Baldwin County

Mims Ferry and Holley Creek mark one of the important crossings connected to the Federal Road and early travel through this part of Alabama. Long before bridges and paved highways, waterways shaped how people moved, traded, and settled. Samuel Mims operated a flatboat ferry near the mouth of Holley Creek, carrying travelers, wagons, livestock, and supplies across the Alabama River during a critical period in Alabama’s frontier history.

Marker Photo

Marker Text

MIMS FERRY and HOLLEY CREEK

For centuries Native Americans depended on the creeks, lakes and rivers as ready sources of food as well as a means of transportation between their fields and towns. European colonists settled in this area in the early 1700’s followed by American pioneers in the 1800’s. Between 1799 and 1813, Samuel Mims ran a flatboat ferry across the Alabama River. The site chosen by Mims for his ferry was just below the mouth of Holley Creek, where it flows into the Alabama River. The natural lay of the land provided an easy method to load and unload the craft.

Prominent among his passengers were pioneers with their loaded wagons and livestock who journeyed down the Federal Road heading toward Mobile, Natchez and New Orleans. There are written accounts of mounted federal troops paying to cross the river at Mims Ferry in 1813.

Old Federal Road Project

This marker was photographed and documented as part of the Old Federal Road Project, an ongoing effort to visit and document historic sites, communities, and markers connected to the route of the Old Federal Road across South Alabama.

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Location

Mims Ferry and Holley Creek
Baldwin County, Alabama
31.18283, -87.85311