![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Alabama-state-capitol-at-the-top-of-the-stairs.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI found a place to park and started up.<\/p>\n
“UP” being the operative word. What is with all the steps at state capitols?<\/p>\n
Along the way, I passed the state flower, the camellia.<\/p>\n I thought it was interesting that the first flower that had been designated as the state flower was the goldenrod. If you read the sign, you can see that the goldenrod was chosen in 1927. In 1959, the camellia growers of Butler County convinced a state representative to introduce a bill naming their product as the official state flower. It was adopted and the camellia became the state flower and the oak-leaf hydrangea became the state wildflower.<\/p>\n Poor goldenrod was left out altogether.<\/p>\n At the top of the stairs is the Confederate Memorial Monument<\/a>, to honor the sacrifice of the state’s more than 122.000 veterans of the Civil War.<\/p>\n I always try to find out when memorials and such were set up. This one had been in the planning stage as far back as November 1865. According to my preferred source, (Wikipedia) “funding for the monument included $20,000 in the form of two grants from the state legislature, $10,000 contributed by the Ladies Memorial Association of Alabama, $6,755 from the Historical and Monumental Association of Alabama… and $5,000 from politicians.”<\/p>\n The monument was established in 1898.<\/p>\n It used to have flagpoles with the flags of the Confederate States of America, along with the Confederate Battle flag. These were removed on the morning of June 24, 2015, in the wake of the Charleston Church shooting of June 17, 2015.<\/p>\n I found this sign confusing. Actually, I still wonder about it. At first, I assumed that it referred to General Sherman, but I couldn’t locate any information that indicated that he was ever in Montgomery.<\/p>\n Do you suppose Mr. Peabody was looking for his boy, Sherman?<\/p>\n Here’s another view of the Memorial.<\/p>\n On to the Capitol.<\/p>\n The current capitol building was built 1850-1851 on the site of a previous capitol that had burned down.<\/p>\n I thought this little “truth window” \u00a0was interesting. It reminded me of how George Washington’s Mount Vernon was actually a faux stone. It was wood that was stuccoed or plastered to look like stone.<\/p>\n I took this photo when I visited Mount Vernon<\/a>, back in 2015.<\/p>\n I happened upon a field trip in progress, and kind of hovered nearby. If I’m not in the way, and things are going well, sometimes I stick with groups. If not, I peal off and do my own thing.<\/p>\n Many state capitols have extensive memorials to all the people who have served as governor. This is the only one I remember seeing inside the capitol. Lurleen Wallace became governor after her husband, George. She was the first female governor of the state. Kay Ivey, who took office inn 2017, is the second female governor of Alabama.<\/p>\n In my opinion, this cantilevered staircase is worth the visit.<\/p>\n Its swoops and swirls are breathtaking.<\/p>\n It was the creation of Horace King<\/a>, architect, engineer and bridge builder.<\/p>\n I found his story to be\u00a0inspirational.<\/p>\n While born into slavery, his natural abilities convinced his owners to educate him and give him increasing responsibility and opportunity. He learned to read and write and became a proficient carpenter and mechanic by the time he was a teenager.<\/p>\n He partnered with his second owner to build many construction projects, including houses, bridges and cotton warehouses, and eventually began designing and directing construction on his own.<\/p>\n Despite his enslavement, he was allowed to keep a large portion of the income from his work. In 1846, he purchased his freedom. Under the Alabama law of the time, a freed slave was allowed to remain in the state for only year after manumission. One of the men he had built bridges for was a state senator, as well as a mill owner and businessman. He arranged for the state legislature to pass a special law giving King his freedom and exempting him from the manumission law.<\/p>\n It helps to have sought after skills and to have friends in high places.<\/p>\n I didn’t expect to find this, but King was also a slaveholder. In the 1850s, he purchased a slave who eventually became known as celebrated abolitionist J. Sella Martin<\/a>. When King attempted to subdue Martin by flogging him, he was disappointed by the man’s resistance and sold him to a slave trader. (Click on the link for more information about his life.)<\/p>\n People are certainly complex. Back to the capitol building. \u00a0Here is a look up into the dome.<\/p>\n This is the House of Representatives chamber. In case you might think that this is where they currently meet, it isn’t.<\/p>\n This building served as home to the Alabama Legislature until 1985, when it moved to the new Alabama State House<\/a>. Officially, this move was temporary, since the Alabama Constitution requires that the Legislature meet in the capitol.<\/p>\n In 1984, a constitutional amendment was passed that allowed the Legislature to move to another building if the capitol were to be renovated. The renovation started in 1985 and was completed in 1992 by the architecture group Holmes and Holmes. When the capitol was reopened, the Governor of Alabama and numerous other state offices moved back into the building, but the legislature remained at the State House.