A southern state that doesn't get too much attention in the 21st century, Alabama was actually the center of one of America's greatest cultural movements. The state is known today for its deep southern culture and for its history in being the starting point to the end of segregation. Alabama is often overlooked as a travel destination, but with a several miles of beach along the Gulf of Mexico, mountainous wilderness in the north, and cities rich with history and welcoming southern hospitality, the state has much to offer.
Alabama Links
	Alabama's capital is the city of Montgomery, located right in the heart of the state. It's not the largest city in Alabama, but from the places I visited while traveling here I think Montgomery is the most interesting city. Above on the left is the state capitol building, also known as the First Confederate Capitol. When the south split from the Union, this building served as the capitol for CSA, and President Andrew Jackson was sworn into oath here.
	A popular place to visit in Montgomery seems to be Old Alabama Town. This is neighborhood that covers six blocks of homes from the 18th and 19th centuries. While these aren't very old, and the outsides of many don't look too impressive, I think this place is worth a visit for the long house alone. Inside they had it fully decorated as it would be in the 19th century. It was pretty elegant and impressive, but I can't share photos since they weren't allowed.
The two photos above are also from old town Alabama. The portraits are from some of the first residents of Montgomery, and someone with knowledge about them told me they were up for sale and expected to bring $25,000 each. The house on the left is not part of Old Town Alabama, but it's probably the most important historical house in the city. This is the first Confederate White House, where the president of the Confederate States of America resided in the early Civil War days. After less than a year, the Confederate White House was moved from Montgomery Alabama to Richmond Virginia, where it remained for the rest of the war. The two photos below are the insides of the Confederate White House. Honestly I think the town house in Old Town was better decorated, but below gives you a good idea of what the inside of a southern style home looks like from the 19th century.
Montgomery one of the most interesting pasts when it comes to slavery and the African American civil rights movements. Above are two historical markers in Montgomery, the one on the left describes how slaves were bought for $1,500, and those with workers skills were sold at $3,000 back in the early 19th century. When the Union declared the end of slavery in 1861, Confederate states didn't recognize union laws, and African Americans in these states saw no change in their lives. After the civil war ended, slaves were finally freed, but almost 100 years later, they still did not enjoy all the same rights as full Americans. One of the most important moments regarding African American civil rights occurred here in Montgomery in 1955. The description above describes how Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person which led to her arrest. The boycott that followed was led by Martin Luther King, and resulted in equal rights on public transportation.
Above is the Rosa Parks library and museum, which was unfortunately closed for 5 days due to the Christmas weekend when I visited in 2010. On the right is the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King would preach. The bus boycott in the 1950s was led started by Martin Luther King in this church's basement.
Two random photos from Montgomery, Dreamland Barbeque ribs restaurant near the river, and a city Christmas tree on the left, right next to where Rosa Parks took a stand.
I don't think I've ever seen any photos of Montgomery before, but I'd expect historic buildings and southern architecture and that's exactly what I found. On the left is a trolley passing down one of the city's main streets, on the right is Union Station, a large railway stop in the city.
These tall buildings seemed to dominate most cities in Alabama, I wasn't sure what they were, but they are RSA Union owned, that is, Retirement Systems of Alabama. RSA Union manages the pensions of state workers, and you'll see RSA throughout the state.
The cross hanging from the review mirror is seen in other states up north and west, but definitely was a lot more common here in Alabama. The sign on the left warning you to go church or the devil will get you is something you definitely won't see up in the north eastern parts of America! Alabama is part of what is known as the bible belt, an area in the southeast United States that is deeply religious.
Although not as interesting as Montgomery in my opinion, Alabama's largest city is called Birmingham and is located up north. The city is home to a quarter of a million people, and is most famous for its metal works and factories that were the lifeline of manufacturing war machines during world war II. The city remains a major manufacturer of iron and steel today, on the left is a museum dedicated to the subject, with the Iron man statue on top of Vulcan Park. The city photo above I actually took from Vulcan park, on the other side of the city, you can see its just country side.
Above are some photos from within Vulcan Museum, which is named after the roman god of fire and forge. The museum gives an interesting history on Birmingham and begins in its early mining days above and continues on through various wars and depressions to where the city is today. Like I said earlier, the views from here are well worth a visit alone, and the statue is equally impressive. Standing at 17 meters tall, the Vulcan statue which was built in 1938 is the largest cast iron statue in the world and it weighs about 100,000 pounds.
These metal artworks above are also part of the Vulcan Museum. There were maybe about a dozen pieces of art on display, and all were made by local high school students.
I was lucky to be here for a rare occurrence in Alabama, snow! I'm not sure how often it happens here, but with the coldest months having average temperatures in the 50s, I can't imagine it's very often. The snow here came in late December, just enough to turn everything white.
