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Farming For A Better Future, page 284
(Above) Dogwood Flat School, Unknown Date (Retro Glances)
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Easter Plantation* and Legg Cemetery
Champion Easter (1785-1856) purchased a total of 1,240 acres in land patents from the federal government between 1828 and 1848. The majority of the land was along the Elk River where he controlled the rights to the Easter Ferry. Easter had a total of 66 slaves on his plantation by 1850. The Easter homeplace is still intact, but the family cemetery was destroyed and only recently restored.
■ COMMUNITIES CEMETERIES CHURCHES
B PLANTATIONS
B SCHOOLS
William Legg (1788-1965) owned 360 acres of land that he purchased as government patents between 1825 and 1853. The community of Legg - later Leggtown - and the road that leads to it is named for Legg and his family. His homeplace was adjacent to Champion Easter's plantation and he and his family are buried in Legg Cemetery.
The Legg Cemetery is located near Leggtown Road near the northern extent of the Legg and Easter plantations. The large cemetery has between 900 and 1,000 graves and a fenced-off section for African American burials. Private First Class Leroy Murray is
(Right) Listings for William Legg and Champion Easter in the1850 Nonpopulation Census (Below) 1936 USGS Topographic Map Showing the Legg and Easter Plantations
buried in the segregated section even though he passed away in 1988. PFC Murray was a World War II veteran, Tuskegee Airman, and a student at Big Creek School.
Col. James L. Walker included PFC Murray in his research of 181 African American veterans of Limestone County. Murray was born in 1913, one of six children of Mr. and Mrs. John Murray. During WWII, he was a member of the 648th Ordnance Co. at Tuskegee Army Airfield and at Ramitelli Airfield in Italy, where he loaded bombs on the Tuskegee Airmen's planes.
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Elkmont
Elkmont is about eight and a half miles directly north of Athens. Early 20th century censuses portray it as a small district with no more than 356 households. Historically, the percentage of African American families living in the Elkmont district was very small.
(Below) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Elkmont, Elkmont, Alabama Quadrangle - (4812)