Editing Clayton, Alabama (section)

==History==
Clayton has been the county seat since 1834, two years after the creation of Barbour County. Clayton is located geographically in the center of the county. The town was located at the headwaters of the [[Pea River|Pea]] and [[Choctawhatchee River|Choctawhatchee]] rivers on the historic road from Hobdy's Bridge over the Pea River to [[Eufaula, Alabama|Eufaula]] on the [[Chattahoochee River]]. By 1818, there were a few settlers in the area around Clayton, but settlement began in earnest around 1823. The town was named for [[Augustin S. Clayton]], a [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] jurist and congressman. Clayton became the county seat of Barbour County in 1833 and was laid out on a central courthouse square plan. The first Circuit Court was held in Clayton on September 23, 1833. The Clayton post office was established in September 1835 with John F. Keener as postmaster. Clayton, with a population of 200, was incorporated on December 21, 1841, by the Alabama Legislature. Its first mayor, after incorporation, was John Jackson.

Clayton has a rich heritage with four properties listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Barbour County, Alabama|National Register of Historic Places]]. It is also known for its Whiskey Bottle Tombstone, which was featured in ''[[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]]''.<ref name="Clayton, Alabama">{{Citation | title = Small Town Historic Markers | publisher = Alabama Tourism Department | url = http://www.alabama.travel/homecoming/ | accessdate = October 31, 2011 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110203101446/http://www.alabama.travel/homecoming/ | archivedate = February 3, 2011 }}</ref>

[[George C. Wallace|Governor George Wallace]] was born in nearby [[Clio, Alabama|Clio]] and began his legal and political career in Clayton. In March 1956, Wallace attended at the Clayton football stadium the first public meeting of the Barbour County [[Citizens' Councils|White Citizens' Council]], with an estimated 4,500 persons attending the [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] rally, "the largest rally in the history of the county seat."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carter|first=Dan T.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32739924|title=The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics|date=1995|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-684-80916-8|location=New York|pages=85|oclc=32739924}}</ref>