Avalon Plantation House
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Before the University of Alabama in Huntsville existed, this land was Avalon Plantation, a large cotton plantation farmed by enslaved laborers. The enslaver's plantation house, demolished in the 1960s during the initial development of the UAH campus, stood between what is now the Nursing Building and Roberts Hall.
Images
Aerial View of Avalon in 1954
![Aerial View of Avalon in 1954](https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/medium_0894_20171018_144619.jpg)
Madison County 1875 Plat Map Overlayed on Modern Map
![Madison County 1875 Plat Map Overlayed on Modern Map](https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/medium_0892_1875%20map.jpg)
1870 Census Including the Drakes
![1870 Census Including the Drakes](https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/medium_0894_1870_census_drake.jpg)
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
In 1809, this land was granted to George Dilworth. Dilworth sold to Irby Jones in 1817. Irby passed the land to Llewellyn Jones in 1820 to settle a debt. Llewellyn Jones, a Revolutionary War veteran, operated the land as a cotton plantation.
Constructed circa 1826, the plantation house was started by Llewellyn, but finished by his son, Alexander P. Jones. In 1820, Llewellyn died not long after purchasing the land on which the house would be built. The house was demolished in the 1960s during the initial development of the UAH campus.
In 2017, UAH students, under the direction of archaeologist Ben Hoksbergen, conducted an archaeological survey of the area on which the house had stood. https://www.uah.edu/news/campus/historical-archaeology-students-unearth-200-year-old-artifacts-buried-on-uah-campus
In reference to the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the plantation house used to be located on the hill between the Nursing Building and Roberts Hall and off of Ben Graves Drive.
Sources
Gray, Jacquelyn Proctor. “From a Kingdom in Wales to a Cotton Farm in Alabama.” From a Kingdom in Wales to a Cotton Farm in Alabama - HHC, 31 Jan. 2013, huntsvillehistorycollection.org/hh/index.php?title=From_a_Kingdom_in_Wales_to_a_Cotton_Farm_in_Alabama.
Huntsville Madison County Public Library
Madison County Plat Maps
1870 Census