Day 2 Historic Montgomery

Great Alabama weather not so good on this Friday!

 We started bright and early with a trip to the Alabama State Capitol in downtown Montgomery.  Lots of alabaster, portraits of governors including George Wallace, and statues of famous Alabamians like Helen Keller.  I however, love the architecture and antiques.

The looking up the staircase view

Capitol Dome

Next on the tour was Old Alabama Town.  Kind of like a Pioneer Village for you Lagoon referencers but six blocks of homes, shops, slave quarters and such to give you a feel of what a village would have been like.  The potter was out but we got to go in the wood carver's shop and met Carol Jean Boyd and all her gorgeous carvings.  The shop smelled so good and her darling Santa's made from Cypress wood were awesome.  Unfortunately they run in the $800 range for originals so I may have to opt for a resin version.

We had tour guides in some buildings and others were self guided.  After a couple of hours there, Tom called and was finished with school so we headed to the base to
pick him up for more fun!

Jeff preaching at the church.

The School House

We ran across Mrs. B's right after we moved here but hadn't eaten there (other than the collard greens she insisted we try when she found out we'd never had them before) so we decided for real Southern fare we ought to go there.  It's in a pretty run down neighborhood but full of gregarious, friendly people (including Mrs. and Mr. B)who are more than happy to tell you what's good and I can guarantee if you tell them you've never had sweet tea before (a southern staple) you WILL be trying it. Karen found THAT out!  I don't even think they have a website but this is the place that the locals don't want anyone else to know about.  Fried chicken, ribs, smothered pork chops, catfish.....yep all that yummy soul food.

After lunch we headed to the First White House of the Confederacy for some more historical grazing.  Beautiful rooms that Jefferson Davis and his family had lived in along with trinkets, clothing and lots of interesting history.

We also did a drive by of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church where Dr. King pastored for six years as well as some other downtown landmarks, then we hit the Hank Williams Museum where there are NO cameras allowed.  It's a family owned museum right downtown Montgomery that houses the car Hank died in, furniture, photos, his suits and any many other things lovingly collected. Clearly, the family had strong feelings about Hank.  I mentioned a show I'd seen recently about a contesting of Hank Williams will and the woman running the place gave us a very long and passionate explanation about what SHE thought of the whole will shenanigans!  We had a good time but it was a long day so we headed home for a home cooked meal and packing for our weekend getaway!