Alabama History Tour

Alabama State Capitol

On our way back from a recent trip to Tennessee we made several minor detours in Alabama so I could visit some historical sites that I have always wanted to see. The first stop was the Alabama State Capitol, in Montgomery, where I took a self-guided walking tour of the grounds and building.

According to the WPA Guide to Alabama: "The State Capitol on Goat Hill, at the east end of Dexter Ave., is constructed of brick covered with stucco and patterned after the National Capitol. It ranks among the most beautiful of the Greek Revival capitols built during antebellum days."

The building was dedicated in 1847 but was burned two years later and rebuilt in 1851. It was here in January 1861 that the Secession Convention convened and one month later representatives of six seceding states chose Montgomery as the provisional capital of the Confederate States of America (it moved to Richmond, VA four months later).

On February 18, 1861 Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as President of the Confederacy in this building and in 1886 helped lay the cornerstone of the Confederate Monument located on the north lawn of the capitol grounds.

Capitol Rotunda

Unlike so many other public buildings these days there were no security checks or a police presence of any kind upon entering this magnificent building. I found the Alabama State Capitol to be a friendly place with a courteous and welcoming staff who were eager to help visitors enjoy this hallowed space.

Jefferson Davis

Just across the street from the State Capitol grounds is the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King was the pastor during the turbulent civil rights era in Montgomery. In many ways this simple 19th century building was the spiritual and moral epicenter of a revolutionary movement in American history. Many of the most famous and important events of that period occurred in this city, including the bus boycott instigated by Rosa Parks in 1955 and the famous voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

I had always thought that the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church was located in a segregated section of Montgomery and was quite surprised to find it located directly across the street from the state capitol building. This congregation was way more strategically located to stir up change than I had ever imagined. That's why historical pilgrimages are so important to students of history. You can only learn so much from reading books, you've got to get out there and smell the ghosts.

Front of Dexter Ave. Baptist Church

The Montgomery bus Rosa Parks made history in.

We made another stop in the small and decaying town of Georgiana in southern Alabama. This is where we exit the interstate to make our way over country roads into the panhandle of Florida. Connie said she saw a sign that pointed to the Hank Williams boyhood home. At first I thought she had misread the sign because I had never heard anything about him living in THIS town.

We got gas and I turned around and headed back in the direction of the sign. After a couple of left turns we came upon the house all right, located on a very forlorn block in a run down neighborhood. Across the street was a disheveled and derelict old house that was at one time a museum dedicated to Hank but had since fallen on hard times. We peered in through the dirty windows at piles of mementos and junk and then realized that it was time for us to split, mostly for our personal safety. It was just not a very nice neighborhood.

The Hank Williams boyhood home

I think you can confidently skip this historic home the next time you find yourself in this neck of the woods and enjoy these pictures from the safety of your computer screen. The whole thing looked and felt like a feeble attempt by the state tourism authorities to breathe a little economic life into the terminally ill patient that is Georgiana, Alabama.

I will say that we did see some of the lowest slung, boxer underwear revealing, pants on the young males in town that we had observed on the entire trip. Now that's a real point of civic pride.

Downtown Georgiana, Alabama

See ya later alligator

While taking a stroll at dusk we stopped at the dock that juts into the neighborhood pond to do a little bird watching. Tonight we observed wild turkey, white ibis, wood storks, anhingas, great blue herons and common egrets. Florida is certainly a good place to look for wildlife.

Fork it over dude!

Someone had left a bunch of stale bread on the railing of the dock which we threw into the water. Within seconds a plethora of small fish swarmed like piranhas upon the helplessly vulnerable rafts of Wonder Bread. Less than two minutes later a large hump of reptilian flesh was creating a large wake in the middle of the pond that was aimed straight in our direction. It seems that Florida alligators have developed a taste for Wonder Bread too.

Awww come on now! I'm hungry!

This fearless gator swam right up underneath of where we were standing and was as bold as any wild critter I've ever seen in making its case perfectly clear that it wanted some of those enriched wheat flour wafers too. Unfortunately for this large hungry saurian it is illegal to feed alligators in the state of Florida and after several minutes of useless entreaties it finally sulked off in a huff, angry that we were such law-abiding squares. See ya later alligator!

Later dude. Thanks for nuthin'.

YouTube Is Great!

He's now just a mouse click away.

I've been somewhat under the weather of late and forced to lay low and rest. As a way of passing the time I have been turning to YouTube to watch all sorts of things that I would never have been able to access in any other way.

