Wakefield is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Washington 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 ...

, United States, most famous as the place where former vice president

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

was arrested in 1807.

History

Wakefield was in a bend of the Tombigbee River near present-day McIntosh Bluff. The settlement was named by territorial judge Harry Toulmin after

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. A prolific author of various literature, he is regarded among the most versatile writers of the Georgian e ...

's novel '' The Vicar of Wakefield''. Wakefield was the county seat of Washington County from 1805 to 1809. The arrest of Aaron Burr took place in February 1807. Fleeing from an arrest order issued by President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

after being found innocent four times, on his way to Spanish West Florida, Burr was spotted by federal land agent Major Nicholas Perkins III who reported the sighting to U.S. Army Lieutenant Edmund P. Gaines. Gaines arrested Burr on February 19 near Wakefield, two miles below Colonel Henson's, and detained him at Fort Stoddert. Gaines and Perkins later testified at Burr's trial, which ended in acquittal. A marker placed by the Alabama Historical Association commemorates the Burr capture.Laura Hood, et al, ''Alabama Historical Association Markers'' (Bloomington, Indiana, 2006), p.317.

References

{{Washington County, Alabama Ghost towns in Alabama Geography of Washington County, Alabama