Buzzard Roost is an unincorporated community in

Colbert County Colbert County () is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the county's population was 57,227. The county seat is Tuscumbia. The largest city is Muscle Shoals. The county is named in ...

, Alabama. Buzzard Roost had a post office in the 1850s, but it no longer exists.

Geography

Buzzard Roost is located three miles west of Cherokee on

U.S. Route 72 U.S. Route 72 (US 72) is an east–west United States highway that travels for from southwestern Tennessee, throughout North Mississippi, North Alabama, and southeastern Tennessee. The highway's western terminus is in Memphis, Tennessee and ...

History

Bernard Romans Bernard Romans ( 1720–1784) was a Dutch-born navigator, surveyor, cartographer, naturalist, engineer, soldier, promoter, and writer who worked in the British American colonies and the United States. His best known work, ''A Concise Natural History ...

' Map of 1772 indicated a place called "Chickianooe", which appears to be a misprint of the

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

word "Chickianoce," "Skeki anusi" or “anosi,” "meaning Buzzards there sleep." Levi Colbert, Chickasaw Bench Chief, built his stand in Buzzard Roost in 1801. He ran an inn there with his family. An exhibit telling his story is part of the

Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Trace Parkway is a national parkway in the southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 444 miles (715 ...

. He is credited with changing the name from Buzzard Sleep to Buzzard Roost. In the 1840s, Armstead Barton built

Barton Hall Barton Hall is an on-campus field house on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is the site of the school's indoor track facilities, ROTC offices and classes, and Cornell Police. For a long time, Barton Hall was the large ...

, also known as the Cunningham Plantation, an antebellum plantation house. Buzzard Roost Covered Bridge, built over

Buzzard Roost Creek Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Eastern b ...

in 1860, was 94 ft. long, and located on "Allsboro Rd., which is part of the Natchez Trace Parkway System". It was destroyed by fire on July 15, 1972. In 1958, a type of

spear point In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have be ...

dating from the Early to an early Middle Archaic period, the Buzzard Roost Creek Point, was named after a site on Buzzard Roost Creek, by James W. Cambron. Buzzard Roost was added to the National Register of Historic Places November 7, 1976. As of 2011, a Pratt pony truss bridge built over Buzzard Roost Creek in 1940 remains, although it is rated "structurally deficient."

References

External links

Natchez Trace Parkway - Buzzard Roost Spring, near Cherokee, AL
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Buzzard Roost Covered Bridge

Buzzard Roost Bridge
Bham Wiki
Riverton Rose Trail Buzzard Roost Creek Bridge
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Alabama Unincorporated communities in Colbert County, Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Colbert County, Alabama Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Alabama