Once home to prehistoric Native Americans, Pond
Spring is the post-Civil War home of Gen. Joseph
Wheeler, a Confederate major general, a U.S.
congressman, and a Spanish-American War general.
Following the Civil War, Wheeler became a national
symbol for reunification and reconciliation.
Wheeler’s daughter, “Miss Annie Wheeler,” served in
three wars as a Red Cross nurse.
The 50-acre site includes a dogtrot log house built
around 1818, a circa 1830 Federal-style house, the
1880s Wheeler house, eight farm-related
outbuildings, two family cemeteries, an
African-American cemetery, a small Indian mound, a
pond, a boxwood garden, and other garden areas.
Pond Spring - The General Joe Wheeler Home
12280 Alabama Highway 20
Hillsboro, Alabama 35643
Pond Spring, as it exists in the 21st century, is 50
acres of land, 12 historic buildings surrounded by
formal boxwood gardens, and three family cemeteries.
Its most notable inhabitants were General Joseph
Wheeler and his family.
Native-Americans populated this region of the
fertile Tennessee Valley for many generations.
Concentrations of artifacts discovered on the site
by archaeologists show evidence of three periods of
habitation, the earliest about 5000 years ago.
The original European-American settlers, the John P.
Hickman family, came to the site in 1818. At that
time, Pond Spring consisted of 1760 acres and
several log structures. The Hickmans brought with
them 56 African-American enslaved workers to clear
the land, plant cotton, and build their homes.
The Sherrod family bought Pond Spring in 1827 and
expanded the largest of two log dogtrot houses into
a clapboard-covered Federal-style home. Both the
1818 Hickman cabin and the Sherrod home stand today.
General Wheeler came to Alabama during the Civil War
in 1863, and met young Ben Sherrod's widow, Daniella.
They married in 1866, and built their home during
the 1870s. The General's home is connected to the
older Sherrod Home by a covered walkway. The
adjoining Wheeler Home contains many significant
artifacts that belonged to General Wheeler and his
family. The collections vary from books, military
artifacts from the Civil and Spanish-American Wars,
and antique furniture, to family portraits,
photographs, and Victorian-period decorative arts.
General Wheeler was a national figure, serving as a
Confederate Cavalry officer, a member of the U. S.
House of Representatives, and a U. S. major general
during the Spanish-American War. One of Wheeler's
daughters, Miss Annie, served as a Red Cross
volunteer nurse in three wars and lived in the house
until her death in 1955.
The house was listed in the National Register of
Historic Places in 1977. In 1993, General Wheeler's
descendants donated Pond Spring to the state of
Alabama and the Alabama Historical Commission.
Site Director: Melissa Beasley
Phone: 256) 637-8513
Email:
wheplan@hiwaay.net
www.wheelerplantation.org
Visitor Services
Admission (group rates)
Adults $4
Students, seniors, military $3
Children
6-18 $2
The historic houses closed for restoration on
January 1, 2000, and will reopen after extensive
restoration is complete. The project includes
further archaeological and historical research,
planning, an interpretation center, and complete
restoration of the buildings and boxwood gardens.
The grounds and several out-buildings are open only
by appointment for groups of ten or more. An
appointment must be made at least two weeks in
advance of your visit. Please call 256-637-8513 or
email
wheplan@hiwaay.net to schedule a guided tour for
your group.
Closed all state holidays.
Directions: The site is located in Lawrence County
in Hillsboro, three miles east of Courtland,
adjacent to Alabama Highway 20 (US Alt. 72).
