2019 Oct 19, Finding Huntsville Walking Tour with Carol Cordori & loosing my keyless remote

I traveled to Huntsville for the Finding Huntsville Walking Tour with Carol Cordori. 

I parked in front of the Constitution Village stopping at their public restroom after my long ride to Huntsville. 

Meet up with a group of people at Harrison Brothers who were interested in the History of Huntsville. 

We began our tour a little after 11 AM, with guide Carol Cordori, after we were all given a 12-page Finding Huntsville Field Guide.

Harrison Brothers Bank Vault where records were kept 

Building 1: Commercial Architecture of Harrison Brothers 

Built-in the 19th century with large glass display windows that had a recessed front door, long rows of transom windows above the display windows, and bricks that projected beyond the walls.  

Building 2: First National Bank of Huntsville 

Built about 1837 1840 in the Greek Revival Style

Built with low pitch roof and triangle front supported by Columns made up of a base, a shaft, and a capital. 

Local builder George Steel drew up the plans for the bank.

Greek Revival "First National Bank of Huntsville"

Building 3: Madison County Courthouse was built in the International Style. 

Built with a flat roof, tall columns that support a large porch, and no attached decorations often built with glass, steel, and concrete. Built 1966 by Northington, Smith, Krannert & Associates “Space Built”

International Style Huntsville Courthouse (backside)

Building 4: Romanesque Revival Schiffman building built in 1845 and remodeled by George Thompson in 1895.

Owned by the Schiffman family for more than 100 years.

It was built of rush stone with carved leaves or flowers, bow windows, and a recessed front under an arch.

Building 5: Gothic Revival Style(used to teach Christianity) Church of Nativity was built in 1859 by Wills and Dudley. 

Trefoil represents the Trinity(God, Christ & Holy Spirit)  and quatrefoil represents the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The Lancet arches, tracery, and engaged buttress point up toward Heaven. 

We were greeted by the Minister and given a tour of the temple.

Stained glass window notice at the top that the three-point clover represents the Trinity, bottom 4 points clover the Gospels of the Bible 

Gothic Style Church of Nativity
Notice the steeple and windows, all pointing toward heaven 

Inside the Church of Nativity

We finished our tour on the sunken sidewalk in front of the old J. C. Penny building on the Square.

Welcome back Sunken Sidewalk
In the mid-1800s, masons sculpted local clay into these bricks and created the sidewalks. What once served as a humble walkway for farmers, merchants and pedestrians now links you to Huntsville's past and to all those who trod where you are standing.

I walked around Huntsville Square taking pictures of the art.

Red Ball Art on Square

Small Bull  Art 

Space Art

I shopped at Harrison Brothers Mercantile.

I stopped once again at the Constitution Village Public restroom.

I took a few pictures of the beautiful blooming mums in Constitution Park.

Mums at Constitution Village

I walked to my car and tried to open the door but it would not open. (Keyless Remote)

I had put my remote in my back pocket but it was not there. 

I walked back to the restroom thinking I may have dropped them on the floor or even in the toilet.

The keys were not there! Before I retrace my steps, I walked to the Constitution Village Museum Store.

I ask if anyone has found a keyless remote

I was dreading telling  hubby I had lost my keyless remote 

Someone had turned it in, God was looking out for me.

The young woman behind the counter began by telling me about her episode of lost keys.

Said she cranked her car (Keyless remote) but had to go back inside.  She forgot her key, got in her car, and left. She stopped for gas, filled her car, and went to crank it but it would not crank for she had no key. She had to call her husband and had to tell him to bring her the keyless remote. 

Sometimes Technology is not so great!

In today's world, we get lost in the daily hustle and Bussell.

Did some shopping at Kohles in Madison, I was looking for an Ugly doll for Ava Grace. 

Stopped at Wendy’s in Athens for a hot bowl of chili, a chocolate frosty, and Coke. 

Arrived at about 3:45 PM at the East Lauderdale Quilt Show at Rogersville United Methodist Church.

They were giving out awards and getting ready to close. 

What a day! Walked in the drizzling rain, with the wind whipping around the buildings while listening to our guide describe the art of five historic buildings in Huntsville.

The minister of the Church of Nativity took the group on a guided tour.

Had my picture taken with the group?

Lost my keyless remote in the Constitution Village Public Restroom. 

Did a little shopping in Madison, ate a late lunch in Athens, and saw a quilt display in Rogersville. I was home around 4:30 PM a little before hubby arrived home from work. 

🎂🎂🎂 2017 February 20, Celebrating Washington's Birthday Montevallo, Alabama

Hubby and I celebrated Washington's Birthday in Montevallo at the American Village.
George Washington came out of Washington Hall at 12:00PM gave a speech and everyone sang happy birthday to him.
People lined up to receive a free cupcake but there were not enough cupcakes to go around.

Celebrating Washington's Birthday

The exterior of the hall is inspired by George Washington's beloved Mount Vernon. It has beveled-edge block walls. When mixed with paint and sand it gives the appearance of stone masonry, a process called "rustication".

