STATE: Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Alabama COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLAC " Marengo INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM •FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER DATE (Type all entries — complete applicable section S) f*. 2—^~f( ? (i^iNiii^ -^ •-•• : •-••:* '••••*.*™:"*«f ^-%s- v - - • •-'•• •• '-. :• - .- ' ' ^- ; - - ' - ••>•-•••••. •• - • . • : f'^f'^/WiJ C OMMON: White Bluff AND- OP HISTORIC: White Bluff (Ecor Blanc) ^•••-y'-yi>;; --^ & ^mX*m^,;. ^V, :,-::,:: , -• ^ •- STREET AND NUMBER: Arch Street CITY OR TOWN: Demopolis STATE CODE COUM T Y : CODE Alabama 01 Maren^o 091 {&p€^S#£i45jCTtOK (XI CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS ACCESSIBLE (Check One; 5TATUS TO THE PUBLIC z Q District fj Building |E Public Publ.c Acqui*itioo: Q Occupied Y * t: 0 Si Site n Structure [U Privot. Q 1" Proe.ss gg Unoccupied D Restricted D Object P Both Q B.in 9 Considered Q p f. § .rvafion work S Unrestricted nkj >— . .. r- -,•--- u PRESENT USE fCh»ck On* or Mor« «i Appropriftt) :D !~~1 Agricvltixol SC Government JXj Pork [~] Tronsportotion Op Comments &. ,~"i Commefciol ZZ l^duitrio! "^ PnvoJe Reiidence 5T1 Other CSoec/rV) Civic CentCT h- [~] Educational [~1 Mi itory T "i Religious City Street o f Demopolis «XI fj Efttertoinment | _j Mu*«um . _j Scientific located on_ a ————. ———————— uviitipj jWfeii-;": z EH3WH€« O^ PHOPE«TY ... ..:' -••• " - , ' v- : v-:ft*4|iA*- 6WNCR ( « NAME: STATE: City of Demopolis .Alabama UJ STREET AND NUMBER: UJ w» CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE Demopolis Alabama 01 MspgitHQH"*^ ttG At Di SCR1 P T 1 OH •'•.;".••. '.•:• X'iS:1:' •••':••''. : :: • : • -\- •• ' ' •'••' • '•'':'?'*•• • ':•<••': ...• :x';w xX ••:S:S:!:ifi¥!K':S:*:!ir COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC: COUNTY:1 Marengo County Courthouse Bf STREET AND NUMBER: n n 101 East Coats Avenue 3 CITY OR TOWN: STATE . CODE o Linden Alabama 01 •- - • •.•:.-.•:••• ..' . :••.::•.•-•...• •. : .->: v .:-:•:•:• • • - . V;: >- :'.v ' ^.v.-x-xy:: :W:-.s ..;'..: K^il^^MT^N IN EXISTING SURVEYS • -• ' ' .••••• ••••• ' -x.xx-:--:.: : :. ; x-,.' x:::x : x: '.- •••>:••-: xxV.-x.x:-vX.; TITLE OF SURVEY: m z H X •n DATE OF SURVEY: Q] Federol NUMBERY 0 ~J Stote Q County Q Local 30 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: Z TJ </i C STREET AND NUMBER: o rn O r- CITY OR TOWN: STATE-.. - c ( -< •]DATE (Check One) n Excellent (xl Good [3 Fair |~~) Deteriorated a Ruins (~~1 Unexpose d CONDITION (Check One) fCh«e* OneJ {&] Altered D Unaltered G Moved g] Original S it* DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE White Bluff (Ecor Blanc) abounds in fossils, exergyra and gryphaea, and is listed in the Geological Survey of Alabama as being composed of Selma chalk or rotten limestone. The original height of the Vtfii:< El-Jt? w«s approximate '->• 70 to 80 feet at the highest point. In 1955 the completion of the U. S. Lock end Dam raised the water level 40 feet. Present height of the bluff varies from twenty to forty feet depending on the contour of the land at the top. White Bluff is the color of chalk when dry and a, pale grey when wet. White Bluff is located on the west bank of the Tombigbee River in Marengo County between river miles 215 and 216, as shown on the U. S. Corps of Engineers navagation chart--Black Warrior, Tombigbee River. There are two landings from the river. The upper city landing is now used as a park and recreation area for the launching of boats. The m lower city landing (commonly and locally called Webb ! s landing) is also rn used occasionally to dock boats and as a launching site. At the top of the bluff, Arch Street of the City of Demopolis extends from the upper City landing to the City's Riverside cemetery. This property was dedicated to the public as Arch Street on June 18, 1819, when the plan was adopted and promulgated "as the true plan of the town of Demopolis" by the town proprietors. 70 C At this time all of the street is not used by the public. The Mayor n and City Council recently authorized the use of a portion of Arch Street as a promenade, "a walk for pleasure, 1' with suitable landscaping and walkways. o z Permission to make this application for nomination as a historic site granted by a unanimous decision of the Mayor and City Council at their regular meeting on February 5, 1970. The Demopolis Civic Center is built on Arch Street, overlooking the Tombigbee River, between Monroe and Fulton Streets. PERIOD (Chock On* or Afore »• Appropriate) JB Pre-Columbion ! D 16th Century Q 18th Century Century Q 15th Century D 17»h Century jgj 19»« Century SPECIFIC OATEiSi (7* Xppllceb/e end Known) 1817-1819 AREA* OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More •• Abor iginol I | Education a Political O Urban Planning Q Prehistoric f~] Engineering Q Religion/Phi- D Other fSpec//W 53 Historic Q Industry losophy j | Agriculture