Communities destroyed & displaced
Benson and Kowaliga, under Lake Martin
Cleared from July 1923; the dam closed in 1926Benson (Kowaliga), now under Lake Martin, AL
A Black-owned town on Kowaliga Creek - 9,000 acres, a sawmill, a turpentine still, a school of its own - was razed and flooded when Alabama Power closed the gates of Martin Dam. Twelve cemeteries were dug up and moved, 923 graves among them.
The shape on the map is a reconstruction drawn from historical descriptions, not a surveyed boundary. Follow the sources for authoritative maps.