Hell’s Half Acre Deeded to “The Devil” in Marengo County

Research for content to add to the pages of Digital Alabama often yields some interesting reading. It is not unusual that hours are consumed looking into an interesting topic and the end result be a short paragraph or two or less. Such is the case with Hell’s Half Acre in Marengo County Alabama.

Half Acre Alabama

Half Acre is an unincorporated community in Marengo County, Alabama. Half Acre was originally known as Luther’s Store and was settled in the 1830s. By 1870 it had a post office, three general stores, a cotton gin, a cotton seed-oil press, grist mill, saw mill, brick kiln, hotel, and livery stables.

The tradition of how the Half Acre name originated holds that a half-acre piece of property in the community, at a crossroads next door to the hotel, had been overlooked in the original survey. County land records indicate that when the small piece of property was discovered to not be surveyed, it was deeded to “The Devil” and then became known as Hell’s Half Acre. A saloon was eventually built there, only to later burn down. The title to the property was not clarified until the community wanted to build a church on the site of the former saloon, at which time the probate court transferred ownership from “The Devil” to the Half Acre Community Church. The “Hell’s” was dropped from the name at this time and the entire community came to be known simply as Half Acre. The population of the community began to relocate elsewhere after World War II and today it is home to only the church and a few residences.

_{Wikipedia contributors, “Half Acre, Alabama,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Half_Acre,_Alabama&oldid=820485367 (accessed May 8, 2018).}