The Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) hosted the “Road to Freedom Wagon Tour” at the Old Cahawba Archaeological Park on Feb. 2 in Orrville.

AHC Historical Archaeologist and Site Director Linda Derry took a small group on tour across the facility. The intent was to load in a wagon, but Derry drove the small group around in her white Ford Explorer.

Derry said a church group from Wilcox County had planned to attend the event, but cancelled because of a death of a church member.

The biggest subject Derry addressed was the majority black community of Cahawba and the history it made after the Civil War.

“People think of Cahawba as being the state’s first capital, but it’s history is more complexed,” Derry said. “Cahawba was also a black community. In 1850, 71 percent of black people lived in Cahawba. About 43 percent of the Selma population was black.”

Derry also shared a story about some of Selma Mayor Darrio Melton’s ancestors lived on the Cullman plantation in Cahawba.

“One of Melton’s family members talked about it when he was running for Mayor (in 2016),” Derry said.

Selma resident Kia Arnold attended the tour with his father, Herman Arnold, an Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War. The younger Arnold enjoyed the tour and said he was glad to learn new things about Cahawba.

“I thought the state capital went from Cahawba to Montgomery, I didn’t know it went to Tuscaloosa after it left here,” Kia Arnold said.