Advertisement
Published: June 28th 2016
Google Maps told me the trip from Birmingham South Campground in Pelham AL to the River Country Campground in Gadsden AL would be about 90 miles and would take about 1 ½ hours, so I engaged in a little housekeeping before stowing my gear for the trip. The drive went without a hiccup, and I arrived in early afternoon on June 8, 2016. In spite of my late start (and because of my early finish), I made a drive to the
Greater Gadsden Area Tourism Center in downtown Gadsden. This facility is more like the Chamber of Commerce than a tourism center, but the helpful young man, who appeared from a rear office after I had entered, answered a couple of questions and provided a couple of dining tips.
My first undertaking in the Gadsden area, on Thursday, was a quick drive northeastwardly to Fort Payne on I-59 so I could take a leisurely drive back to Gadsden on the
Lookout Mountain Parkway and terminate the southwestwardly route at any time my endurance or daylight dictated. On Wednesday afternoon, I had called per the Internet instruction set to inquire about touring the
Fort Payne Opera House and was told somebody who could conduct a tour should be manning The
There Are Over Ninety Dioramas In Total
Fort Payne Depot Museum - Diorama Annex - Fort Payne ALHosiery Museum right next door. Ducks all lined up, ready, set, go!
My first stop in Fort Payne was the
Fort Payne Depot Museum. This former train depot has been constructed of stone and the photographs I saw were captivating. The museum itself is a nice collection of locally significant artifacts, but the attraction is the building itself. The attendant told me the museum has a Diorama Annex in a storefront in the same block as the Opera House – a mere ½ block distant. One parking space, four attractions. I’ll take that deal any day. Two ladies greeted me enthusiastically when I entered the annex and told me the dioramas had been made by an unknown artist and somehow abandoned only to be rescued sometime later. Many of the pieces portray children’s’ stories while others depict famous landmarks, and many highlight a variety of scenes of just plain old Americana. Am I on
The Great Adventure or what? Although none are individual masterpieces, this collection of what I would consider folk-art represents a tremendous labor of love performed by some unsung hero. It’s definitely worth a ten-minute stop while in town.
My next stop was The Hosiery Museum. The “about-my-age”
attendant was quite occupied with a man of similar longevity who had been raised in Fort Payne and had returned for a funeral. I couldn’t help but overhear parts of their conversation, and some of it was a local history lesson of sorts. I perused the hosiery-making equipment and examined some of the other artifacts on display before inquiring about the Opera House. The other visitor echoed that he hadn’t seen it in years and would like to see it again. With The Hosiery Museum secured, we made our way next door. The Opera House is less adorned than most but is beautiful in its own historic way. None of the four historic destinations I visited in Fort Payne merit a long drive unto itself; however, their combined power makes Fort Payne a great destination for those looking to undertake a scenic drive from Huntsville AL, Birmingham AL or Chattanooga TN.
As I was making my way to the Lookout Mountain Parkway, I passed by a significant collection of statues on a corner of a downtown park. A quick turn into a parking space and a short walk later, I found the statues to represent the members of the
Definitely An Attention-Getter
(Singing Group) Alabama Monument - Fort Payne AL country music group
Alabama. Cousins Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook all have their roots in the Fort Payne area while drummer Mark Herndon, who joined the group in 1979, hails from Springfield MA. In the late 1960s, the
Boys in the Band played locally and part-time before heading to the South Carolina coast to play some bigger venues and to get more exposure with the large tourist population. In 1980, the
Alabama Band was invited to a country music radio “new faces” show and was discovered by RCA’s Joe Galante. On April 21, 1980,
Alabama signed with RCA which immediately pressed their autobiographical anthem song, “My Home’s in Alabama” which reached #2 on the country charts. In May, RCA released “Tennessee River” which was
Alabama’s first #1 hit. The group followed with an incredible string of 21 consecutive #1 hits and had 42 #1s in total.
