Guided By the Great Father

"You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.” - Psalm 73:24

Just over five centuries ago, a nomadic Native American tribe chose to settle near present-day Coosada in Elmore County. Their journey to this area and the decision to settle here was guided by their custom of following the "Shadow of the Pole." At the end of a day, a member of the tribe who was regarded as a prophet would stand a stick in the ground. The following morning, if the stick leaned in some direction, they perceived that the "Great Father" was telling them to travel in the direction indicated by the stick. If the stick was upright, they understood that the "Great Father" wanted them to stay there. When they reached the lush meadows and thick forests near the convergence of two sparking rivers we now call the Coosa and Tallapoosa, the stick apparently told them to stay. The tribe was known as the Alabamos from a word that meant, "Here we rest." Our state was eventually named in recognition of these wanderers from the west who were guided by the "Shadow of the Pole."