Until very recently I didn't realize that this site had all kinds of professionally crafted and copyrighted material, in addition to the amateur stuff, which people have posted to share with the wider world. It's really incredible what I can now watch: old episodes of Leave It To Beaver; Thelonious Monk concerts; interviews with the likes of Frank Zappa & Bob Dylan; hysterical shrieking speeches delivered by Adolph Hitler to hypnotized German audiences; guitarists Steve Vai and Buckethead collaborating on the soundtrack for the sci-fi flick "Ghost of Mars" (Buckethead wears his mask in the recording studio too!); Jimi Hendrix on the Dick Cavett Show; very old episodes of the Honeymooners with Ralph screaming "TO THE MOON ALICE!" and vintage stand-up comedy routines from the likes of Richard Pryor, Alan King, Jonathan Winters and Lenny Bruce. Sheesh, I'm exhausted from all of the choices at my fingertips. In case y'all didn't know about it yet, this site is worth a look.

I'll be better soon and will complete my historical tour of Alabama as promised last week. Also more giant spiders from interior Florida. Stay tuned......

Wally & the Beaver

Driving through Dixie

I've been on the road again for the last few days and managed to visit a few historical sites that I had wanted see, for years now, and actually discovered a few more that I didn't know were so close to the ones I had set out to visit.

I'll list the towns and y'all can try to guess the historical sites: Dayton, Tennessee (something to do with monkeys); Montgomery, Alabama (rebels and a King) and the obscure village of Georgiana, Alabama (a hot rod Ford and a two dollar bill). I'll be putting up a post concerning my history adventures sometime later this week and shall award no-prizes for the best guesses concerning the actual sites themselves. They shouldn't be that hard to figure out. I have very brainy readers.

For now I just want to share some random shots of the South in late August taken along the lesser traveled back roads and byways of Dixie. Hope everyone is enjoying their August.

Front porch
Georgiana, Alabama


Aquarium
Chattanooga, Tennessee


Painting of George Wallace
Alabama State Capitol
Montgomery, AL


All Saints Chapel
University of the South
Sewanee, Tennessee

Stevenson, Alabama


Green light
Florala, Alabama

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Training Camp

I don't live far from the Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hold their pre-season training camp. Practices are held in the morning and afternoon and the public is invited to come and watch for free. Since I had never been to an NFL training camp I thought it might be fun to go and watch the boys limbering up for another grueling season of battle on the gridiron of professional football.

The Buccaneers are coached by Tampa native Jon Gruden who led them to a Super Bowl victory over his former team, the Oakland Raiders, in a laughable blowout back in 2003. Since that time, Chucky (a nickname given to him by his players because when he fixes his intense stare on something he reminds them of the evil doll from the Child's Play movies) has not had much success since then and some in the Florida sports media speculate that his time in Tampa may soon be running out if he isn't able to return the Bucs to their former glory in a hurry.

Chucky goes over the play with B. Gradkowski

All in all it was a fun morning at the Hess Sports Field where I mingled with devoted hardcore fans and members of the press corps to witness the sweat and toil of life in the NFL. I wish the Bucs the best of luck as they embark on their 2007 campaign.

Cadillac Williams eludes the lumbering horde

Jeff Garcia rolls out


Chas Gessner snags one


Josh Bidwell punts a boomer

My old-fashioned barber shop

I was inspired to share the simple joys of the barber shop that I frequent after reading Devastatin' Daves blog post about a visit to Durf's in Bridgeton, Maine:

http://snipurl.com/1pfsg

The Central Barber Shop is located at 207 Broadway in downtown Kissimmee, Florida which is the county seat and largest city in Osceola County. I found it quite by accident one day while checking out the central business district for the first time. It's a real throwback to the old barber shops that I went to as a younger man that have been rapidly disappearing with the advent of unisex "haircutterys" beginning back in the 1980's.

The last real barber shop that I frequented regularly was in downtown Santa Monica, CA (now long gone) that was owned by a real character who knew the history and lore of that town better than anyone. He would spellbind me with captivating tales of yesteryear while briskly clipping my thick mass of hippie curls.

The sights, smells and rituals of an old-fashioned barber shop are definitely something from the past that I am happy to be supporting in this era of large chains and impersonal service. This particular place is always packed and the loyalty of their regular customers is quite evident, with many patrons getting a haircut twice a month. The price is right if you're into frequent visits.

So, if you're ever in the swamps of central Florida and need a little trim off the top come on in and sit a spell at 207 Broadway in the heart of beautiful and historic Kissimmee.

Out and about in the sweltering South

We've been doing a lot of traveling recently and have also relocated to central Florida for the time being. (Further bulletins as events warrant.) Since I haven't put out a blog post in over a month I will probably be spitting them out for the next few days just to catch up with all of the material I have been collecting while on the road. I have one planned about my barber shop, a report from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp and something on the way all of the hot weather we've been having here in the Deep South is being reported in the press. Can anyone tell me what the heck the "heat index" means?

