Golf Course Information

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On March 3, 1817, Congress passed an Act which paved the way for the settling of Demopolis by a group of political exiles who had been banished from France by King Louis XVIII following the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. The act granted four adjoining townships of public lands on the Tombigbee and Warrior Rivers.

The French exiles assumed that olives and grapes would flourish and brought with them carefully protected shoots and stock of their native olive trees and grape vines. A band of about 150, including women and children, reached the White Bluffs (the present site of Demopolis) on July 14, 1817.

However, being uncertain as to where they should settle, they proceeded up the Tombigbee to Fort Tombigbee where they found the U.S. Indian Agent, George Gaines. Colonel Gaines returned with them to the White Bluffs, and it was at his suggestion that the group selected this area for their colony. The original grant had not stipulated which four townships they should colonize, so representatives of the group returned to Washington to settle the claim while the remainder set about establishing the colony.

After clearing land and building homes in the Demopolis area, it was discovered that a mistake had been made in the land grant as recorded in Washington. Unable to clear their claim, the colonists were forced to move some miles up the Warrior River. There, they formed a settlement which they called "Aigleville". "Aigleville" was symbolic of Napoleon's standard which bore the figure of an eagle.

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