I visited Alabama in late December and the snow was unexpected, but as I headed farther south into warmer weather I found myself with jeans and a t-shirt. Even though most trees here shed their leaves, you can see on the left that even in late December some of them have only started changing color. The picture on the right was taken only two days after the winter solstice, and as annoying as the Alabama sun was to drive towards in the winter, I can only imagine how hot and humid it can be here in the heat of the summer.
Also on my drive South, I was unfortunate to come across a big accident on the opposite side of the highway. I'm not sure what happened, but there were several wrecked cars and a medical helicopter that landed on the highway, so it was obviously a serious situation.
My second favorite city in Alabama after Montgomery is Mobile, which is located down south and is a port city. This city carries with ait a lot of history, and was owned by several different nations in the past before it became part of the United States. On the left is a view of the downtown area of Mobile, once again the giant buildings are RSA Unions. On the right is the another cathedral with an extremely long name, the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Directly in front of it is the Cathedral square park, once an 18th century cemetery.
Mobile is Alabama's only city with a seaport, which has always been the key to the state's economic success. This seaport has been running since the French traded with native Americans in the early 1700s. Today Mobile remains a major seaport and is among the top ten largest in the United States. Above is a photo of some industrial and shipping docks, on the right I was surprised to find some clear water and fish.
Something that remains when the French owned the city is Fort Conde which originally built in 1702 by African slaves but removed to this current site in 1723 after the first one was destroyed. This fort guarded Mobile for over 100 years, switching between nations like the English who named it Fort Charlotte, and later by the Spanish who named it Fort Carlota. The fort above is actually a reconstructed replica, the original fort that stood here on this ground was broken apart and sold as scraps by the US government in 1820.
Although the upper left photo was built by the US in 1938, it's an example of Spanish revival architecture, which occurred in Alabama around this time. The Spanish passed on Alabama to the United States in 1813, and their influence still remains today. The other photo is of a southern style American house full with tropical plants. I'm not a fan of southern style houses and furniture when it comes to interior designs, but for some reason I love the way the outsides of the houses look, or maybe its not the houses themselves but the tropical gardens.
When I was in my late teens and in the Marines stationed at nearby Pensacola Florida, I had driven through Mobile many times, but my brain wasn't hardwired to traveling and exploring my own cities in the states back then. It was kind of strange finding all these things to do in Mobile that I had passed right by so many years ago. Above is the shopping district of Mobile, which surprisingly took up several blocks.
In the center of the shopping district is the park above, with a memorial dedicated to the battle of Mobile Bay, and the self proclaimed "One of the fiercest and most decisive battles in naval history". I hate to admit it, but I had never heard about the battle of Mobile Bay until I saw the historical marker, and it turns out this was the final naval battle during the civil war, and it was a union victory. This battle also saw the use of ironclad warships, steels armored ships that were relatively new to the world back in these times. The USS Tennessee fought on the Confederate side, and its armor provided protection from heavy gunfire but eventually it was overcome by the outnumbered union navy.
Two other places to visit for some history lessons or just fun in general are the exploreum science center. I tried to visit both, but they were closed once again for the Christmas weekend! I heard good things about both places, but can't share anything beyond that until I go myself.
One place that was open was Bellingrath Gardens outside of Mobile. This place seems to be under some extreme hype, and I enjoyed my time here but I felt it was over priced and I didn't come across anything absolutely amazing. I forget already, but I think an entry ticket was like $12 and to visit the house above it was another $8 which I didn't do. The gardens will likely be a bit better in the spring and summer, but even here in the winter they did have some nice decorations. Since it was 20 minutes from Mobile I didn't return at night for the light show.
With all my wildlife and outdoor photos together, I'll begin with up north again. The snow provided some rare and attractive scenery in Alabama in the winter time. With most animals hibernating, I didn't come across any wildlife, but plan to do some backpacking in northern Alabama when I return to the state in some summer. Below are two different trails that I hiked for about an hour into the woodlands.
Farther south, most animals still hibernate here, but it's easier to come across some wildlife since the temperatures rarely get into the freezing numbers. Above are some locals fishing in boats along the marshes and swamps that make up most of the southern state.
This giant pelican was circling above and as soon as I lowered my camera he did a dive straight into the water. If I had been paying more attention I could have maybe gotten a cool action shot. He actually did catch a decent sized fish, and afterwards he took off and went home.
	Southern Alabama is similar to the south of other nearby states Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, mostly covered with coastal swampland. The swamp photos above were taken in low tide, which I was hoping would expose some more wildlife but since it was winter time, most animals were either hibernating or those who could moved south.
	Two other birds I saw down south were the large heron on the left, and some bird that is an unknown species to me on the right. Like the other southern states I visited in the winter time, I plan to come back here in the summer and enjoy the beach, maybe even go scuba diving in Pensacola Florida, and come across more wildlife.

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Alabama Travel

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