<\/p>\n This 1904 stove made by the Art Stove Company, with plants in Detroit and Chicago. Apparently this was a top of the line stove. A 1904 catalog described it as \u00a0“…surpassing all other base burners in appearance, in heating capacity and economy of fuel.”<\/p>\n This particular stove came from a private residence in Wisconsin, and was donated to the Alabama Historical Society inn 1994 by Mrs. Dorothy Rapaich Echols of Montgomery in honor of her son, Thomas Rapaich. It was installed in the Old House Chamber after extensive restoration and cleaning by technician William Missildine.<\/p>\n I took this photo in the Old Senate Chamber. I’d like to know why Senators always seem to get desks while Representatives have to make do with chairs. These desks are recreations of the originals.<\/p>\n On to the recreation of the Old Supreme Court, where Jefferson Davis’ body lay in state in the first capitol of the Confederacy.<\/p>\n Then it was time to find an exit.<\/p>\n I went down a hall and ended up outside.<\/p>\n Apparently, he’s down there somewhere in the crowd.<\/p>\n I set off to see what I could see around the building.<\/p>\n Nicely maintained walks.<\/p>\n I came across a “Moon Tree”<\/p>\n I wonder how large the tree was when they planted it in 1976? It’s grown well since then. It was probably about 45 years old when I took this photo.<\/p>\n I came across this rather stiff looking statue of Albert L. Patterson, who was Attorney General – elect when he was assassinated in Phenix City in 1954. I remembered reading something about a Patterson being governor, but the plaque didn’t mention that, so I had to look up some information<\/a> about him.<\/p>\n It turns out that it was his son who was governor, and when Albert ran for Attorney General, he ran on a platform of “reforming the rife corruption and vice in Phenix City.” He was well aware that his life was inn danger, as he commented to a church group one night earlier, “I have only a 100-to-1 chance of ever being sworn in as attorney general.”<\/p>\n Phenix City must have been quite the place, as the special grand jury handed down 734 indictments against local law enforcement officials and local business owners connected to organized crime. Chief Deputy Sheriff Albert Fuller was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. I continued on my walk.<\/p>\n Around the building I went.<\/p>\n Jefferson Davis.<\/p>\n This statue was presented to the State of Alabama in 1940. That late date surprises me. It seems that most of the statue I’ve seen honoring Confederates were erected closer to the turn of the 20th century.<\/p>\n The columns give the building a stately air.<\/p>\n I came across another statue to another Confederate. I didn’t see a date on this statue, though.<\/p>\n On to another statue.<\/p>\n What is it with all these statues to the medical profession?<\/p>\n I wanted to know more, so of course I had to look. I kind of wish I hadn’t.<\/p>\n It turns out that J. Marion Simms\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0developed his surgical techniques by operating without anesthesia on enslaved black women. The father of modern gynecology – oh, and a Confederate spy. Of course there is a statue honoring him on the capitol grounds,<\/p>\n I guess I’m “glad” I didn’t know more when I was visiting.<\/p>\n There is a copy of the Liberty Bell in front of the south portico near the Avenue of Flags.<\/p>\n There are flags from all fifty states\u00a0with a native stone from each state, engraved with its name, set at the base of each flagpole<\/p>\n I had to look for Michigan’s flag.<\/p>\n I wish I knew what stones they used for each state. Michigan’s looks like it might be limestone.<\/p>\n New Jersey’s looks like granite, but I don’t know if they have granite in that state. (I’m not going to look it up.)<\/p>\n Wyoming’s is cool.<\/p>\n I continued down the Avenue of Flags and came to this rather comfortable looking house.<\/p>\n I’ll let you read the plaque to learn more about it.<\/p>\n And with that, my trip to the Alabama State Capitol is complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After taking my leave of Scott and Lesley in Phenix City I headed west to\u00a0Montgomery, Alabama. It was an easy drive, less than two hours down the road. I had planned a couple days in the city. My first day’s exploration took me to the State Capitol. I found a place to park and started … Continue reading Next Stop: Montgomery (April 2019)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1593,1590,1591,392,1592,1365],"class_list":["post-17036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cantilevered-staircase","tag-confederate-memorial-monument","tag-horace-king","tag-jefferson-davis","tag-moon-tree","tag-state-capitol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17036"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17105,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036\/revisions\/17105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.towingsilver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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