1949 Map of Hodges

About this map

The Tennessee Valley Divide snakes across the landscape of northwest Alabama, separating the complex drainages that feed into Bear Creek. In the late 1940s, the Illinois Central railroad served as a central artery for the region, passing through the town of Hodges and the smaller settlement of Atwood. This survey, compiled from aerial photography and ground-level mapping, documents a rural society defined by small community hubs and family-named landmarks. Numerous country churches and burial grounds, such as Holly Spring Ch, Mt Zion Ch, and the Lawler Cem, are scattered throughout the hills. The map highlights the localized infrastructure of the era, from the Hodges Sch to the Railroad Pond, and the various water crossings like Scott Bridge and Jim Williams Ford that connected these disparate homesteads across the many branches of Bull Mountain Creek.