I had seen the Alabama Fan Club & Museum (located in Fort Payne) scattered through the information I perused; however, I immediately, for some crazy reason, associated the attraction with Alabama FOOTBALL – they do love their Tide in Alabama. Not until I was a couple of days removed from Fort
Payne, did I connect the dots and realize the museum was for the group and not the team. Some of my readers might want to add that attraction to their list. Alright, back to the
Lookout Mountain Parkway which actually spans three states as it stretches across Lookout Mountain from Gadsden to Chattanooga TN. Since my next stop would be Chattanooga, I decided to drive the southwestern portion of the parkway from Gadsden and save the northeastern segment for Chattanooga.
Both
Little River Canyon National Preserve and
DeSoto State Park share the same geographic space so differentiating one from the other is difficult. I have learned that Irene, my GPS, is an extremist – either she wants to direct me to a major (usually U.S.) highway or will direct me to a route on a gravel cowpath which is, perhaps, a ¼ mile shorter than that I would have driven on paved state or county roads. Therefore, I didn’t utilize her services and watched the road signs until they were no longer visible, i.e., I made a wrong turn, missed a turn or the county ran out of money! Then, it was up to the trusty, albeit archaic, compass. I covered some interesting landscape but the flora
had matured nicely since the scenic designation was ascribed and the views were generally nonexistent – even at the designated scenic pull offs. That having been said, I did take a short walk to the top of
DeSoto Falls and managed a distant view of
Little River Falls, neither of which was breathtaking in the current drought conditions; however, both are listed in the “Top 100 Waterfalls in the U.S.” Had the drought not been in place and the falls more majestic, I might have walked down the hill to the base of DeSoto Falls and taken the short hike to Little River Falls.
Friday, I decided to stay local and visit the Spirit of America Citizen Monument in Gadsden, the Historic Downtowns of Gadsden and nearby Attalla and then wrap up the day with a visit to the
Wheels On the Hill - Car Show and Swap Meet in Gadsden. I made a stop at the Spirit of America Citizen Monument, read the inscriptions and took a couple of pictures. A June 11, 1997
editorial in the
Gadsden Times outlines the reasons for the erection of the Spirit of America Citizen Monument, but basically it stands to thank citizens of the past and to inspire current citizens and citizens of
the future to continue the spirit of community citizenship that has made Gadsden such a great place to live. It’s hard to spend any amount of time in Gadsden without passing the monument, so you’d might as well stop. I drove through the historic downtowns of Gadsden and Attalla as planned; but the parking was totally crazy at the car show, and it was too hot to walk so I headed home.
Schoolless Saturday found me heading to Huntsville AL to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate and the Official Visitor Center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Pay attention as there are three cooks in this kitchen. The grand poohbah is Redstone Arsenal (Cook #1), a United States Army post which is the garrison for a number of tenants including the United States Army Materiel Command, the Army's Aviation and Missile Command, the Missile Defense Agency of the Department of Defense and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (Cook #2). The base contains a government and contractor daily workforce that averages 36,000 to 40,000 personnel. Originally a chemical weapons manufacturing facility for World War II, in the immediate post-war era it became home to the
German rocket scientists that were brought to the U.S. The team first worked on ballistic missiles, initially V-2 rocket derivatives that evolved into a series of ever larger designs. Many of the actual tests were carried out at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In late 1956, the Army was relieved of most of its ballistic missiles in favor of similar weapons operated by the U.S. Air Force. The German design team was spun off to become part of the newly formed NASA.
From the U.S. Space and Rocket Center web site: “When Dr. Wernher von Braun arrived in 1950 in the tiny Alabama town which called itself the "Watercress Capital of the World," Huntsville boasted a population of 15,000. Today, it is forged forever in history as the place where America's space program was born; where the rockets were developed that put the first U.S. satellite into orbit and sent men to the moon; where the power for today's space shuttle was developed; where the modules for the International Space Station were designed and built; and where America’s next great ship – the Space Launch System – is being designed.” Dr. von Braun envisioned another important project
– a permanent exhibit to showcase the hardware of the space program. He approached the Alabama Legislature with the idea of creating a museum jointly with the U.S. Army Missile Command and NASA. After Alabama lawmakers and its citizens voted in 1968 to finance construction; the U.S. Army vacated and donated land located on the perimeter of the Redstone Arsenal, and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (Cook #3) was born.
