Sturdivant Hall

Built between 1852 and 1856, Sturdivant Hall is one of Selma's grandest Greek Revival houses. The banker John McGee Parkman bought it in 1864 and became president of the First National Bank of Selma, which lost heavily on cotton speculation after the war. Reconstruction authorities seized the bank and arrested him, and on May 23, 1867 he was shot dead during an attempt to escape from the Cahaba federal prison nearby. He is said to have vowed he would never leave his house. The city bought the place in 1957 and runs it as a house museum; the tornado that struck Selma in January 2023 damaged the property. Visitors and staff report footsteps pacing the second floor, chairs rocking on their own, doors opening with no one there, and cigar smoke drifting through empty rooms. Two little girls have also been described standing in an upstairs window.