Tuscumbia Landing Site is a historic port site near Sheffield , Alabama . The landing was established in 1824 at the mouth of Spring Creek on the Tennessee River . As large craft could not navigate Spring Creek to reach Tuscumbia , the landing was built to transfer goods to and from the town . The New Orleans and Tuscumbia Steamboat Company was created in 1825 , and connected The Shoals with towns on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers . Wagons were used to haul goods between the landing and the town until a horse-drawn railroad , the first railroad west of the Appalachian Mountains , was built from 1831 to 1832 . The line was later extended to Decatur in 1834 , bypassing the treacherous shoals on the Tennessee River , and was renamed the Tuscumbia , Courtland and Decatur Railroad . The landing was also a stop for many Muscogee and Cherokee along the Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Tuscumbia Landing Site