DAY 112- Civil Rights and a Confederate Capital…

Early the next morning I went to downtown Montgomery to the Rosa Parks Museum that is run by Troy University.  Rosa Park has been referred to as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.  It was a wonderful experience visiting the museum.  I started in a room the showed a film of Montgomery now and then it showed how the city was prior to the arrest of Rosa Parks.  There were local citizens of the community that spoke on film of their memories of how it was with the Jim Crowe Laws in effect.  The film showed photos of signs of white only and black only.  Next, the doors opened up into a room where there was a old bus in the middle of it.  It was like a step into the past.  Through the windows of the bus played out the scene of Rosa Parks’ arrest.  Rosa was firm but passive during the whole event.  She maintained her dignity too.  It was fascinating to watch.

Photo- Just inside of the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, AL.

Next, a set of church doors opened and I learned about what happened within the community after that.  It was very interesting to learn about the influence that Rosa Parks had on Martin Luther King too.  It was also amazing the level of planning and community involvement that it took to keep the boycott going.  There was a great deal of organizing that went into the carpooling that managed to get people to their jobs over the 13 month boycott.

Photo- The home Martin Luther King lived in Montgomery, AL
which is now a museum and was closed for the day.

Next, I found I had to laugh a bit and found it rather ironic that I ended up following a Montgomery City Bus on the way to Martin Luther King Jr’s house.  The home had been turned into a museum but had been bombed when the Kings lived there.  Well, the MLK House was closed.  Darn it!  So I just ended up driving by and taking a photo.

Photo- The front of the Alabama State Capital.

Then, I parked my car a few blocks away in front of the Alabama State Capital which happened to be the same Capital that was used by the Confederates as a base for government.  I really found it interesting that all of this history was within a few blocks.  I put money in the parking meter and then walked up the front steps of the Capital.  Meanwhile, a group of elegantly clad high school kids were coming down.  It looked like a choir with the boys in suits and the girls in long blue taffeta skirts.  I felt a bit under dressed and wondered if something special was going on in the Capital.

Photo- The foyer area just inside the front door of the Alabama State Capital.

The state capital of Alabama is like a mini replica of our nation’s capital.  It’s white with the columns down the front and a dome up top.  It’s placed on a hill that I found out was called “Goat’s Hill” which accounts for the gift shop’s name in the basement.  I took a picture of the outside.  They have a statue in the front that’s Mr. Confederate President himself, Mr. Jefferson Davis.  I’m always fascinated that they like to brag about their confederate history here in the south.  I would’ve been embarrassed to be a part of this but here they almost brag about it; which makes it even more interesting that a few blocks away is a museum dedicated to the mother of civil rights.  The south is such a quandary.

Photos- Of the rotunda of the Alabama State Capital.

I walk into the front door of the capital expecting security like most state capitals with roped off areas, a scanner and a gate that I would walk through; after I empty my pockets of change and keys.  Nope!  There’s a large Christmas tree in a foyer with stairs wrapping up on each side as I walk in.  Off to one side and back, there’s a security guard sitting at a table with an older lady at an information table.  There’s a table and detection gate way back and off to the side.  I say hi and the guard asks to check my purse and then after a bit has me walk through the gate.  It was a very laid back type of thing.  I was really surprised. 

I got a map of the capital from the lady and she asked where I was from.  She was rather proud that someone as far away as Utah wanted to see her state capital.  She asked me to sign the visitor’s book and welcomed me.  From there I just walked around on the main level which was mostly all white walls with elaborate molding.  Down the center hall, they must have had some event going on there were men in military outfits and dressed up people.  I walked around them; getting the eye from some state policeman with a wide brimmed flat hat.  I took out my camera, took pictures, and read signage about the building.   The state policeman is really keeping an eye on me and standing next to another man that other people are shaking his hand and wanting to talk with.  It turns out later that I was actually in the same room as the Alabama governor.  Their security is very laid back; it was mind boggling.

Photo- The first floor area, all very white.

I walked up to the next level where I could see in the dome area which was lovely but smaller than other capitals I have been in.  I was also amazed at how many doors were open and I could see Capital workers and statesman at work at their desks.  It was a very much open door policy.  In fact, there were only a couple of hallway areas that were roped off from visitors.  Otherwise it was a free for all. 

I walked down the back stairs to the gift shop which the information lady had recommended I visit.  There was another lax set of security guards by the back door with a table off to the side and the detection gate.  I walked by them saying hi and walked into the gift shop just across the hall from them.  Wow!  I will say that this was the nicest gift shop I have seen in any of the state capitals.  It was well presented and had a lot of items made in Alabama which I was amazed at the variety; from pottery to Alabama mud stained t-shirts to scented candles handmade tiled angel ornaments to cheese sticks (??) to candies.  I got a couple of postcards and could help but laugh about the Alabama mud stained t-shirts.

