Advertisement
Published: June 21st 2016
I had a beautiful sunny day to make the drive from Benchmark RV Park in Meridian MS to Birmingham South Campground in Pelham AL, a southern suburb of Birmingham AL (population 212,237 in 2010). The trip of about 150 miles and 2 ½ hours on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 was totally uneventful. June! Really? I haven’t even left the Deep South, and it is already June. I’d better hurry north for, as the temperatures rise so does my latitude!
I almost made a serious mistake by omitting
Vulcan Park & Museum in Birmingham from my itinerary. If one wants a synopsis of the history of Birmingham, here it is. The Vulcan statue is the city symbol of Birmingham, reflecting its roots in the iron and steel industry. The 56-foot tall, 120,000-pound statue, which stands on a 126-foot pedestal, depicts the Roman god Vulcan, god of fire and forge. It was created as Birmingham's entry for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 World's Fair) in Saint Louis MO. The statue is the world's largest iron-ore statue, and among the nation's tallest. Yada, yada, yada. I’m not so much into art, and definitely not into Roman mythology, so why would I recommend you visit Vulcan?
Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, by the Elyton Land Company whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads including land formerly a part of the Benjamin P. Worthington Plantation. The first business at that crossroads was a trading post. The site of the railroad crossing was notable for the nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity. There was only one missing ingredient – people.
City leaders wanted to advertise Birmingham and the state of Alabama to the world by entering an exhibit in the World’s Fair, and decided a statue of Vulcan would best highlight the area’s growing industrial abilities. Giuseppe Moretti, an Italian immigrant who had come to New York City in 1888 and was becoming well known for creating large and beautiful statues, was commissioned by the Commercial Club of Birmingham to create Vulcan. The statue consists of 29 cast-iron components with
connecting flanges that are bolted together internally. Winning a "Grand Prize," Vulcan dramatically demonstrated the mineral riches and manufacturing capabilities of the Birmingham area while on display in the Exposition's "Palace of Mines and Metallurgy."
Obviously, Vulcan’s strong showing at the World’s Fair was not totally responsible for the increase in Birmingham’s population from 38,415 in 1900 to 132,685 in 1910, a jump of 245.4%, but surely was a contributing factor. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Birmingham especially hard as sources of capital that were fueling the city's growth rapidly dried up at the same time that farm laborers, driven off the land, made their way to the city in search of work. The old Birmingham adage, “Hard times come here first and stay longest,” proved true by 1932 as 100,000 of the city’s 108,000 workers were either unemployed or working only part time. New Deal programs put many city residents to work in WPA and CCC programs. The onset of WW II and its concomitant demand for iron and steel restored Birmingham’s prosperity. Go see Vulcan, and enjoy the views from the observation deck.
My next stop was one of the unique, quirky attractions that
intrigue me –
Peanut Depot, also in Birmingham. As I turned the corner onto Morris Avenue, I knew that I was going to enjoy this stop. The cobblestone streets are more effective than speed bumps at keeping travel speeds in the V-E-R-Y slow range. The Peanut Depot has been in operation since 1907, sells by the bagful or in bulk and carries three varieties – fresh roasted, salted and Cajun. The store itself looks more like a covered alleyway than an actual storefront, but has some very interesting antique peanut rosters, one manufactured back near the home zip code – Peoria IL. The operation is reminiscent of a corner vendor operation. The owner is a total hoot and is very accommodating. I think he enjoys the people who enjoy the quirky as much as he enjoys selling peanuts. It’s definitely worth a ten-minute stop if you get to the area.
My final stop of the day was the
Sloss Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Birmingham. Colonel James Withers Sloss, one of the founders of Birmingham, promoted railroad development in the Jones Valley and formed his own company in 1880, the Sloss Furnace Company. He began construction of Birmingham's first blast furnace on 50 acres
of land donated by the Elyton Land Company for industrial development. The engineer in charge of construction was Harry Hargreaves, a former student of English inventor Thomas Whitwell. The two Whitwell-type furnaces were 60 feet tall and 18 feet in diameter. The first blast was initiated in April 1882. The facility produced 24,000 tons of high quality iron during its first year of operation. Iron produced by Sloss won a bronze medal at the Southern Exposition held in 1883 at Louisville KY.