For now I'd like to share some random photos that I've snapped from the past four weeks that I thought might be of interest to you my gentle readers.

Oh and by the way, it is less than a month until the college football season begins!

Thunderhead
Osceola County, Florida


Summer jungle growth
Reedy Creek Swamp, Florida


Spiderman
Kissimmee, Florida


Big fat gator
Osceola County, Florida


Daniel Creek
Cloudland Canyon State Park, Georgia


Storm at dusk
Celebration, Florida

Mobile, Alabama

I spent the day hanging out in Mobile, a city I have passed through many times on the interstate but never taken the time to investigate. It is a 300 year old port city with hints of Creole French and Spanish conquistadors emanating from its ancient buildings and narrow oak lined streets.

My over all impression of Mobile is that it is a quintessentially Southern place where time and people move very slowly (especially in July) and change has come only grudgingly. My kind of place. Y'all should check it out sometime.

Presley Chapel

Old neighborhood near downtown


Ba Ba's Cafeteria


A specialty at Ba Ba's

Downtown

Church Street Grave Yard

Mobile Harbor

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Blue Sky Blue

I bought the new Wilco album Blue Sky Blue at my favorite music store, Groovacious in Cedar City, while visiting Utah last month. Since then I have become addicted to this record and play it in my car almost constantly.

This is their first studio effort with new band members Nels Cline and Pat Sansome (who have been touring with Wilco for three years now) and you can hear the difference, especially the guitar work of Cline. Band leader Jeff Tweedy has woven a delectable, hook filled tapestry that is part mid-sixties electric Dylan, post-Beatles John Lennon, southern-fried Ziggy Stardust, early Steely Dan (the guitar duel at the end of Impossible Germany sounds a lot like the solo from My Old School), Mott the Hoople, the Faces, Uncle Tupelo and a very liberal sprinkling of Neil Young three-chord electric guitar chops spread throughout.

There is a humble and gracious attitude of celebration in the simple things of life that make the lyrics a throwback to an earlier time in American life, which I like muy mucho.

Sunlight angles on
A wooden floor at dawn
A ceiling fan is on
Chopping up my dreams
What is left of them
I take to sleep again
Where I dare pretend I'm more than I seem

Suffice it to say I highly recommend this record, which is available at your friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart.

Happy 4th of July!

Eating along the road less traveled

Little Manatee River

We've been down in Osceola County for the past two weeks, using it as a hub from which to launch adventures into the the vast and exotic lands of the Florida peninsula. We visited the Atlantic coastal beaches at Canaveral National Seashore, the interior jungles and savanna of Lake Kissimmee State Park as well as the crystal white sands and deep blue surf of the southwest coast along the Gulf of Mexico.

Generally I pack my own food when traveling but we did patronize two excellent establishments for lunch that were welcome culinary throwbacks to a bygone era.

Our first discovery was on Canal Street in the old downtown section of New Smyrna Beach, along the Atlantic coast, where we accidentally stumbled onto a gem of a drugstore that still had a functioning lunch counter that also happened to be the social hub of this small close-knit community.

Little Drug on Canal St. in New Smyrna Beach, FL


The old-fashioned lunch counter in Little Drug.

We sat down and ordered our lunch while I wrote postcards. In no time at all people sitting nearby took an interest in us and we began engaging in friendly conversation. A lot of the talk was fond reminiscing about eating in places like this when we were all kids.

I had the Hot Dog Platter

It reminded me of the old luncheonette in the Kresge's at Wheaton Plaza in Maryland where my mother would take us after shopping for school clothes. If we were good we'd get a banana split or ice cream sundae afterwards and if you ordered a lunch you were eligible to choose from one of the balloons hanging from the ceiling that contained a lower price for dessert inside of it, that your waitress would pop, revealing a small piece of paper with the price you had to pay written on it. I'll never forget the day I got my dessert for a penny! Talk about your cheap thrills.

Butter pecan!

Locals relax at the counter.

The other culinary gem was Junior's Barbecue on Hwy. 46 in Sanford. This was some of the best southern style pork and chicken barbecue I've tasted in a long time. Owner Elic Green, Jr. (hence the name) was nice enough to let me take a sneak peek at his smoker and kitchen, which is about the size of a small pop-up camper.

Junior's in Sanford, FL

He will soon be relocating to downtown Sanford by taking over the space that was formerly the old Stokes Fish Market. Give him a holler if you're ever down in Seminole County and you're hankering for some of the best barbecue this side of Georgia.

Pork Sandwich Special


Mmmmmmm.......good!