iUniverse. p. 2.
  3. ↑ Duncan, Andy (2005). Alabama Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Globe Pequot. pp. xii.
  4. ↑ Benjamin Franklin Riley, History of Conecuh County, (Columbus, Ga.: Thomas Gilbert, 1881), ch. 8
  5. ↑ "Postmaster Finder". About.usps.com. Retrieved 2013-10-02.

External links