Browse Items (963 total)

  • Collection: Alabama Places and Spaces

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A rare Southern example of architectural "Jeffersonian Classicism," the Belmont plantation house was completed in 1835 as a residence for Isaac Winston, a successful and wealthy planter who would, in his sixties, volunteer for service in the…

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Buzzard Roost is a site along the Natchez Trace Parkway near Cherokee, where farmer, trader, and Chickasaw tribal spokesman Levi Colbert is thought to have lived and operated a "stand," or inn, for travelers during the early years of the 19th…

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Built between 1924 and 1930, the Clyde Carter House is a Spanish-Eclectic-style cottage located in what was (briefly) the Bernard Subdivision of Ford City. With its "fanciful," European-influenced design and stuccoed walls, the house stands out…

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The Chambers-Robinson House at 910 Montgomery Avenue in Sheffield is a two-story, Queen-Anne-style frame house, built in 1890 as a residence for Judson G. Chambers and his wife Mary. In 1898, the couple sold the home to Charles and Dora Robinson,…

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The John and Archibald Christian House in Tuscumbia was built during the 1830s as a residence for two brothers from Virgina, who, like many natives of the Piedmont region during the mid-19th-century, relocated to North Alabama. It is particularly…

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A one-and-a-half-story "Southern Viriginian" frame cottage located at 300 West North Commons in Tuscumbia, Ivy Green is significant for being the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller. It was during her infancy at Ivy Green that illness…

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The John Johnson House, commonly referred to as "The Green Onion," is a 19th-century Tidewater-style cottage near Leighton in Colbert County. It is one of four double-square Tidewater cottages in the state of Alabama, and one of three among those…

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The modest exterior of the one-story concrete structure at 3614 North Jackson Highway stands in deceptively stark contrast to the majesty of the music produced therein. The building once housed the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where some of…

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The E.L. Newman Lustron House is a prefabricated one-story home in Sheffield built in 1949 by the Lustron Corporation. The house is one of eleven surviving Lustron homes in the state of Alabama, and one of five in the Shoals area, for which it once…

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The 22 buildings which comprise Tuscumbia's Colbert County Courthouse Square Historic District reflect a broad range of architectural styles, including Victorian, Gothic, and Greek Revival. The most distinctive architectural example is the courthouse…

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Johnson's Woods in Tuscumbia is one of the earliest surviving examples of Classical Revival-style architecture in the Tennessee Valley, and is among "the best preserved collections of mid-nineteenth-century agricultural architecture" in the state of…

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The Nitrate Village No. 1 Historic District encompasses 112 family homes, two school buildings and one apartment complex, situated near the south bank of the Tennessee River in Sheffield, Alabama. The village was constructed in 1918 to house workers…

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Situated on the corner of North Main Street and Second Street in Tuscumbia, the Felix Grundy Norman House is one of the few single-story Greek-revival-style cottages remaining in a city where such structures were once commonplace. The house was…

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The Oaks, also known as the Abraham Ricks Plantation, is actually two houses in one: a one-and-a-half story log building connected to a two-story late-Georgian plantation home by a one-story dining room. The log structure, which predates its Georgian…

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According to church tradition, Leighton's Old Brick Presbyterian Church building was constructed in 1828, although architectural evidence suggests a later date during the 1830s or 1840s. Its distinctive, kiln-fired exterior bricks and sun-dried…

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Preuit Oaks is a plantation complex once owned and operated by W. Richard Preuit, one of the most successful cotton planters of the so-called "Town Creek Triangle" area during the mid-19th century. Family tradition holds that the central cottage was…

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One of the oldest surviving domestic structures in Tuscumbia, the John Daniel Rather House, or Locust Hill, was built in 1823 for planter William Hooe and his wife, Catherine Winter. It was occupied briefly during the Civil War by Union troops under…

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Covering 160 acres and encompassing 678 properties, the Sheffield Residential Historic District reflects development in the city of Sheffield from its establishment in 1883 through the mid-20th-century. Like the Colbert County Courthouse Square…

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The Tuscumbia Historic District encompasses a substantial portion of the city's 1817 street plan, including Spring Park, the North Commons, and the entirety of the Colbert County Courthouse Square Historic District, which is itself listed on the…

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Tuscumbia merchant Clark T. Barton began building what would become the William Winston House around 1835. Several years later, in 1840, planter Winston purchased the still-unfinished house and oversaw its completion. The house remained in the…

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To reach Sheffield City Cemetery from Florence, follow US-72 across O'Neal Bridge into Sheffield. Go straight through the first traffic light and veer slightly right onto North Jackson Highway. After half of a mile, look for the cemetery on your…

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Mt. Cumberland Presbyterian Church was established by a faction which split from nearby Old Brick Presbyterian Church. The earliest burial in the cemetery is Josephine "Josie" Davidson Kerby (1870-1916). The RootsWeb source linked below contains a…

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The origins of Leighton's Old Brick Presbyterian Church can be traced back to 1812, when traveling minister Carson P. Reed staged a two-week revival in the Brick community. 45 men baptized during the revival were inspired to establish a congregation…

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On September 4, 1937, Tuscumbia merchant Key Underwood buried his trusty coon dog Old Troop in a part of the Freedom Hills Wildlife Management area known then as Sugar Camp. In the years that followed, other coon dog owners began to follow…

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To reach Glendale Cemetery from Muscle Shoals, head south on Wilson Dam Road, then turn right onto Old Highway 20 and drive for about 3 miles. The cemetery is on the left, just past Gnat Pond Road.