i j Invention |_J Science f~l Architecture f~| Landscape [H Sculpture D *rt Architecture I 1 Sc'Ciol/Humon- [~1 Commerce I I Literature itorian [ | Communications Q Military Q Theater | | Conservation n Music f~~l Transportation STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE HISTORIC: Landing site from the Tombigbee River of a band of Napoleonic exiles in 1817. These exiles established the "Vine and Olive Colony." The chain of events that led to the establishment of this unique colony began with the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815. A number of Napoleon's military officers and a certain members of his court were banished from France. Gathering in Philadelphia they petitioned Congress for a land grant on which they could cultivate crops familiar to them--grapes and olives. Congress by an act approved on March 3, 1817, h- granted them four contiguous townships of land near the confluence of U the Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers in Alabama territory. During the summer of that same year the colonists traveled to their new home, founding "Demopolis" on the White Bluff. Leader of the group of exiles was General Count Charles Lefebvre Desnouetteis, who served as an aide-de-camp to Napoleon at the battle of Marengo, Italy, in 1800, and rode in the carriage with him over the snow in the disastrous retreat from Moscow. After Napoleon's first great defeat and before leaving for exile on the island of Elba, the Emperor said farewell LU to his Old Guard at the Palace of Fontainebleau, where he embraced Des- UJ nouettes as a token of his affection for the whole group. On his return */•> from Elba Desnouettes was at his side again. For this Napoleon named him a tount of the empire" and a lieutenant general. Desnouettes participated in the conclusive battle at Waterloo. Napoleon in his will left General Desnouettes 150,000 francs. Other generals and members of the Vine and Olive colony named as heirs in Napoleon's will were General Charles-L'Allemand, Count Real, General Clausel, and General Rigaud. In late 1818 after the surveyor's reports were complete it was found that the White Bluff and Demopolis were just barely outside the boundary of the newly-surveyed grant. Most of the colonists moved to the south bank of the Warrior River, a distance of about a mile and a half, and named their new village "Aigleville." This site is now within the town's corporate limits. j^|pkj<Mr BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES American State Papers, III (Public Lands). Washington: 1834. Bourrienne, L.A.F. Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, 4 Volumes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. (Appendix, Vol . IV, "The \•Jill of Napoleon".) Carter, C.E., ed. Territorial Papers of the United States. IV (Territory of Mississippi, 1809-1817) and XV i i I ( Territory of Alabarr.-i , i fi 1 7 - t 8 ] 9 > . Washington: Government Printing Off ice, 1938 and 1952. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Lee. Konti cello, J<inuary 16, 1817. From the Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, Washing Lon. Lyon, Anne Bozeman. "The Bonapartists in Alabama." Southe:rn Home Journal. Memphis: March, 1900. rl-^*;^:^v"::!l'EL::^::'iiK^^HS^i»*H'l:**:VfW,'!'-f":^r • **\*^*:*!»..;ff*ii fiJsi.'1*r ^» * fc f>A :". : - '•..-••.... • • •;•^ . • . • _ . LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY 3 DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY ROF LESS THAN TEN ACRES CORNER LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONG! TUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Decrees Minutes Seconds Degiees Minutes Seconds NW 32 o 31 . 30 .. 87 o 50 . 56. o • . 0 • " HE 32 o 31 • 30 - 87 o 50 - 23 - i se 32 o 30 - 55 - 87 o 50 - 23- sw 32 o 30 • 55 - 87 o 50 . 56 - APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PRO^kRTY: £ iX l6) IS* JLIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES O V E P L A P P 'N G STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES rn STATE: All in j CODE [ COUN T> CODE Alabama j 01 ! MareTi&Q 091 rn TOPE i 1 STATE: CODE C OUN T Y . CODE en STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE H l:1r*0«M- PREPARED, Vf '.'•'. ' : •::-••• :: ..: - ^i:r?| C NAME AND TITLE.- w. Warner Floyd, Executive Director, Alabama Historical Commission & W. H. Britton, President, Marengo Countv Historical Soripfv 0 ORGANI 2 A TION DATE -1 Alabama Historical Commission June 2, 1970 STREET AND NUMBER: O 305 South Lawrence Street z CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE Montgomery Alabama 01 j|^ ItAtg tJAlSON OFFICER CERTIFICATION NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION '' As the .designated State Liaison Officer for the Na­ I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665V I hereby nominate this property for inclusion National Register. in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.