Melton's Bluff is an extinct settlement in what is today Lawrence County, Alabama, United States, located in the Muscle Shoals section of the Tennessee River valley. The place was named for John Melton and his wife, a Cherokee woman of status, first settled here in 1780. [1] There was, in the late 18th century, a complex of "Indian towns in Muscle Shoals" including Cherokee settlements led by Doublehead and "Katagiskee". [2] A traveler of 1803 reported that he "rested two nights and a day at the Cherokee's named Doublehead, his town is on the south side of the Muscle shoals—understood that he supplied the American garrison below the shoals with beef—observed rapid and solicitous advances in civilization—Double-head had superintended and assisted in the operations. The men of the town worked in a body together similar to what are called frolicks in an American neighbourhood. While we were there they were making and repairing their fences, which they did very accurately and strongly...They went from house to house, and field to field finishing every one's fences as they went—abundance of victuals being provided for the company by the owners of the fields they fence." [3]
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The approach from Tennessee to Melton's Bluff came via a road from Pulaski, Tennessee, leading to Campbell's Ferry. [4] Campbell's Ferry was the site of an August 1816 meeting between surveyor general John Coffee and the Chickasaw and Cherokee to resolve overlapping claims to land in the vicinity. [4] However, the parties could not come to terms so plans were made for a future negotiation. [4]
Whatever village stood on the site was the site of the first court in Lawrence County, presided over by Obadiah Jones as late as 1820, [5] and "the actual river bluffs are familiar to all old steamboaters". [6]
The travel writer Anne Royall, a devoted admirer of Andrew Jackson, spent a few days at Melton's Bluff in January 1818 when Jackson owned a plantation there and she described the site in her letters: [7]
No language can convey an idea of the beauties of Melton's Bluff. It is said to be the handsomest spot in the world, off the seabord; and rich as it is beautiful. I can sit in my room and see the whole plantation; the boats gliding down the river, and the opposite shore, one mile distant. The ducks, geese, and swans, playing at the same time on the bosom of the stream, with a full view of the many islands. It is, after all, the great height of the site that pleases. ...You can see up to Brown's Ferry, eight miles distant, with the naked eye-and the same distance down. [7]
Jackson never lived at Melton's Bluff but his close friend John Coffee platted a town site there, called Marathon. [5] Along with places like Bainbridge, Marathon, and other of these planned towns came to naught, despite the raging Alabama fever of white settlers. [8] In the 1830s, "many of the same Cherokee who fought with Jackson in New Orleans would pass through Melton's Bluff via river barge and train during their removal to Oklahoma, in what would come to be known as the Trail of Tears." [9]
Circa 1963, the site had been completely reforested but visitors using old maps and Royall's descriptions found an old brick fireplace buried under the soil. [5] As of 2025, old Melton's Bluff can be found off "County Road 400 just east of the West Morgan-East Lawrence water treatment plant". [9]