As seen in the photos below, some businesses and a church include "Cotaco" in their names. Off Alabama 36, down Cotaco School Road, is the Cotaco School; scroll down to the bottom of the website "About" page for the "Legend of Cotaco School." Also in the area is Cotaco-Florette Road and Cotaco Creek, which begins in Marshall County and flows into the Tennessee River. Way over in Decatur there is even the Cotaco Opera House, apparently the first opera house constructed in Alabama.
William A. Read's Indian Place Names in Alabama [1937] notes that a Cherokee village probably existed in the area and that "Cotaco" is perhaps a corruption of a Cherokee word for swamp or thicket. The Alabama Territorial legislature in 1818 named what is now Morgan County as Cotaco County; the name was changed in 1821.
I checked some Alabama highway maps from the 1920s until the present and none had Cotaco marked. Yet small places can have much larger resonances through Alabama history.
UPDATE 4 March 2023
I've recently come across Paul Huggins' article, "This old house--for sale. Man prepares to leave 1st courthouse" published in the Decatur Daily 1 November 2004. The article profiles Rick McLemore, who restored what is described as "the oldest structure in Morgan County", had lived in it for a number of years and plans to sell it. The building was originally a tavern and inn known as Vaughn's Store constructed between 1812 and 1816 when the county was known as Cotaco. Originally on the Cotaco-Florette Road, McLemore had it moved two miles to 72 Ryan Road in Cotaco. The building apparently served as the courthouse during Alabama's territorial and early statehood periods until that wooden courthouse was constructed in 1825. Huggins notes, "It's note only the oldest inhabitable structure in the county, it's the oldest standing courthouse in Alabama".
This business is no longer operating, but the church and grocery below definitely are.
One of the brews from Cross-Eyed Owl Brewing in Decatur
I take a back road route from I-65 over to US 431 that goes through Eva (which isn't the most direct way, but it is pretty). Part of the route goes along a stretch of road called Cotaco-Florette Road, which runs between Florette and what Google calls Woodland Mills. Driving along the stretch, one can feel that it's a pretty old road. There are a couple of miles of it north of Florette that are tree-lined. Not a lot of folks along there, and it honestly feels kinda spooky.
ReplyDeleteI have lived my entire life a half-mile from Cotaco-Florette Rd, on Red Oak Rd, which connects highway 36 and Cotaco-Florette Rd. So I'm very familiar with the area. And you are correct about it being an old road, though the current route the road takes is a bit different than it's original route that dates back to before it became a county road. Where you cross the two small bridges that span Cotaco Creek, if traveling south towards Brewer High School, In the winter time when the trees are leafless and you can see into the thick woods lining the road if you look to the right into the woods just as you cross the second bridge, you can still clearly see the foundations of the original bridge for the original route. And Woodland Mills was the name of the area now know as Cotaco when the county was known as Cotaco County. There is a little debate between us locals as to what we would prefer to be known as, Cotaco or Woodland Mills, and it's believed whoever was responsible for giving the official information to the state when the 911 system was being integrated into the area and all residences mailing addresses changed to box numbers as opposed to rural route numbers, that person gave Woodland Mills as the official name of the village, though it is still known and accepted as being Cotaco by us locals.
DeleteThanks for your comments!
DeleteThanks for your comment. I'll have to drive that road one day soon!
ReplyDeleteI lived in Cotaco from 1963 - 1972 and went to Cotaco School (at that time grades 1-12).
ReplyDeleteI grew up around Cotaco Creek and attended Cotaco School before A.P. Brewer was built and they combined the five local schools to make one. I was always told that Cotaco was named after Chief Cotaco who was the Cherokee chief in the area
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Please share other memories of Cotaco if you wish!
DeleteMr Abner is correct about Chief Cotaco, we were all taught that. Also, Cotaco-Florette road was the home of 1st courthouse in morgan county. It was close to intersection of Red Oak road.I believe the house was moved and restored?
ReplyDeleteI went to Cotaco and still live here. I have seen woodland mills on a mapbut never heard it referred that way locally. It's a beautiful place
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of your post you have it spelled Sumerville, it's actually Somerville
ReplyDeleteThanks for your note! I've corrected the misspelling.
DeleteMy father-in-law, Jim williams and his family were from the cotaco/Valhermosa Springs area. In later years he returned and opened a restaurant called Pappy Days, it is now closed and he is deceased.
ReplyDeleteYou call him Jim, back in the days gone by, he was known as Jimmy Williams, his dad was Alec, his mother was Leontha. Pappy Day was his grandpa, I knew him all of his 3 sons and 4 daughters, I lived next door to two of his children. Good people.
DeleteI attended Cotaco High School where I played basketball in the 60's. We had a bus called Cotaco Chief that we rode.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! When did Cotaco HS close & where was it located? I notice at this page http://www.ahsfhs.org/sports/teampage.asp?Team=Cotaco which is documenting H.S. sports in Alabama that Cotaco had a football team in 1970 and 1971 and a basketball team from 1963 until 1972. Did the school close in 1972? Share some more details/memories if you wish! --A.J. Wright
ReplyDeleteThe official name of the community is Woodland Mills. It is my understanding that a flour mill on the creek next to the Methodist Church you have a picture of. Cotaco is the school that was built and it seems that name eventually faded to the forefront. Some wish to have Woodland Mills to become more prevalent and that is the name to use when directing someone using GPS. Time changes everything and this community is not immune from it. Wonderful part of America with people who love their community.
ReplyDeleteMy folks (mostly Turneys and Isleys) are from around Laceys Spring, and my mother often talked about going to school at Cotaco and later on Brewer when it was built.
ReplyDeleteShe passed away a few years ago, but would have attended from 1961/1962 onward, and spoke often about all the things she did when she was younger. It's good to learn a little about how she grew up from the folks that grew up with her.
I went to Cotaco school from 1962 until about 1971 (I was in the 9th grade when we moved to Huntsville). I bet I knew your mom. Did she live on Highway 36 just a mile or so north of the school?
DeleteI attended school at Cotaco. The ninth grade class moved to Brewer H.S. '83
ReplyDeleteUntil about 1046, Woodland Mills school, grades 1-6, was at the site where now stands Cotaco Methodist Church, about 250 feet South of Woodland Mills creek. There was the remnant of the grindstore, or millstone between the creek and school, us kids played on it. The school closed about 1946 and the kids went to Cotaco School which then was 1-12 grades, I attended both schools and graduated H.S. We competed mostly in basketball with other High schools in the county, but in 1955 our baseball team won the Morgan County Championship, and I think it is the only championship that Cotaco ever won. Woodland Mills kind gave way to Cotaco. A lot of memories of hunting, fishing, skinny dipping along Woodland Mills Creek and Cotaco Creek and TN River.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. The student population was so small, basketball was the only sport we could muster up a team. Finally they got enough boys for a baseball team in '55 when they took the county championship with about 13 players. Two of them played professional baseball, minor leagues.
DeleteTo "anonymous, October 10, 2019 at 8:25 P.M.", I knew Jimmy Williams and Pappy Day and all of his 6 or 7 children. Modie, Dewey, Winfrey,Doll, Vernard, Leonta, Zelma, knew them well. good people. I knew the restaurant was there but never was it it.
ReplyDeleteI believe the last graduating class at Cotaco High School was 1972. I attended an alumni banquet a couple of years ago and I think it was mentioned that the youngest members were now about 65 years old.
ReplyDeleteI went to Cotaco all 12 years and graduated in 1972, the last class of Seniors. Brewer opened in 73 and my 2 younger brothers went there. I would love to get in touch with my old friends, I know many have passed.
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