Manasco Alabama: One Of America’s Oldest Ghost Towns

One of the coolest things I’ve ever come across while doing genealogy was to discover that my 4th great-grandfather founded his own town in 1879 – Manasco, Alabama – which is now a ghost town! It’s not just a ghost town because I said it is, it’s on a historic register of American Ghost Towns (source cited below). Cool beans I say!

His name was David C. Manasco and he was born in Franklin County, Georgia (some say Elbert County, GA) in 1802. His father was John Manasco, Sr (1778-1837) and his mother Elizabeth “Vicy” Odom (1780-1872), David’s older brother was John Jr (also known as General John) who was born in 1800. The whole family moved to northwestern Alabama where they became lifelong, multi-generational families, primarily in Fayette (just above Tuscaloosa), Walker, and Winston Counties.

The ghost town of Manasco Alabama is located in Walker County. It’s about 14 miles from Jasper along highway 124; however, taking the extra route to the I-22 is much quicker as that interstate is huge. Manasco Alabama is near to Townley, which is a small, quaint little town with no traffic lights and just old houses. It’s very rural in a classic, southern sense. The other option is to drive from Fayette which is a bit farther but a much more interesting drive in my experience. Fayette is about 34 miles west of Townley but if you’re driving up from Tuscaloosa, like I did, then it’s a much better place to stop and get food before you roll into Townley and Manasco Alabama which has no shops or resting points. Fayette (pronounced “Fette,” as I was told) has really good BBQ joints!

In stumbling upon the fact that my 4x great grandfather, David C. Manasco (1802-1894), founded his own town in Walker County, Alabama in the year 1879, I have been intrigued by this notion ever since. Deepening the mystery is the fact that Manasco Alabama is currently listed on a registry of ghost towns in the United States – the town existed for a short 21 years and has been uninhabited since 1900.

There remains sparse physical evidence that the town itself ever existed; however, the question remains: “why was Manasco Alabama founded?” While the answer to that question might ever remain in the realm of supposition, assumption, and family lore, the focus of this article is to provide a description of its location. The other express purpose of this investigation is to provide a living memorial for Manasco Alabama.

To begin to answer the question of “where is Manasco Alabama?” we can start by enlisting the help of the website which lists Manasco Alabama as one of its ghost towns (source citation below). This is the site where I fortuitously stumbled upon this information in the first place. From the excerpt below and the referenced maps we can see that Manasco Alabama is a part of Walker County, which is located in the northwest part of the state just above Tuscaloosa County.

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“NAME: Manasco
COUNTY: Walker
ROADS: 4WD
GRID: 3
CLIMATE: Hot in summer – little to no snow in winter
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Year round

Population unknown. Located on 160 acres owned by David C. Manasco. The town existed from about 1879 to 1900. A Post Office existed from 24 Jul 1879 to 5 Feb 1889 with Mrs. Elizabeth A. Palmer as Postmaster. Submitted by: John R. Manasco.

COMMENTS: 10 miles west of jasper, county seat of walker co. On al 124. Left on al 102 and left on walker co rd 173 for 3 miles.
REMAINS: Only a few hand dug wells and a cemetery.”

(source: http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/al/manasco.html)

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Besides residing in Walker County, the website’s description also tells us that the town sits on 160 acres and that the only physical remnants left to help us find it are “a few hand dug wells and a cemetery.” While that’s not a whole lot to go on, it is a start! We also learn that Manasco Alabama had its own post office, from which we can also deduce that there were residents living there that received mail.

The questions then become: what happened to these structures? How numerous were they? Did they all get razed or were they incorporated into any surviving properties as far as houses, barns, or any other current physical structures in the area? What would an investigation of the title history of David Manasco’s 160 acres tell us about the town’s location and would it reveal its current owners? Are there surviving contemporaries that might remember any stories of this present-day ghost town? Are there records existing from or about this old post office?

One of the huge questions for me is if David C. Manasco died in 1894, why wasn’t he buried in Manasco Alabama? We know from the description of the town that it was functioning from 1879 until 1900. David C. Manasco instead chose to be laid to rest in his family cemetery some 5 miles away in Townley, Alabama. I don’t think there is a mystery here when we realize that David C. Manasco now rests along side his father, mother, siblings and other close family members in the Manasco Cemetery. The mystery, to me, is why the town was ultimately abandoned.

