So, finally, this week I was able to Wander. I have several trips in mind, but decided to go to the Nauvoo Depot Museum, Natural Bridge, The Historic Houston Jail and Rickwood Caverns on this trip. However, please remember, plans may change at any given moment. I considered going to Posey's and Son's Hardware in Jasper, but figured it would take me off my planned route, so decided that would ahve to be another day.
I began my trip, deciding to go up 269 and hit Corridor X. First part of the trip was a detour off of 269. Easy enough. Then when I got to the spot I would hit Corridor X, there was another detour, as the exit was blocked off.
As I realized I would have to find my way, I just decided to follow the detour signs, when suddenly, there was Posey and Son's Hardware store right in front of me. Figured I was meant to start my wanderings here. I've been to this store once before and loved it, so in I went..
After walking through Posey's for a bit, I decided it was time to continue on. Still on the detour, I'm driving and see a sign in front of a house, just a few blocks for the store that intrigued me. It was a sign for a photography exhibit at the Bankhead House and Heritage Center. Had no idea what this was or if the house the sign was in was actually the Bankhead house. After circling the blocks a couple times and finding a historic marker in front of it, I decided to stop and see.
Admission was free, so I decided to go in and look around. The photography exhibit took up the foyer and one room. I didn't take any pics of the photography, but was more interested in the museum part of the house. The following are some of the pictures from the museum.
Now it was time to head to Nauvoo to the Depot Museum, which I read about on the Alabama Roadtrips website. However, I found Nauvoo, but could not, for the life of me, find this museum. I did find a caboose, not at the address listed, but across the railroad track, however it was behind a fence, in what looked like a park and once you went over the railroad track, the road turned to what looked like a dirt road which grass had grown over and back behind the park looking area looked like someone's house. I turned around and left, without finding the Nauvoo Depot Museum.
I got back on the road and headed to Natural Bridge. I've been to Natural Bridge a couple times before, but since my route was going to take me fairly close to it, I figured I would add it to this trip. If you've never been to Natural Bridge, it's a rock formation/bridge which is the longest Natural Bridge East of the Rockies. The information I picked up indicates that it was formed by an underwater river over 200 million years ago. Some interesting facts about this park are:
1. There are 27 varieties of fern growing ehre.
2. There are Hemlocks dating back to the ice age.
3. The park opened in 1954.
4. The Creek Indians originally lived in this area.
5. Both Southern and Northern Civil War troops used trails in this area.
6. The admission to the park was $3.50.
7. Aside from the bridge, there are walking trails.
My next scheduled stop after Natural Bridge was the Historic Houston Jail. It was getting close to lunch time when I arrived at the Jail, and across the road was a restaurant that looked interesting, so I figured I would eat there after looking at the jail. There is no cost for the jail, although their is a donation box outside of it. The Jail was very simple, with just two rooms. The interesting part was the holes in the back wall for "sanitation purposes".
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| See the hole for "Sanitation Purposes"? |
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| Close up of the "sanitation" hole. |
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| They must have had short prisoners! This shows how low the doorway between the two rooms is. If you know me, You KNOW how short I am! If you don't know me, I am 5 foot. |
As I said, across the road was a restaurant, Chef Troy's Talk of the Town Restaurant. Sounded like a decent place to eat and the parking lot was full, which I figured was a good sign.
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| Meat and three was just $5.95! |
Now it was time to head to Rickwood Caverns, which was to be my last stop of the day. I set the GPS to avoid the interstate, simply because you see more driving backroads. About 10 minutes into my trip, the bottom fell out. The rain was torrential, the winds were blowing twigs out of trees and the trees were whipping around like crazy. A quick look at the weather on my phone and I realized there was a Severe Thunderstorm Warning out for the area I was in, calling for hail and wind gusts up to 40 MPH. I never saw any hail, but at times the rain was so heavy I could not see! I reset the GPS to try to get to the interstate, which was still a ways away from me. I kept driving and it was slow going and, well that tall glass of Sweet tea was now something I was regretting!!! There was nothing around, except some houses and churches.
Finally I found a country store and after a quick stop, was back on my way to Rickwood Caverns.
However, the rain was still coming down, so since Joel lives pretty close to Rickwood Caverns, I decided to go by his place instead. I wasn't up to walking around in the rain and I knew at his place I could sit on his porch and watch the rain while staying dry!
This means my wanderings for the day were over and I will have to go to Rickwood Caverns another day!
The total cost of Wandering? $3.50 admission to natural Bridge and lunch which with tea and tip, came to $9.50, so total cost was $13.00. Of course I am not including the cost of gas in that!
I've already planned a couple other trips, so I will wander some more next week!!
