Forks of Cypress
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The Forks of Cypress
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The Forks of Cypress, the main house in 1935.
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| Nearest city | Florence, Alabama |
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| Coordinates | 34°50′42″N 87°43′32″W / 34.84500°N 87.72556°WCoordinates: 34°50′42″N 87°43′32″W / 34.84500°N 87.72556°W |
| Built | 1830 |
| Architect | William Nichols |
| Architectural style | Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 97001166 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 10, 1997 |
| Designated ARLH | April 14, 1992 |
The Forks of Cypress was a cotton plantation and Greek Revival plantation house near Florence in Lauderdale County, Alabama. It was designed by architect William Nichols for James Jackson and his wife, Sally Moore Jackson. Construction was completed in 1830. It was the only Greek Revival house in Alabama to feature a two-story colonnade around the entire house, composed of twenty-four Ionic columns. The name was derived from the fact that Big Cypress Creek and Little Cypress Creek border the plantation and converge near the site of the main house. Although the main house was destroyed by fire in 1966, the site was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on April 14, 1992 and the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 1997. The site is the property of the State of Alabama; a local board has oversight.
James Jackson was born October 25, 1782, in Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland. Jackson moved to Alabama from Nashville, Tennessee, in 1818. From 1822 on, he was active in state politics and served in both houses of the Alabama Legislature. In 1830, Jackson was named president of the Alabama Senate.
In the 1820s and 30s, James Jackson, an avid horseman, imported a dozen or more English thoroughbreds for breeding his own horses and in an effort to improve the overall bloodstock of the American thoroughbred. He was eminently successful in the effort particularly with three of his imports, Leviathan in 1830, Gallopade in 1835 and Glencoe in 1836. American turf historian John Hervey rates James Jackson as "the most successful importer in the history of the American thoroughbred". James Jackson died on August 17, 1840 and was buried in the family cemetery, near the plantation house. His widow was the executor of his will and, on October 9, 1840, made bond in the amount of $400,000. The will of James Jackson, recorded September 15, 1840 at the Lauderdale County Court House, directed his nephew Thomas Kirkman to manage a trust which would control and gradually sell off the racehorses, a duty Kirkman completed in 1848, with the sale of Glencoe.
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