Wandering Wednesday 3 continued

After I left the Fitzgerald museum, I headed to the Hank Williams Museum.  I was raised listening to Hank and any good Alabamian should be able to list facts about Hank!  Matter of fact, in 9th grade history, when we had to do a project on a famous Alabamian, I surprisingly wrote about Hank, and not Helen Keller!

Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed in this museum.  This was a dismay to me, as I need pictures for my blog.  There are video cameras throughout the museum and a monitor with about 9 different viewpoints right in front of the firl working the front.  But, I managed to break a few rules!

Guess I should have read that this was continued from the other side and gotten a pic of the other side.

yep, Hank's Cadillac convertible, in which he died in on Jan. 1, 1953.

 

 

 

 

After leaving this Museum I ventured down to the Riverfront.

 After taking these pics at the Riverfront, I decided to get back in my car and find the Hank Williams Statue.
Found another historical marker in this park for Elijah Cook.

Now it was about 1:30, so I figured I had better find lunch before it was too late.  I had looked up a couple places and had settled on one place, but a quick drive by and I thought, for a variety of reasons, that maybe I should rethink my plans.  So I decided to go to the Farmer's Market Cafe for a meat and three.

So after some Fried chicken, beets, cabbage, slaw and jalapeno cornbread (which wasn't bad, seeing I don't really care for cornbread) and lemon pie, I was in need for a nap!

At this point I have spent a grand total of 11.00 dollars on lunch (including tip),5.00 dollars at the Fitzgerald museum and 9.00 at the Hank Williams Museum(AAA membership saved me a whole dollar!), for a grand total of $25.00.

I drove to the Rosa Park's Museum, but it was getting close to 3 and it was a guided tour that takes 45 minutes to an hour and I was going to have to wait for a bit before starting my tour, so I opted not to go thru the museum on this trip.

Once again, I should have gotten a pic of the other side!

I knew the Mooseum was free, so I headed over there, thinking I would go in saying I was investigating it as a teacher, but once getting there, decided not to go in.  Maybe next trip.

Across the road was the Alabama Department of Archives and History, but it was closed for renovations.

 Although on the first floor there was a small exhibit.

I didn't make it to the zoo, The Civil Rights Memorial, The First White House of the Confederacy, The  Alabama War Memorial (also closed for renovations) or Old Alabama Town, so I think another trip to Montgomery might be in order!

Wandering Wednesday 3 Part one Fitzgerald Museum

I woke up with the intentions of heading to Montgomery for Wandering Wednesday.  I was planning on leaving the house by 8:00 am with the first stop being the Montgomery Zoo, because I wanted to see the baby Rhino. However, I got a later start, so decided to bypass the zoo, and see how I was on time after hitting the other places I had planned.

I chose not to take back roads today, but to take the interstate in the interest of time. The only thing interesting on the trip down was the man taking pictures of my van. He was pretty close to the rear of my van and I thought he was texting with his phone held above his steering wheel, so thinking he might rear end me if we had to make a sudden stop, I hit the gas and went around the car in front of me, just to get away from a person texting and driving.  To my surprise he followed me.  I relaxed, as he didn't have the phone  above the wheel anymore, but then he put it back up there.  Once again, I hit the gas and tried to get out from in front of him.  Much to my amazement, he followed me again.  Then he really got on my bumper. That was when I saw the flash. I realized he was taking a picture of the back of my van.  I don't have any real interesting bumper stickers : Bluegrass not Bombs, an Obama sticker, a Bright blue dot in a really red state sticker, a UWA alumni sticker and a coexist sticker. No personalized tag. Then it hit me, he was probalby taking a picture of my "family" on the back window.

Maybe this was his Facebook Status for the day. Who knows.  Or he is some crazy stalker guy with a friend who can run my tag and he is going to end up camped out in front of my house. Hmmmm.. if he has money or enjoys yard work, maybe we'll talk.

My first stop was the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.  Now, I have always been a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, enjoying his writing.  I must admit, I really didn't know a lot about Zelda.

When I got to the museum, I was a little confused, as while there was a sign in front, there was not a sign on the door. I slowly opened the door to the house and the first thing I saw was mailboxes  for apartments.  While it was never really explained, the museum is on the bottom floor of the house and it appeared as if people might live upstairs. I'm not sure.

As you can see from the sign, Scott and Zelda only lived in this house for a short time. He and Zelda met in 1918, while he was stationed at Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery. Zelda was born and raised in Montgomery, daughter of a prominent southern family. She and Scott were married in 1920. However, in 1930, Zelda suffered a mental breakdown and in 1931, when released from a Swiss Clinic, the Fitzgeralds moved to Montgomery, with the intention of settle there. The leased this home. However, Zelda suffered antoher breakdown in January f 1932 and was once again hospitalized. Scott stayed in Montgomery for a few more months, with their daughter Scottie, but left in April of 1932.

I let myself in and saw a group of people watching a video in the back room. I wandered in and then I saw the museum curator/guide, whatever his title is.  He told me to go on to the back room, or porch and watch the video with the others. The video was a brief review of the life of Scott and Zelda.

After the video, we were asked to step into the front room and the curator gave us about a 10 minute talk about the house and Scott and Zelda, pointing our a few of the artifacts in the room.  He was very knowledgeable, although on several occasions, gave some personal opinions about Zelda's state of mind.  He did always say, "this is just my opinion".