Next, I was fueled up and heading out of town heading east through Alabama back country towards Macon, GA.  I was about 30 miles out and it’s raining with dark clouds in the sky when the car radio announces a thunderstorm warning until 2pm and a tornado watch until 3pm.  It was strange because I haven’t had to worry about tornadoes for years since I moved away from Iowa and here I was driving on a back road in Alabama with a tornado watch.  I was almost out of the county that had this watch but it made me keep an eye on those dark clouds a little more closely and be aware of what shelter may be in the area as I drove along.

Photo- A Hillbilly Mall along a back road in Alabama?  Now that wasn't surprising!

It was pouring rain when I got to Macon, GA.  I managed to drive right to the hotel; only to find I had made the reservation for the next night.  Ooopps!  We got that rectified and I got settled in.  Then, I proceeded to try to locate a pizza place in the area but there was none; even though there was no shortage of restaurants nearby.  I finally gave up because driving in the area was near impossible with all the accidents.  They really don’t know how to drive in Macon when it rains.  I found a Sammy’s BBQ place about a block from my hotel and went in.

It was a rustic little BBQ place where a majority of the clientele was local southern middle class whites.  I seemed to fit right in except for having no accent.  I ordered a half slab of ribs with coleslaw and fries.  The ribs came hidden under the fries and a piece of garlic bread.  There were 4 different sauces to choose from on the table; I went with sweet and spicy.  It was good stuff!

DAY111- Mobile to Montgomery with a Florida Pit Stop…

I woke up to pure fog this morning and I was being to wonder if that was all they got along the coast during the winter time.  I took my time before checking out because I didn’t want to be driving and trying to find my way in the fog.  About 10am, it had finally lifted.  I headed south through the downtown area of Mobile.  It was quite the skyline to look at and it was rather cool to drive through a tunnel under part of the city area.  But I didn’t stop.  I wanted to check out some of the coastal communities and make a quick drive through Pensacola, FL before heading north to Montgomery, AL.   On the way out of Mobile, I passed a HUGE naval warship, the USS Alabama.  I thought better of trying the inside of another warship after my panic attack I had inside the last one.  But I did get to admire the bay as I drove along.

Photo- The city skyline of Mobile, AL.

Photo- The tunnel under part of downtown Mobile, AL.

I drove along the scenic highway route to the small township of Fairhope that I had heard was a small artistic community.  It was a cute little town.  I saw bicyclists and runners along a path that ran parallel to the road.  There were three square blocks of businesses for the downtown with a marina off in the distance.  There were quite a few artistic looking shops and a cute garden shop with metal armadillos walking across the front lawn area.  But it being Sunday, mostly everything was closed up and the only areas packed with cars were the churches; especially the Catholic Church as I went by.  I wasn’t dressed for church at all and so I continued on.

Photo- Bicyclists along the street near Fairhope.

Photo- Armadillos for Christmas anyone?

Next, there was the town of Foley which had a few more people out and about.  Pickup trucks and trailers were more common and I was driving away from the coastline over towards the Florida state line.  After that, there were several other communities that I drove through very similar to Foley with most of the businesses housed in metal warehouse like buildings off to the side of the road.  The land was very flat.  There were a lot of fields that looked like they were fallow cotton fields and other crops that I wasn’t sure what they were.  I drove over a bridge into Florida.  Here the landscape changed a bit and became more hilly.  There were also a lot of Naval Base areas.  I drove by a large Naval Medical area.  I followed the signs to the historic downtown Pensacola. 

Photo- Andrew Jackson Statue in a Plaza Square in Pensacola, FL.

I stopped at a town plaza square that had a statue of Andrew Jackson.  In July of 1821, General Jackson received West Florida from Spain and raised a flag in this very square to claim it as part of the US.  But as I read the inscription on the back of the statue, it sounds like this square got a lot of use as they listed other dates that other countries were raising flags over this part of Florida.  In fact, there had been ten times that the flag had been “turned” over prior to General Jackson earning the flag the last time.  This was a career boost to Andrew Jackson who ended up being a military governor and then ended up in the position of President shortly after that.

Photo- A statue of Ponce de Leon near the shore in Pensacola. 

Next, I walked down through the historic downtown area towards the shoreline.  The only places that seemed to be open were restaurants.  There were a fair amount of people down by the shoreline; some sitting on benches and enjoying the view with friends and family, while others were fishing.  It was an overcast cloudy and rather windy day along the coast.  I could see sailboats out on the water.  Here there was a statue of Ponce de Leon standing in a circle with fountains spraying behind him.  The fountains were accessible to play in, but with the cooler temps there weren’t any takers.  I slowly worked my way back to the car.