In 1886, Sloss retired and sold the company to a group of investors who reorganized it in 1899 as the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company. New blowers were installed in 1902, new boilers in both 1906 and 1914 and the furnaces were completely rebuilt with modern equipment between 1927 and 1931. Sloss-Sheffield became the second largest seller of pig-iron in the district and among the largest in the world. In 1952, the Sloss Furnaces were acquired by U.S. Pipe and Foundry Company, and then sold nearly two decades later in 1969 to the Jim Walter Corp which, in turn, closed the furnaces two years later. The Jim Walter Corp donated the property to the Alabama State Fair
Cool Art Adds To The Exhibit
Sloss Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark - Birmingham ALAuthority for possible development as a museum of industry. Hmmm! Might the company have needed a tax write-off?
The authority determined that redevelopment was not feasible and made plans to demolish the furnaces; however, local preservationists formed the Sloss Furnace Association to lobby for preservation of the site, given its import to the history of Birmingham. Birmingham voters approved a $3.3 million bond issue in 1977 to preserve the site. This money went toward stabilization of the main structures, the construction of a visitor's center and the establishment of a metal arts program. The visitor center is a great facility with placards describing the background of the company founder, the history of the company, the company’s place in the industry, the interface between the company and the community, the “end of an era” and the role of the repurposed facility in the future of Birmingham as well as some artifacts from the company.
While I was working on this blog, I learned that the ground for the visitor's center was broken in June 2012 (I don’t know the completion or opening date), but the first-rate center provides an interesting history of Birmingham from a different perspective than that
I found at the Vulcan Museum. That having been said, the attraction has an incredible amount of unrealized potential outside the visitor center. A dozen or so “label” placards identify pieces of equipment, and a handful of placards describe operations in the facility; however, there is nothing that really “connects the dots” for the uninitiated. Additional placards would be helpful. Guided tours would be fantastic! As it stands, the museum is highly recommended for those interested in learning of Birmingham’s industrial heritage and, as long as you’re here, a stroll through the enormous manufacturing complex is intriguing.
One of the more horrific incidents that happened during the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s was the bombing of the
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. At 10:22 AM, they exploded, killing four young girls – Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair – and injuring 22 others. A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, both white and black, but city officials
Separate, But Equal???
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute - Birmingham AL were absent. Following the bombing, more than $300,000 in unsolicited gifts was received by the church and repairs were begun immediately. The church reopened on June 7, 1964.
This was one of a string of more than 45 bombings within the decade. The neighborhood of “Dynamite Hill” was the most-frequently targeted area during this time. The outcome of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church actually had the opposite result from that expected by the perpetrators as the Federal government became more involved in Civil Rights issues in Alabama as well as throughout the South. The following year, the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed and signed into law by President Johnson. The next year the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted, making literacy tests and poll taxes illegal. I stopped by the church and took a couple of photographs before walking across the street to the
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
This attraction provides a very good synopsis of the conditions prior to the Civil Rights efforts of the 1960s including convict labor wherein blacks were convicted of minor offences such as vagrancy, incarcerated and “rented” by the county to plantation owners to work in the fields. Segregated facilities
such as schools, restrooms, drinking fountains and entertainment venues and the role of churches as “legal” places of black assembly are covered. Where blacks were allowed to live and to work is discussed. “Painting a Racist Picture” and “Black Images in the White Mind” examine the stereotypical images of blacks purveyed by racist organizations and how corporate images of “Aunt Jemima” and “Sambo’s Restaurant” reinforced those stereotypes.
The displays then begin to examine early efforts to reduce segregation via bus boycotts, diner sit-ins and protest marches and highlight some of the landmark events that aided integration efforts, such as the enrollment of the “Little Rock Nine” at Little Rock (AR) High School in 1957 and the journey of the “Freedom Riders” through segregated bus stations across the eastern and southern U.S. in 1961. Then, some of the notable figures, major movements and legal decisions that changed the Civil Rights landscape are examined. The exhibit I found most intriguing outlines how federal agents built the case against the three perpetrators of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church forty years after the crime. Throughout the exhibits, several timelines by decade integrate the events into a meaningful continuum for the
visitor. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is extremely well done and should make every visitor’s A-list.
I took a drive to Montevallo AL to visit the
Aldrich Coal Mine Museum but found myself in a residential neighborhood, but the
Tannehill Ironworks State Historical Park, AKA the Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama, in McCalla AL was an entirely different animal. Technically, there is a building (museum) and a huge (historical) park with a couple dozen relocated outbuildings that reflect the period when Tannehill Ironworks was in operation and are representative of other Alabama ironworks of the era. The museum takes the visitor through the natural occurrence of iron, its processing and its conversion into steel. Several period Alabama ironworks are given a brief overview before the modern era of steel-making is covered. The visitor then enters an early twentieth century machine shop which shows how the crude iron was transformed into useful end products. Some of the products are on display as well. The placards then examine the role of Alabama ironworks in the Civil War, and numerous relevant archaeological artifacts are on display.