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Tuscumbia's Oakwood Cemetery was mapped and designated as a burial ground in General John Coffee's 1817 survey "Plan of a Town at Coldwater Spring," and the cemetery's oldest burial dates from 1821. Hundreds of military veterans are buried in…

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Winston Cemetery, at the corner of SW 14th Avenue and SW 7th Street in Sheffield, sits on land purchased from the United States government by Andrew Jackson, who subsequently gifted it to Col. Anthony Winston. The property was later incorporated into…

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The Jackson Cemetery was established in 1918 by Alex Jackson as a burial place for his adoptive family. Vinson Perkins, the grandson of Jackson's adoptive parents, was caretaker of the cemetery from 1978 until his death in 2006.

To reach the…

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LaGrange Cemetery in Colbert County is located on the site of Alabama's first college, which was established by charter in 1830, and served as a military academy in the years leading up to the Civil War. In 1854, most of the LaGrange College faculty…

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To reach the Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery from AL-157 in Muscle Shoals, head east on 2nd Street/AL-184 and after 6 miles, turn right onto County Line Road. The church and cemetery are on the left.

This two story commercial building is located at 356 Gunter Ave in downtown Guntersville, AL. Built in 1940, the building faces east and features a flat roof with a flat facade parapet. It was remodeled around 1990, at which time aluminum…

This commercial building in historic downtown Guntersville, AL was built in 1955. It is of masonry construction, with two aluminum storefront window systems, each containing its own door with transom. The roof is flat and features a flat parapet at…

Built in 1925, this one-story commercial building is of masonry construction and features a flat roof with a flat parapet at the facade. It has two unequal-length storefront systems that were added in 1965. The south system features a recessed…

This two story masonry commercial building was constructed in 1940. It has a flat roof concealed by a flat parapet at the facade. The modern aluminum storefront system with pent awning was added in 1975. A distinguishing feature of this building is…

This two story masonry building was constructed in 1925. The modern aluminum-framed storefront system and pent awning was added in 1975. The building has a flat roof concealed by a flat parapet on the facade. The upper facade feature 7 four-over-one…

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The Railroad Bridge is a part of the TVA Nature Loop. The TVA Nature Loop is a 2.5 mile loop trail on TVA protected land. Overall, there are roughly 11 miles of footpaths in the area. The loop is around a section of the TVA reservation. The path is…

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The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works relief program set up as a part of the New Deal Program. The last Company of men sent to the Muscle Shoals area in 1936 was the 4499 company. These men originally worked under the United States…

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The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, was created by President Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. The main goals of the CCC was to reduce fire hazards, control disease, repair railroads, and prevent erosion. A CCC company located in the Muscle…

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Cane Creek is a privately owned nature preserve cooperating with the Nature Conservancy of Alabama. This is a 9.1 mile out and back hiking trail near Tuscumbia. The main feature of the trail is the waterfall. The trail has a moderate hiking rating…

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Wilson Dam Lake was created from the damming of the Tennessee River by the construction of the Wilson Dam. The lake's normal elevation is 505 feet. The average depth is 97 feet. The distance of the backwater upstream is 17 miles and the area of the…

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The powerhouse controls Wilson Dam. The building is connected parallel to the dam on the south side. It houses the generating machinery for producing electricity from the dammed water. It also controls the overflow water flowing out of Wilson lake.…

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The first canal built in the Muscle Shoals was built by the state of Alabama, assisted by the United States government, between 1831-1836. To fund the canal the US Congress gave the state 400,000 acres of public land to sell. The proceeds were used…

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The Tennessee Valley is filled with minerals, including the materials needed to produce nitrates. Nitrates can be used for many things, most importantly for TVA to help add nutrients to fertilizer. This helped  to increase crop production. Another…

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The Tennessee Valley is filled with minerals, including the materials needed to produce nitrates. Nitrates can be used for many things, most importantly for TVA to help add nutrients to fertilizer. This helped  to increase crop production. Another…

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The Tennessee Valley is filled with minerals, including the materials needed to produce nitrates. Nitrates can be used for many things, most importantly for TVA to help add nutrients to fertilizer. This helped  to increase crop production. Another…

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The Rockpile TVA trail is a 2.7 mile in and out hiking trail that follows the Tennessee River. It is possible for the hike to reach 6 miles by exploring the area. This is an easily followed trail and is well marked along the paths. There is a large…

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The TVA Nature Loop is a 2.5 mile loop trail on TVA protected land. Overall, there are roughly 11 miles of footpaths in the area. The loop is around a section of the TVA reservation. The path is well paved and taken care of. People with disabilities…

The North Alabama Birding Trail consists of fifty birding sites across the northern part of the state. There are currently 397 species known to have been seen along the trail. The fifty sites were carefully selected by a group of biologists, bird…

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The Muscle Shoals is a section of the Tennessee River in North Alabama. This is the shoals that gives the surrounding area its name. The section on the river totals 37 miles in length. This was once an impassable barrier along the river. It made…

Spring Park is in downtown Tuscumbia. The main feature of the park is the spring and waterfall. The waterfall is made of natural limestone rocks. An fountain show is put on during certain times of the year. The area is often used for festivals and…
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