Manasco Alabama was probably a very small startup town and we can infer this by several facts: (1) it was only in existence for 21 years; (2) it had a small cemetery; (3) it never burgeoned into a larger, thriving community.

Whatever its original size, it has either been subsumed by the surrounding countryside or simply morphed into whatever residences are presently there, or both. 3 miles down the road where the pin is on the map there happens to be a small farm with a fairly large amount of acreage surrounding it and it is within this general radius that the remains of Manasco Alabama is located.

I put the pin approximately 3 miles down the road (3.1 to be exact) and as the ghost town’s contributor’s description did not give any further instructions it is not clear if our town is on the left (east) or right (west) side of the road. Having visited this location myself, I can now say with complete certainty that Manasco Alabama is located along Wolf Creek Road (173) just off of Pleasant Hill Road. I had originally thought that this old ghost town would be located off of King Manasco Road just because of its name, however that was not the case.

I drove through all of those country roads and let me tell you there isn’t a big, flashing sign along the side of any road that says: “Welcome to Manasco, Alabama! Guided tours available in the Visitors Center!” Just being facetious, but the point is that it takes some searching to find.

If we include a few more maps, the town’s location can certainly be ascertained by scrutinizing the surrounding topography. You can see a farmhouse and a large amount of cleared land surrounding it that might make for a perfect startup town! Notice also in the bottom left corner of the image that the King Manasco Road runs parallel to AL 173 and may indicate where to begin looking for our site. If we pulled over at the 3 mile marker it would be hard to assess at eye-level where to begin searching and surely one would not want to trespass on anyone’s land without permission.

On the right (west) side of the road where the farm is located there are a large network of trails and hollows, with a few roads to the north and east – remember this map is oriented facing south. The left (east) side of the road, however, seems to have a higher concentration of roads and what look like small water features some of which might be wells. This is encouraging as the two remnants we are looking for are (1) a cemetery; and, (2) a few hand-dug wells. Once we zoom in from here we are entering the realm of speculation! It must be stated in no uncertain terms that unless I can plan a physical expedition to this location we have no incontrovertible proof of the location of Manasco Alabama simply based on Google Earth. It is the starting point and will lend us valuable clues; however, it will not, alone, furnish us the proof. Let’s look at a few more maps.

The following four maps show the area surrounding the eastern side of AL 173 (facing south) in closer detail. Notice the presence of water, connecting roads, habitable areas, the King Manasco Road, as well as improvements on or to the land.

There it is, larger than life, and of interest to us. Palmers Cemetery seems to be a small cemetery behind a close-knit series of residences along the intersection of AL 173 (Wolf Creek Road) and Pleasant Hill Road. Pleasant Hill Road also connects to King Manasco Road less than a mile away heading east.

Fortunately, Palmers Cemetery has a Find-A-Grave website: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GScid=25269&GRid=84738587&CRid=25269&

There are 18 interments there, none of whom bear the name Manasco. However, sifting through the memorial pages one quickly realizes that all of the families resting here are allied families who were intermarried to some degree; they must have formed a small community and no doubt have descendants still living in the area. This is very exciting as there may be living memories of this Manasco Alabama still a part of the oral history of the area. This only underscores the need to visit this place again.

One of the names on the Find-A-Grave page that jumped out at me was the family name Lockhart. This is a family connection to the Manascos as David C. Manasco’s younger brother Wiley Blount Manasco (1820-1896) married a Dicenia Lockhart (1820-1881) in 1839. Another surname that jumped out at me was the name Castleberry. This may be more of a spurious connection but David C. Manasco’s daughter Letitia Ann Manasco (1836-1875) married Elijah Howton (1832-1900), my 3^rd great grandfather; his mother was Assella Darcus Castleberry (1796-1882). She was born in Spartanburg, SC and died in Fayette, Alabama.