Photo- Fishing and watching the sailboats.

I still needed to work my way north towards Montgomery where I was staying the night.  I drove north through some forested land where there was new growth and old growth.  This land was being used for logging.  I had noticed seeing some logging trucks and I now knew where some of them were coming from.  The more north I went the more hilly the landscape became.  There wasn’t many small towns just off the road in this area and gas stations were sparse I’m glad I filled up before leaving Pensacola.

I came to one small town just after crossing the border to Alabama and stopped for a late lunch at a Hardee’s.  I didn’t know any of these existed anymore.  I used to work the graveyard shift during my college years at one in Iowa.  I stopped.  The menu was quite a bit different but it looks like they still made their biscuits for breakfast.  I asked one of the girls behind the counter if they still made their biscuits from scratch every morning.  Yes, she said there were two different people trained to do that and they would take turns coming in at 4am.  I told her I used to do that in my college years and that they didn’t have Hardee’s up in the mid-west anymore.  She didn’t find that very interesting; I guess because I got the doe in the headlights look.  I sat down and waited for my food.

It was just starting to get dark when I drove up to my motel in Montgomery and I have to say that my hotel was a bit of a dive.  In fact, right next door there was an abandoned dilapidated old motel but it was easy to find and relatively cheap.  The room was clean but was in poor need of updating.  I had been looking at the money situation of late and it was starting to dwindle faster than what I had planned.  I needed to find cheaper places.  I may only have about another 30 days before I may have to stop and do some work. 

Photo- Downtown Montgomery, AL.

But enough of this, I drove around and explored some of the downtown area of Montgomery.  There was a whole street area where there were Christmas lights along both sides of the streets.  It was a rather nice little downtown but was a bit annoying to get around because they sure do like their one way streets here.  On the way back to the hotel I had quick and cheap dinner at a Captain D’s which was like a different version of a Long John Silvers.

DAY 110- Lighthouses & Confederate Presidents…

I woke up to a wall of fog looking out my hotel window in Gulfport, MS which is a small town about 10 miles west of Biloxi.  Yesterday I had seen a couple of lighthouses along the beach when I was driving.  One of them I had seen a tour sign next to it.  I called the number for the local tourist information and checked to see if they would be open for the day; the brochure said weather permitting.  I couldn’t see anything pass the fog.  I went down for the continental breakfast and knew I was in the Deep South by the offered hot biscuits and gravy and the packages of instant grits.

Photo- The view from inside the Biloxi,MS Lighthouse.

An hour later the fog cleared up somewhat and I took off to the lighthouse.  I arrived right at 9AM when the lighthouse opened.  I went to the middle island of highway 90 where it’s located to learn I needed to go all the way across the street to purchase a ticket.  I waited for the light and walked to a large southern plantation looking house that was the tourist center for Biloxi.  I walked to the front desk inside the door.  Hun, you need to go to the gift shop down the hall to your right.  I purchased the ticket for the lighthouse and walked back to the middle island; feeling like I had just jumped through some hoops.

Photos- Inside the Lighthouse Upstairs the lamp
and downstairs... the waterlines from Hurricanes past.

The gal at the bottom looked at my ticket and said to go ahead and head up.  There’s a low section watch you head at the top of the stairs and then there’s a ladder.  As I walked in there were waterline markers from past hurricanes on the inside brick; the tallest one being about 20 feet up from Hurricane Katrina.  I walked around and around up the metal grid stairs; you could see through the grid to the bottom floor of the lighthouse.  I told myself not to look down (me being just a bit afraid of heights); though it was hard because I had to see where the stairs were.  I came to a small landing with a low overhead clearance and a ladder.  Just a little bit more, I told myself to breathe.

Photo- The outside of the Biloxi, MS Lighthouse.

I got to the top and Wow!  What a view it was.  The husband of the gal who checked my receipt was up on top.  He welcomed me and he apologized for the extra walk across the street.  I started to ask him a couple of questions about the lighthouse and he enthusiastically told me all kinds of information about the lighthouse.  It’s 60 ft. tall and one of two of the original lighthouses along the Gulf Coast that is still active.  I guess this same lighthouse is featured on the Mississippi license plate too. He went on to explain about how after the hurricanes someone always climbs in the still standing lighthouse and hung a flag from the railing of the lighthouse.  It was like a sign that says it’s still here and we can recover.  It was a wonderful thought.

Photo- A statue of Jeffereson Davis.

Next I wondered down the street to Beauvoir which means good view in French and was the last home of Jefferson Davis.  He was the first and only Confederate President of the US.  They have made a museum of the home and are currently rebuilding the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library a second time.  Hurricane Katrina wiped it out.  She also did a number on the main house and other buildings on the property.  But when you consider the beach is right across the street; it’s amazing that more damage wasn’t done.  It is a National Historic Landmark that is privately owned and maintained by the Mississippi Division of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Photos- The Main house where Jefferson lived and the view from the porch which led to its name...