The museum  was filled with mostly books (imagine that!) photos, Zelda's paintings and letters. A few other items were in there. The museum was more or less two rooms and a library.

Here are some pics of a few of the items.

Zelda and Scott

one of Zelda's paintings

Wandering Wednesday # 2

Today I had planned to travel to Selma and Gee's Bend. For some reason when I woke up this morning, I changed my mind and decided to head another direction.  I got in the car and set my GPS to "avoid Highways" and took off, taking back roads to Gainesville.

 

Once I got to Gainesville, I blinked and almost missed it! I turned around and found this, giving me a little history of the town.

 

Next I wanted to find several things I had read about, some of the old houses, the coffin house and the old cemetery. I found everything but the old cemetery.
The coffin house was where Mr. Edward Kring built coffins for many of the early residents of Gainesville. Apparently you could even go and pick out the wood and he would custom make them for you.  Talk about planning ahead! Mr. Kring also built some houses, churches and businesses in Gainesville. Here is the Coffin House.

After I found the coffin house, I drove around a bit and found Mr. Kring's house. I am not sure if he built the house, but when I found it, I had a feeling of Deja vu. I immediately thought, "I've been in this house before."

 Researching this house a little, I am pretty sure that I have been in it.  Unfortunately, this was some years ago and I didn't appreciate the beauty of the house and didn't ask any questions about the history of the house.

So, are you wondering, when and why I was in this house?  Well, I'm not 100% sure it's the same house, but I once had a friend who lived in Gainesville. I had forgotten where he lived until today.  Once I got home I looked up the address I had for him, but it was a PO box in Gainesville, so I still can't be 100% sure.  However, my research found a reference to this house as the Kring, Cate, Acton home. Mr. Jimmy Acton was the friend I am referring to, so I think this was his home.  Mr. Acton was a campus security officer when I attended Livingston University.  We became good friends over the years and stayed in touch even after I graduated.  Unfortunately by the time he passed away in 2001, we had gotten to the point of just exchanging Christmas cards. That is something I regret. But, he was a dear, sweet man. Mr. Acton was a story teller and I am sure that's what he was doing in this picture.

I know this has nothing to do with Wandering Wednesday, but let me tell you a bit about Mr. Acton. He was a police officer, a poet, a writer, and a friend. He wrote some country songs, the "policeman's Prayer" and a book. He was also a craftsman, making things with his hands.

I remember once when my mother came to visit me at college and he brought her a bottle of homemade blackberry wine.  Yep, brought it to the dorm room.  I think we even opened it and drank a glass, but hey, he was a campus security officer, so I don't think anyone was going to turn us in!!

 This is the book I have that he wrote. I keep the above picture of him inside this book and on my shelf. The book was printed in 1988, so I have been keeping this in a prominent place on my shelf for many years.

Mr. Acton was called Grandpa by many students at LU, but he really did treat me like a family member.

This is the inscription inside the book. I don't believe I bought the book, I think he gave it to me.  He once told me that he and another friend of mine were writing a children's book. They both are gone from this world now, so I don't know whatever happened to their book.

This is a clock Mr. Acton made for me. At the top there were letters that spelled out my name, but they have fallen off over the years. The wood was from an old church pew, If I remember correctly.

So, I don't know for sure that was his house, but I think it was.  I wonder if it still belongs to his family.









                          






This is another home in Gainesville.  I couldn't find the old cemetery, and I couldn't find a place to stop to eat or take a potty break, so I decided to head somewhere else.  I found this next place, which had a sign that said "tours", however, there didn't appear to be anyone there, so I just took these pics and went on my way.

I wasn't real sure where I was going, but I needed to make a pit stop and so I did a search for service stations with the trusty GPS and it took me toward Eutaw. After a pit stop, I made a decision to head to Greensboro, Al. As I got into town, I snapped a few pics of some houses.

There are some magnificent old houses in this town.   I was hungry, so I headed to main street, thinking perhaps I could find a little cafe.

 I love old towns with a Main Street that looks like this.

There is just something about a small southern town that makes me smile.

 So Quaint and inviting. I was just driving along, enjoying small town, Alabama, when I saw it.







Saw what? You ask.  PIE LAB

 Yep, with a name like that, I had to pull into the first available parking spot and cross my fingers that they served lunch. But, If I had to eat pie for lunch, so be it!  I had heard of Pie Lab before, but really didn't know much about it.

A little research and I found this, taken directly from their website "Founded in 2009 by a group of designers working for the greater good known as Project M, PieLab is a much more than your ordinary bakery. PieLab makes a tremendous impact in the community by being the platform for conversation, ideas, and design, as well as donating all profits to a charity(H.E.R.O.), which provides a multitude of housing and disaster resources, empowers Greensboro citizens, and much more"
Interesting place.  Here is their website  http://pielab.org/

They did serve lunch, so I had a trio of salads, chicken, tuna and fruit.

Of course I got a piece of pie to go, but ended up eating it on the ride home, so no picture. They were busy making 300 pies for an artwalk event, so I didn't get to talk to them much while I was there.  I was watching them make butterscotch pecan pies.  That was what I wanted, but they were out of a lot of the pies for the day, so I ended up with the chocolate pecan brownie pie.  It was very good.  I watched as they made the butterscotch pecan and I think I can probably make one.  I make a decent pecan pie and I saw when and where they added the butterscotch, so, hmm.....

After lunch I headed on home, so that was more or less the end of Wandering Wednesday # 2.