The early history
The slow brown river moves like molasses, twisting and turning its way through the state of Alabama. Eons ago, the Alabama River chose one particular spot to carve itself a nearly-complete circle, and the land inside that loop has long been a separate place, largely closed off from the rest of the world, an isolation often intensified by human intervention.
The place is called Gee’s Bend, named for the first white man to build himself a plantation here. Joseph Gee came here in 1816, bringing with him 18 African American slaves for his cotton plantation. The property was sold by Gee’s heirs in 1845 to settle a debt; a short time later the Pettway family arrived with 100 slaves. When slavery was abolished after the Civil War, many of the former slaves continued to work for the Pettways as sharecroppers.
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