At current, the gift shop and tour center is in a couple of linked up trailers on the property.  I walked in and found out I was about 6 minutes until the next tour of the main house.  I paid my discounted AAA entrance fee and started to walk over to the main house’s front doors where the house tour started.  I was the only one on the porch.  A short while later a woman came out and asked if I was the only one; I told her that it appeared to be so.  We started the tour.

The house was originally built by a Mr. Brown who had more money than what he knew what to do with wanted to show it off.  He built this house as a second home on the beach.  It was meant as a vacation home but he rather over built and made it sturdy which was a good thing because it survived pretty well against Katrina.  The woman pointed out different things inside the house that had to be refurbished or restored or located after Katrina. Hurricane Katrina had taken part of the roof and most of the furniture had been scattered around the area by her winds.

Photo- The main foyer/hallway area of the house.

My tour guide told me that the home had changed ownership from Mr. Brown who passed away to a wealthy single woman who was somehow related to Jefferson Davis’ wife.  That’s how he came to become familiar with the home and was asked to be a guest a couple of times.  Then he came to be a tenant and he paid rent to stay in one of the other houses on the property.  The wealthy woman passed away leaving it to him.  Warning- THIS is the shortened version of the tale.  These southerns love to tell their tales.  Jefferson Davis wrote his memoirs in this house and stayed here till the end of his life.  He is buried somewhere on the property.

Photo- The parlour where a painting of Mr. Brown, the original owner, hangs over the fireplace.

They had tried to bring the house back to what it would have looked like in the year 1890. It was a lovely interior with painted walls that looked more like wall paper but were not.  A great deal of the woodwork was cypress wood; the pullout French doors and wooden floors.  There was a center foyer hall area that went through to a back door and then there were four large rooms off of that.  Two of the rooms were used as bedrooms; another was used as a parlor, and another as a den.  The tour guide showed me the large covered back porch that was semi-enclosed by trellis where there were two additional wings where there were two more bedrooms on one side and two dining rooms on the other side.  One of the dining rooms was for the adults and was larger while the other was quite a bit smaller and was for the children.

Photo- The large back porch area that has two wings off of it;
one with bedrooms and another with dining rooms.

The house tour was over but she pointed out the way out to the Civil War Cemetery in the back of the property.  She also pointed out an area there was a rose garden and said that Katrina didn’t like it so she ripped it out.  She went on to say that they keep on promising to replant it but they move a little slow on something’s in Mississippi.  She also teased me about a friendly alligator out by the bridge I would walk over to get to the cemetery.  She said they did feed him on a regular basis.  I guess this is some of that Mississippi humor.

Photo- The cemetery in the back of the property of Beauvoir.

I walked out through what would have been a rose garden and over a bridge to the cemetery in the rear of the property.  There was also a front gate back there that Katrina didn’t like that they laid to rest to.  It was an interesting cemetery to visit among large trees with Spanish moss hanging.  Some of the graves just had the names with the position they held in the army; while others had the years of birth and death with a statement of how old they were when they passed.  I found that interesting that they put how old they were when they passed.  It was like the math was already done for you which I found a bit amusing.  I wandered back to trailers and bought a couple of postcards.

Photo- The Jefferson Davis Presidential Library still being rebuilt
with the area where the rose garden was at one time. Now it's just
a field area with a sun dial in the middle of it. 

Next I drove further along the shoreline to another lighthouse.  This one was more for looks and I had been told by the other guy at the top of the lighthouse that Hancock Bank was instrumental in having this one rebuilt.  Part of the reason they did that he said was that it is Hancock’s symbol for their bank.  This lighthouse was in a park area with a marina on the beach in front of it.  I walked around the area and took some pictures.

Photo- The now non-active lighthouse that's used for the Hankock Bank symbol.

Then, I was on down the road to Mobile, AL.  I drove along the interstate and crossed the state line.  Yeah, another state I had never been in!  Shortly after that I saw a rest stop sign with a Welcome Center.  I was hoping for something like the experience I had in Mississippi.  Nope!  This Welcome Center was closed but they did have free state road maps and Sweet Home Alabama brochures of the state.  I used the rest room and continued on down the road. I hit Mobile just as rush hour traffic was getting into full swing and there was an accident just off of the exit I had to take to get to my hotel.  Oh joy!  I opted to stay put for the night after that.  I was staying at a Drury Inn which advertises including everything.  They have a kick back social hour from 5:30-7PM where they serve food and three free drinks.  I also managed to catch up on laundry too.