Summerfield, also known as Valley Creek, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Dallas County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Summerfield has one

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

included on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, the Summerfield District. Most of the community was annexed into Valley Grande following its incorporation as a city in 2003.About Valley Grande
City of Valley Grande, 2008. Accessed 2008-11-05 Summerfield was the home of the Centenary Institute, a school operated by the

Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...

, from 1829 until the 1880s.

Demographics

Summerfield was listed as an incorporated community in the 1890 U.S. Census with a population of 383, making it the second largest community in Dallas County after Selma. It was not listed on any subsequent censuses.

Notable people

James Osgood Andrew James Osgood Andrew (May 5, 1794 – May 1, 1871) was elected in 1832 an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the split within the church in 1844, he continued as a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Early ...

, bishop in the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

, resided here during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

* Robert Kennon Hargrove, lived here while president of Centenary Institute from 1865 to 1867 * Richard H. Rivers, lived here while president of Centenary Institute

References

Unincorporated communities in Alabama Unincorporated communities in Dallas County, Alabama {{DallasCountyAL-geo-stub