The creek was named for a Cherokee chief who lived in the area when the first European settlers arrived.

The current town is reportedly located on the site of the Native American village.

Its early settlers were wealthy planters mostly from Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia.

[4] In 1835, Courtland physician Jack Shackelford organized a volunteer military unit to fight in the Texas Revolution.

Known as the "Red Rovers" for the color of their uniforms, the company was captured by Mexican forces at Coleto in March 1836, and most of its men were killed in the Goliad massacre.

Most of the buildings in the district date from the 1830s through the 1930s, and architectural styles include Federal, Italianate, Victorian, Colonial Revival, and Neoclassical.

The train depot on the south side of the square, now a community center, was built in the late 1880s.

[7] The John McMahon House, a Federal-style home built around 1830, is listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places.

[12] The town is concentrated in area along Big Nance Creek, a tributary of the Tennessee River, west of Decatur and southeast of Muscle Shoals.