The unique open-air colonnade walkways to the dependency buildings were personally designed by Washington. The four-columned portico is reminiscent of the piazza on the back of Mount Vernon, which overlooks the Potomac. The large Palladian window in The Mount Vernon Room is defined by the arched window, 

Greatest Miniature Museum 

Hall of Presidents and First Ladies

Founders Hall

We visited Colonial Chapel where we listen to a story about a slave who wrote poetry 

We strolled through the Liberty Bell Garden

The Liberty Bell 

The Liberty Bell was commissioned on November 1, 1751, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges for his Pennsylvania colony. The radical charter granted religious liberty to persecuted faiths, including Quakers, Jews, Catholics, and others, thus establishing America’s tradition of religious freedom.

The Bell cracked when first tested. 

Two local foundry men recast The Bell and it began service in 1753 tooling special events. In the Revolutionary War, The bell tolled to announce the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the first public reading goes The Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776.

It cracked again on July 8, 1835, during the funeral procession of Chief Justice John Marshall. It was repaired but cracked again in 1846 when it rang for George Washington’s birthday. It has not been rung since. It was not called “The Liberty Bell” until 1839 when William Lloyd Garrison’s anti-slavery publication, “The Liberator” published a poem about the Bell. This use by advocates of the anti-slavery movement made The Bell a new symbol of freedom.

We strolled through the fields of Tulips selecting a few to take home.

Oval Office We visited the Oval Office located in the West Wing of the White House where the last 45 presidents have spent many hours working. We saw a bust of Abraham Lincoln, & Ronald Reagan.  Pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, a group of Ford, Carter, Bush, Nikon, and Reagan. Books are written by various presidents. 

The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk mostly chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the English oak timbers of the British Arctic exploration ship Resolute. 

We saw two little girls sharing a seat at Independence Hall

 Montevallo University ranked 13th best public university in the south in its division U.S. News & World Report
College of Distinction
2012*2013*2014*2015*2016

Helping Hands 
The Becoming Sculpture was created by Ted Metz, a University of Montevallo art professor. The sculpture, 16 feet tall and made of bronze, was unveiled on February 15, 2003. The pedestal underneath the sculpture is made of limestone and red bricks. The sculpture depicts two hands: a young hand representing university students reaching out toward the future, and an older hand representing the university itself guiding the student to that future. The separation between the hands represents the student’s graduation. The older hand was modeled after Metz’s own hand, while the younger hand was modeled after one of his student’s hands. The sculpture was created on campus by about 40 university students under the direction of Metz and took 22 months to complete. Approximately 90 individual molds were cast using 5000 pounds of bronze. The sculpture stands near Main Hall and Wills Hall.

We visited the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo 
Initial construction began in November 2008 and created space for 1,000 casket burials and 1,000 in-ground cremations. Except for minor irrigation work, construction was completed in early June 2009. The grounds were consecrated on June 18, 2009, one week before burials.

Ate a Nacho Supreme for dinner

It was a great day for traveling.
We were home by 6:30PM

Touring Hartford's Capitol Building

Rotunda

Hartford Capitol
The building is one of the largest Eastlake-style buildings. The exterior is of marble from East Canaan, Connecticut, and granite from Westerly, Rhode Island. The building is roughly rectangular, the interior spaces organized around two open interior courts that run vertically to large skylights. In the center is a third circular open rotunda beneath the dome. The larger hall of the House of Representatives forms an extension on the south side.

Stained Glass windows  QUI TRANSTULT SUSTINET

Connecticut the Constitution State 

The figurehead of the US Constitution 

From the Battle Field of Chickamauga 18863

Genius of Connecticut
The Genius of Connecticut by sculptor Randolph Rogers (1877–78), a plaster version of the bronze statue (destroyed) originally mounted on top of the dome, is exhibited on the main floor

Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon
"Hotchkiss gun" also refers to the Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon, a Gatling-type revolving barrel machine gun invented in 1872 by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826–1885)

Houses of Representatives  Republicans and Democrats

Bushnell Park backside of Capitol 

William Buckingham Governor and US Senator
The ship USS Governor Buckingham (1863) is named after him. Buckingham was a benefactor of Yale College and served as president of the Board of Trustees of Norwich Free Academy and as president of the Connecticut State Temperance Union. His house in Norwich is owned by the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A street and school are named in his honor in Norwich, and a statue of him is inside the State Capitol Building in Hartford

Charter Oak
 The name "Charter Oak" stems from the local legend in which a cavity within the tree was used in late 1687 as a hiding place for the Charter of 1662.

Columns in North Hall

Nathen Hale
Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British and executed. His last words before being hanged were reported to be, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country

Charter Oak Chair of the Lieutenant Governor in Senate Chambers

The oak was blown down in a violent storm on August 21, 1856, and timber from it was made into several chairs now displayed in the Hartford Capitol Building. The desk of the Governor of Connecticut and the chairs for the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Senate in the state capitol were made from wood salvaged from the Charter Oak.

A wooden baseball made from the Charter Oak was presented by the Charter Oak Engine Co. No. 1 on September 20, 1860, to the Charter Oak Base Ball Club of Brooklyn.^[2]

The New London Historical Society has a pair of cufflinks made from the wood of the Charter Oak with the initial "G" donated by Samuel Goldsmith.

Scions of the tree still grow in Hartford and many other towns around Connecticut.

Senate Chambers * our tour guide

Hartford Capitol Dome Victorian Period architecture.