Beneath the shadows of the towering oak trees in the Old Cloverdale Neighborhood of Montgomery, Alabama, a unique experience lies in the halls of a 1910 Craftsman-style home. The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, the only museum in the world dedicated to the lives of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, stands among other historical homes of the area, but the interior feels as if it has stayed frozen since the two writers occupied the adobe from 1931 until the spring of 1932.
Have you seen a black bear while camping? Or, perhaps you have encountered one while hiking? If you have yet to see a black bear in person, Alabama is great place to spot one of these mammals. Not only do black bears reside here but they are also the state mammal! There are many fascinating facts to be learned about them, including the unfortunate fact that they are a species of highest conservation need in our state.
My husband and I frequently visit Amelia Island, Florida, for a respite from the chaos of our daily lives, and because of our passion for history, we usually include some element of education with each trip. On our most-recent vacation, we visited the usual stops, including historic Fort Clinch. But it was a smaller, out-of-the-way beach that drew our attention most: American Beach, especially after learning if its Alabama connection. After hiking for miles along Black Rock Beach that was formed at the end of the Ice Age and truly transports you to Maui and then through Boneyard Beach that is full of eerie and majestical tree remains from storms past, we drove the short distance to American Beach. It was here that our day was spent, reading historic markers, talking with beach security officers, and researching every new detail that came to life. As my genealogy friends can relate, we hit a true historic rabbit hole.
Viola Virginia Hyatt is known by many names. Her family and neighbors in the community of Rabbittown simply called her Viola. The rest of Calhoun County, as well as the state of Alabama and the nation, knows her as the "Alabama Axe Murderess" or the "Torso Slayer." But what isn’t known is the motive that earned her these nicknames.
In August, the halls of Mobile’s Most Pure Heart of Mary School were once again filled with the din of students making their way to classes. This may seem an altogether regular occurrence, no different than scenes at public, private, and parochial schools throughout the nation. Still, the presence of students in the storied halls of Heart of Mary is, to some, nothing less than miraculous. Heart of Mary parish was established in 1899 as a mission church by St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart, an order devoted exclusively to religious service in African American communities. For much of its history, Heart of Mary Church and School occupied the corner of Sengstak Street and Jefferson Davis Avenue (renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue in the mid-1980s), the heart of Mobile’s Black business district. From the parish grew mission churches in two nearby communities, as well as the Knights of Peter Claver. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest group of Black Catholic lay leaders in the world. Heart of Mary parishioners, as well as several of its nuns and priests, played important roles in Mobile’s civil rights movement throughout the twentieth century. Alabama weather can be quite volatile and brutal, especially during the summer heat. A temperature of 84°F with humidity of 100 percent can make the heat index 104 degrees, leading to outdoor activities becoming dangerous due to strenuous heat. With heat like that the air can be like walking into a wall.
The love and tradition of college football runs deep in Alabama, but many are unaware of how this cherished sport became an integral part of the state’s culture. William Gray Little, known as the father of Alabama football, organized what became the Crimson Tide after enrolling at The University of Alabama in 1892. A Livingston, Alabama, native, he hoped to attend an Ivy League college but returned to Alabama with “a pair of cleats, a leather football, and tales of the new sport that had captured the imagination of the Northeast and Middle West.” Little’s intuition was correct, for Alabama has been known for its love of football ever since the first Alabama-Auburn game played in Lakeview Park, Birmingham, in February 1893.
Though the Alabama Theatre is often heralded for its beauty, its counterpart The Lyric holds a sense of opulence all its own. With its ornate gold detailing and Grecian murals, the oldest theatre in Birmingham has made a remarkable comeback. The theatre opened its doors in 1914 and was originally designed for vaudeville shows, an entertainment form largely lost to time. It hosted many big names of that era, including the Marx Brothers, Mae West, and Milton Berle. It was in its time the image of modernism: though still segregated, the Lyric was one of the few places where white and black people could enjoy live entertainment together for the same price. The theatre would remain a popular stop along the vaudeville circuit until the early 1930s, when the Great Depression hit. The Depression, film's rising popularity, mismanagement, and a revolving door of owners would ultimately lead to this landmark’s downfall. In the end, the Lyric couldn’t keep up with the fast-paced modern culture that had grown up around it.
At 7 a.m. on July 4, 2022, Tuscaloosa was jolted awake by a sudden rumble followed by a loud bang and multiple explosions repeating one after the next. But it wasn’t fireworks. Instead, it was a controlled implosion of Julia Tutwiler Hall, an all-girls dormitory at the University of Alabama. Spectators watched the thirteen-floor tower as explosives inside went off, till finally the building fell to the ground, sending a plume of white dust into the air and leaving nothing behind but a pile of crumbled bricks and twisted metal. Around 675 pounds of dynamite was needed to bring the building down in twenty seconds. In 1540, Hernando De Soto explored the southeastern region of the United States. His exact route through the state of Alabama is unknown, but it is commonly accepted that he entered through the northeast end of the state and traveled southward to the Montgomery-Selma area before either heading west or northwest into Mississippi. His expedition gave insight into the lives of Native Americans before other Europeans arrived, but it also brought diseases such as smallpox that caused depopulation of Native Americans in the areas that the 700-maned army traveled through. De Soto also engaged in battle with Native Americans in southern Alabama after being ambushed by the Mobilian tribe led by chief Tuskaloosa. The battle resulted in Spanish victory, but the Spaniards killed an estimated 2,000-6,000 Native Americans, making it one of the bloodiest battles in North American history.
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Alabama Heritage BLOG
At Alabama Heritage, we owe many of our successes and smooth operations to our fabulous student interns. We hope that with this blog--written mostly by our interns as well as history students from UAB and a few from our own editors--our readers will have an opportunity to get to know the students who bring so much to the table with their enthusiasm, hard work, and expertise! If you're interested in our internship program, check out the details here. Archives
April 2024
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