Old Cahawba Archaeological Park
Orrville area, Alabama, United States
Ghost town · local-legend
The Story
Alabama’s first state capital survives as roads, ruins and archaeological traces where two rivers meet. Old Cahawba’s folklore includes the dancing light known as the Pegues Ghost, a story preserved by southern storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham and retold by local heritage interpreters.
The Hauntings
Old Cahawba is more than a ghost town. It is the ground on which Alabama placed its first state capital, a former river community where plantations, political power, captivity, commerce and emancipation all left marks. The streets still trace a town that has almost vanished. Its supernatural tradition is equally place-bound: a floating light in a cedar maze, a spectral visitor remembered as the Pegues Ghost. The legend has been collected by a major Southern folklorist and interpreted by the site’s historians, giving the haunting a distinct lineage of storytelling rather than an anonymous internet origin. The Pegues Ghost is an elusive light. In the version associated with Kathryn Tucker Windham’s Southern ghost tales, a glowing sphere appears in a garden maze near the former Pegues property. Young people try to follow or catch it; the light darts away and vanishes, behaving more like a playful presence than a threatening figure. A 2026 public-television adaptation preserves the tale and places it in the demolished nineteenth-century townscape. The maze belonged to the household world of Colonel C. C. Pegues, according to the story’s retelling. The house itself is gone, and the modern park should not manufacture an exact location for the light’s appearances from a literary description. What can be traced is the connection among a former home, the remembered cedar walk and the ghost-light folklore that outlived both. The Alabama Historical Commission has itself presented ghost-story programs drawing on local traditions. A 2021 announcement described accounts of a man buried alive, a Wampus Cat and unexplained experiences reportedly described by staff. These are documented subjects of a particular historical program, not a claim that a similar event remains bookable tonight. The most compelling element is the way ordinary landscape features—roads, old plots and empty fields—have become carriers for stories of a vanished town.
The History
Cahawba was established as Alabama’s capital in 1819, a role it held until 1826. The river settlement continued after the seat of government moved, growing in wealth and importance before its decline. Its history includes slavery and plantation wealth, the Civil War, and a period in which newly emancipated African Americans sought freedom and political opportunity in the community. By 1870 the town’s population had fallen sharply. Buildings were later dismantled, lost to fire or surrendered to decay, and the ground became an archaeological landscape. The Alabama Historical Commission now operates the site, with interpretive trails, remains, old street alignments and ruins that allow visitors to approach the lives of its diverse former residents. Calling the site a 'ghost town' refers both to its lost buildings and to its enduring paranormal folklore.
A sense of place.
Visitor Experiences
Have you experienced something here?
This future chapter will bring together stories from the PHASM community. An unexpected encounter, a lingering feeling, or a quiet visit—your experience will be welcome.
Submissions are not open yet.
Sources & further reading.
- Alabama Historical Commission — Old Cahawba (history)
- PBS / APT — Jeffrey’s Southern Ghosts: Specter in the Maze (history)
- PBS / APT — Jeffrey’s Southern Ghosts: Specter in the Maze (reports)
- Alabama Historical Commission — 2021 Ghost Stories of Old Cahawba wagon tour (reports)
- Alabama Historical Commission — Old Cahawba Plan Your Visit (visiting)
- Alabama Historical Commission — Old Cahawba Tour Request / GPS (visiting)
Plan Your Visit
Old Cahawba’s official plan-your-visit page allows daytime self-guided public exploration and offers guided tours by appointment with advance notice. The park prohibits ordinary nighttime visitation except for authorized special events. Haunted-history tours have been advertised in the past; check for a current announcement before planning around one. The public map pin is at the official visitor center, not at the uncertain position of the Pegues maze.