Just 1.7 miles south of where we are projecting Manasco Alabama to be there is a Lockhart Hollow, and 1.2 miles south of that on AL 173 is a Lockhart Hill Road that heads west off of AL 173. These might represent places that are a part of, or adjacent to, Manasco Alabama. Since they are place names and not properties, they must have historical significance to the area.

Above is a slightly different rendering of our ghosttowns.com description for Manasco Alabama. First, spelling corrections have been made to the original text; second, certain information has been deleted from this entry; and, third, an important clue has been left at the end: “On Private Property!” I can attest to this as I pulled up to a gate that indicated the road was on private property.

This is important in our search as it indicates that the property has changed hands over the years in a continuous legal chain of title. Some family (or families) now owns either all (or a part of) the old Manasco Alabama. Below is a link to a list of old post offices in Alabama – of germane interest to us is what is listed in the right-most column. That column tells us where mail was to be forwarded to in the case that the post office was closed. Under the entry for Manasco Alabama, mail was to be forwarded to *Loss Creek, which is actually Lost Creek, which lies just east of Townley, Alabama.

http://www.walkercountyhistory.com/Documents/Old-Post-offices-in-Alabama.pdf

This list has one more tidbit to offer. If you scroll up from Manasco Alabama you will see an entry for a Horse Creek with a James H. Lockhart as the original postmaster. Its forwarding post office is both Sharon and Dora, Alabama – this post office has a double entry. This bit of data is somewhat tangential because it may or may not offer a clue as to a larger family connection to the area, and at some point, with further research, offer a reason as to why our town was founded in the first place. Remember, the Lochkarts and the Manascos are connected. You will notice on the map on the following page a Horse Creek. It lies east of Palmers Cemetery, AL 173, and our inferred location of Manasco, AL. It runs to the east of our King Manasco Road and continues south of Townley, AL. It also passes near to a Fike and Inman Cemetery which is of interest to the Manasco family discussion as the Inmans and the Manascos are closely connected. Manasco Cemetery is 2.1 miles NE of the Fike and Inman Cemetery on route to Townley, AL. There are also numerous Inmans in the Manasco Cemetery as I observed while I visited.

Horse Creek runs east from the King Manasco Road and Pleasant Hill Road intersection (Pleasant Hill Road connects to AL 173 and the location of Palmers Cemetery); however, it never connects to AL 173, just shy of it. Horse Creek conjoins into Lost Creek distantly to the southeast of Townley, AL. Note the relative distance between the Fike and Inman and Manasco Cemeteries.

The countermanding evidence to all of this is the location of another Horse Creek in Dora, Alabama some 29 miles to the east! The forwarding post office(s) for our Horse Creek(s) with James H. Lockhart as one of the postmasters were Dora and Sharon, AL. It seems more likely that this town of Horse Creek was actually located around Dora, AL as opposed to Townley, AL. However, we could also logically conclude that there were multiple towns named Horse Creek: one near Townley, and one near Dora given the double entries. Further research would be needed.

In conclusion, based on all of the evidence enlisted and presented in this report the location of Manasco, Alabama is centered around the intersection of AL 173 (Wolf Creek Road) and Pleasant Hill Road (33.778608, -87.465617). The presence of Palmers Cemetery, farms, water features, and place names connected with the proprietor David C. Manasco all appear to support this conclusion.

My ancestor, for whom Manasco Alabama is named was a very interesting person, you can read about his life in several vignettes I’ve written all of which might account for him wanting to settle down in a town of his own creation.

• Andrew Jackson and the Manasco Families of Alabama
• General Manasco: The Obituary of Gen. John Manasco of Alabama
• 100 Photos of Manasco Cemetery in Alabama
• A Rebel Amongst Rebels

Although I found and visited the location of Manasco Alabama, I was not able to walk its grounds. That remains for another expedition in the future. Of concomitant importance would be to conduct title searches on the properties surrounding and associated with the current map plats to: (1) see if any relevant information turns up with regards to the Manasco family; and (2) attempt to obtain permission by the current landowners to either learn the history of the property and most certainly to be able to walk the grounds of our beloved Manasco Alabama. All photos below taken 12/16/2018.

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