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center resides outside the boundaries of Redstone Arsenal, and access is available to all; however, Marshall Space Flight Center is within the boundaries of Redstone Arsenal, and access is restricted; however, if the visitor purchases the $15.00
Marshall Space Flight Center Bus Tour, he or she can see a lot of the “nuts and bolts,” behind-the-scenes aspects of the space program. The tour includes the National Historic Landmark Redstone Test Stand, the International Space Station mission control center for experiments, the Dynamic Test Stand used to test the Saturn V rocket and a static display of several U.S. Army helicopters. I took the bus tour and found it to be quite interesting, but, then again, I’m kind of a space nut. Two of the ladies who talk to
the astronauts from the counsels we’ve all seen on TV came out to our observation area, gave us an overview of the activities and answered questions. Pretty cool. They noted that action on the International Space Station was minimal that Saturday as astronauts, apparently, get weekends off.
Since opening its doors in 1970, nearly 16 million people have toured the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, in part, because it has one of the largest collections of rockets and space memorabilia anywhere in the world including the original Mercury and Gemini capsule trainers, the Apollo 16 capsule “Casper” and a Skylab solar array. Visitors learn about the Space Race, which eventually put man on the moon and the development of the space shuttle program and International Space Station as well as take a look forward to private space ventures and the latest technological innovations for the future.
The International Space Station exhibit examines science experiments that astronauts conduct in a weightless environment. Visitors can enjoy daily features on the full-dome IMAX® Theater 67-foot screen. The Davidson Center for Space Exploration contains an authentic Saturn V rocket – one of only three in the world – and the National Geographic
This Jewel Is Closed To Vehicular Traffic
1904 Clarkson Or Legg 250' Covered Bridge & Park - Cullman AL Theater, with its 52-foot high-definition screen. Outside, Rocket Park showcases 27 missiles and rockets, and Shuttle Park has the world’s only fully-stacked Space Transportation System (STS or Space Shuttle) that includes two solid rocket boosters, genuine shuttle main engine nozzles and a genuine external tank. Many hands-on interactive exhibits and space travel simulators can be found both inside and outside. Even though some of the attractions I mentioned are only available for an additional fee, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is a definite “must see” while in Huntsville.
On my return to Gadsden, I made stops at four, what else, covered bridges – the Clarkson/Legg 250' Covered Bridge & Park (1904) in Cullman AL, the Swann or Joy 305' Covered Bridge (1933) in Cleveland AL, the Easley or Rosa 82' Covered Bridge (1930) in Oneonta AL and the Horton's Mill 203' Covered Bridge (1934) also in Oneonta. All are very nice, and gave me an excuse to drive on some “off the grid” county roads. All except the first is open to vehicular traffic. Having a short drive on Wednesday, I made an early morning return to the site of the car show to visit 90’
Noccalula Falls, another
one of the “Top 100 Waterfalls in the U.S.” Again, the drought reduced the falls to less than spectacular, but the setting is neat, the statue is cool and the story is awesome.
For as hot and humid as was the weather, I got a lot accomplished during my stay in Gadsden. I got my space fix and a recommendation for a very good catfish restaurant,
Top O' The River - Catfish & Seafood Restaurant. Even though the views on the scenic drive were not spectacular, I got to see some very pretty Alabama countryside, a great railroad depot and some very interesting folk art. Although the drought conditions severely compromised the experience and the heat made hiking ill advised, I got to see three of the “Top 100 Waterfalls in the U.S.” and then got to see three covered bridges. To top it off, I stumbled upon a monument honoring one of my favorite country music groups. Not a bad week at all!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.127s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 11; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0503s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
