Near this site is the gravesite of Major Jeremiah Austill, a folk hero and prominent figure in the early settlement of Clarke County. Born in 1794 in South Carolina, he lived with his parents, Captain Evan and Sara Austill, among the Cherokee in Georgia before moving here at age 18. He is best known as the Paul Revere of Clarke County. During the Creek War, a September 2, 1813, Red Stick attack on Fort Sinquefield near Whatley prompted the teen to make a dangerous solitary night ride of more than 40 miles to summon assistance from the militia at Mount Vernon. With Austill's news, the colonel ordered Forts Glass and Madison evacuated to Saint Stephens, with the Austills and a few others, including Sam Dale, remaining. Afterward, he was among the scouts who fought the Red Sticks in the famous Canoe Fight on the Alabama River. After the war, he clerked in the store of his uncle, Colonel David Files, and moved to Mobile, where he was appointed clerk of the county court and spent one year in the state legislature. In 1840, he bought the Gullet Plantation south of Jackson and resided there until his death on December 9, 1879.