Outside, several “company town” homes have been positioned over a scattered area to form a “company town” complete with post office,
The Restored Furnace
Tannehill Ironworks State Historical Park – McCalla AL church and school. Several of the houses are available to rent from the park as cabins. One Tannehill Furnace from the Roupes Valley Ironworks has been salvaged and restored to a “rendered safe for public display” condition. All the buildings and ironworks facilities are documented nicely. The facility provides the visitor the perspective of a small scale iron production facility vs. the large scale facility I saw at Sloss Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark. I will recommend the museum for a rainy day and the entire historic park for a nice sunny day. I will HIGHLY recommend the entire historic park for a sunny day when living history is underway.
Based on the recommendation of the visitor center attendant at the Vulcan Park & Museum (one of only two official Birmingham tourism centers – the other being at the airport), I made a stop at the
Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham. First, a couple of observations: 1) Vintage is quite misleading as about half the specimens are what I would consider modern – post 1950. A twenty-year-old might argue adamantly! 2) Motorsports also is misleading as about half the specimens have nothing to do with sport but are common, ordinary forms
of legal, street transportation. Additionally, the only motorsport category I recall (the battery in my phone died so my photography ended prematurely) is road course racing – both motorcycle and automobile. 3) There is no feasible way for the visitor to examine many of the artifacts without a pair of binoculars. Dozens of motorcycles have been placed on racks mounted to a centralized pillar and placed one above the other such that some are 20-30 feet removed from the eyeball. 4) With a couple of exceptions, there is no rhyme or reason to the visitor’s progression through the facility. I guess that’s why no museum “map” is provided upon admission. 5) A major addition is well underway which, when the artifacts are repositioned, might correct some of the noted deficiencies.
This is an interesting museum, but I cannot give it a highly recommended grade for the average tourist. I did learn a couple of lessons and, therefore, have a couple of recommendations for those who decide to visit: 1) Start with a fully charged camera battery. There is a ton of cool stuff to document. 2) Take a brisk walk through all five levels of the facility to get
a feel for the types of artifacts that most appeal to your senses. THEN, stop on your second walk-through to admire and read the excellent documentation. Make no mistake, this is a motorcycle museum with some automobiles thrown in to expand the title to motorsports. There is everything from an 1867 Roper Steam Velocipede to a 200+ m.p.h. street legal crotch rocket. There is a nice collection of military motorcycles as well as some vintage Ferraris and Lotuses (or would that be Loti). Oh yes, the museum is on the grounds of the Barber Motorsports Park, a 740-acre, multi-purpose racing facility that is home to the
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and of the
Barber Vintage Festival held in early October. Both sound like a lot of fun.
My final stop of the day, and in Birmingham for that matter, was at the
Alabama Veterans Memorial Park. The centerpiece of this 22.5-acre park is a unique, interesting memorial with a memorial walkway leading to the Memorial proper, a courtyard area and a Regiment of Columns standing in front of a Hall of Honor. There are 36 Columns in the Regiment, each two feet in diameter and 20 feet in height. The Columns support aluminum casts of 24 (or
Unquestionably Different!
Alabama Veterans Memorial Park - Birmingham AL 25, depending on which paragraph of the web site you read) citations for Alabama’s Medal of Honor recipients from the 20th Century. They also support veterans’ stories, veterans’ letters and 59 related original works of art designed by Alabama artists.
The 23-foot by 46-foot Hall of Honor displays the names over 11,000 Alabamans, from all branches of service, who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. The names are displayed in each war alphabetically within a veteran’s county of enlistment. The memorial is unique to say the least. Breathtaking, no. Beautiful, no. Awesome, no. Unique, yes.
In spite of temperatures in the high eighties and low nineties, I had a nice time in Birmingham and, given its location on a direct path to Nashville from points I frequent further south, I plan to return. There were four attractions I had on my “B list” which I chose to omit on this stop primarily because of the hot, humid weather – the
Southern Museum of Flight/Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame, the
Negro Southern League Museum and the
Birmingham Botanical Gardens (which I heard from multiple sources is awesome) all in Birmingham and the
Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in
Thanks Waymond, Howard, Richard, Billie, Carl, Charles, Terry, Willie, Edward, Elmer And Wayne – RIP, Brothers
Alabama Veterans Memorial Park - Birmingham AL Calera AL. Like the bumper sticker that I bought at Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in Vermont says, “If it’s not fun, why do it?” Folks, 98 degrees and 95 percent humidity ain’t listed under “fun” in Uncle Larry’s dictionary!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 16; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0319s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
