Hello blog readers, website viewers, southern ladies and gentlemen, fur-iners and those of you who ended up here by clicking where you didn't mean to click.

Welcome to fish tales from rogersville.  

This is the official blogspot of the Rogersville Chamber of Commerce and the town of Rogersville. We have some stories to tell;  some will be true and some... well you know how the fish gets bigger with every telling.  In any case we have stories and quite frankly we want to record them. Some will come from word of mouth; passed on from generation to generation. Some will come from the deep recesses in the grey matter of old-timers who can say, "I remember when"... We love our stories as they are our heritage and the history of our place, but some of the youngsters and newcomers don't know them. They either weren't listening or were in the wrong place when the story was being told.       

The story I will begin telling, which will be shared in several posts,  is really not my story at all, I am merely the re-citer of someone else's story, that someone is one of the town's great historians, Jim Cox.  You will often find Jim on Lee Street at the East Lauderdale News or out scouting for yet another story with his trusty camera.      So here goes...

Once known as Rodgersville, Rogersville became an incorporated municipality on February 6, 1858. Now one of Alabama's fastest-growing towns with a bright future, Rogersville has an interesting history going back to ancient times when Native People thrived in this region due to rivers, creeks and abundant wildlife.  Fish, freshwater mussels, deer, berries, etc., were resources which provided sustenance to the Cherokee,  Chikasaw and their prehistoric ancestors.                                                               

The settlement of what is now eastern Lauderdale County by non-Native Americans commenced by 1807. This frontier, known as “Over Elk”, was very appealing to adventurous families…mostly from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky

First among this group were tenants who leased land from Chief Doublehead, a Cherokee leader who controlled a vast reserve between Elk River and Cypress Creek near what became Florence.

Some came down the Tennessee River by flat-bottom boat. Others arrived in wagons or on horseback. There were also many squatters who established residence without payment of lease. 

Well, this is a start. I will post a 2nd chapter later, so stay tuned. Thanks for visiting...