Downtown Montgomery, Alabama

We headed to downtown Montgomery, today, to try and find the visitor's center. We did, and it's beautiful! It's in an old railway station depot and train shed called Union Station. This is a BIG station, and it's gorgeous! Stained glass windows, Romanesque rounded windows, a copper marquee, terra cotta details, it's an architectural beauty. This station was a main railhead during the Civil War, transporting soldiers and supplies to the battlefields. At the rear of the train station, is the national historic landmark train shed, one of the very few left standing of its kind. It's constructed of iron and timbers, and it has trusses which are similar to the late 19th century architecture that produced the Brooklyn Bridge and Eiffel Tower. Standing under the beams of the shed, you could just feel the history behind it.

While at the Union Station, we saw a trolley sitting outside and found out that for 3.00 a person, we could tour downtown, hopping on and off at historical stops. The trolley was about to start off on a tour, hold the trolley! Sparky and Eldo boarded, along with two other passengers, and off we went! It was great! The trolley driver gives historical information, and it's supplemented with a TV video about Montgomery as you are riding along. The tour is about 45 minutes total, but we decided to hop off at the state capitol building. Absolutely gorgeous and interesting! Much southern history is here in this very building....

Jefferson Davis stood on the front porch steps of the capitol and gave his inaugural speech as president of the Confederacy....

In this room, Davis gave his secession from the Union speech.....

The rotunda has a series of vignettes of Alabama's history painted all around the domed ceiling....They were amazing! The architectural details of classic buildings like these are awe inspiring....

The door that marks the entrance to the capitol building....Enter into history, Eldo!

Here is the Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached from 1954 to 1960.....The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church...This is where the Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized.

The "White House" of the Confederacy.....

There is a Rosa Parks Museum and a Civil Rights Memorial, all within a few blocks of the capitol building....You are taken through a part of town called "Old Alabama"which are storefronts, homes, a school and other buildings that give you an idea of what life was like in 19th century Montgomery.....We didn't stop to tour these things, we wanted to get an overall idea of what the historical stops were along the way before hopping off to see each one. Sparky wants to see the Rosa Parks Museum, it's interactive! We'll probably do that tomorrow....

What was surprising to us was there was very little sign of any activity going on downtown around the capitol building area....probably because the legislative body wasn't in session. But we didn't see hardly anybody walking around, heading to or from their offices! It was a very quiet place for a Monday.....We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and plan to go back today to see a little more.....See you at the Rosa Parks Museum!

P.S. We're still waging war on the ants---the ants have called in reinforcements! Thanks to everybody for their great advice, what an interesting array of options to try! Sparky is all in favor of non-toxic remedies, but is NOT going to live in peaceful co-existence with the little buggers!  See you tomorrow......