We left the house at 9:30 A.M. and stopped at the AT&T Store.
Every year in September, the Smithsonian offers free admission to a participating museum of your choice.
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| Alabama Music Hall of Fame |
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| Alabama Music Hall of Fame |
In the first room we entered, a photograph hung on the wall of famous entertainers from the great state of Alabama, or those who made it big in Alabama.
Listed were Jerry Walker, born in Anniston, AL; the Delmore Brothers, from Elkmont, AL; J. L. Frank, born in Limestone Co., AL; and Erskine Hawkins, born in Birmingham, AL.
Others included W. C. Handy, born in Florence, AL; Nat King Cole, born in Montgomery, AL; Rick Hall and Buddy Killen, born in Florence, AL; Sonny James and Sam Phillips, born in Florence, AL; and Hank Williams, born in Georgia.
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| Photos hanging on the wall at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame |
Pictures of other entertainers included the Commodores, Fern Gasdin, Bobby Killen, Lionel Richey, the Speer Family, Don Davis, the Delmore Brothers, Tammy Wynette, Emmylou Harris, Clarence Carter, Jim Nabors, Percy Sled, Alabama, Donnie Fritts, Cleveland Eaton, and Freddie Hart.
Induction is reserved for a select few who have made exceptional contributions throughout their careers.
As we walked into the next room, we saw a 12-foot jukebox playing pop and classical music.
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| 12 Foot Jukebox |
Over in a corner next to the jukebox, we saw a wax figure of Nat "King" Cole seated at a piano.
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| Nat King Cole |
We saw the recording equipment used by Sam Phillips' Memphis Music Service on display, as well as the contract between Sam Phillips and RCA that he signed when he sold his rights to Elvis Presley.
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| Sun Records and Sam Phillips |
Tommy Shaw of Styx fame has his shirt and guitar on display, along with Ransom Wilson's flute, Jim Nabors' Gomer Pyle outfit, and stage outfits of Emmylou Harris, Donna Godchaux, Bobby Goldsboro, Lionel Richie, and The Commodores
The tour continues through a 16-foot guitar arch into the Country Music section, where personal memorabilia belonging to Sonny James, Tammy Wynette, Vern Gosdin, Jeanne Pruett, Freddie Hart, & Rose Maddox was showcased.
We saw a life-size wax figure of Hank Williams, Sr., wearing one of his original stage suits.
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| Hank Williams |
We saw Webb Pierce's 1960 Pontiac convertible, the "Golden Country Car," with 500 silver dollars, silver guns mounted, and Texas Longhorns' Steer horns mounted on the front.
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| Webb Pierce's 1960 Pontiac |
Numerous instruments belonged to country stars.
We walked through the tour bus owned by the group Alabama. I was told that the Music Hall of Fame was built around the bus.
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| The Group Alabama Touring Bus |
After exiting the bus, we stepped into a brick-sided nightclub where the Rhythm and Blues section was belting out music.
There was Erskine Hawkins's trumpet, Martha Reeves' and Eddie Kendricks' stage outfits, gold records by Wilson Pickett and Percy Sledge, the 1935 official portrait of W.C. Handy, and other historical artifacts.
When we left the nightclub, we entered the Muscle Shoals section, which highlighted the studios that made Northwest Alabama world famous.
A video recaps the history of the Shoals music industry. The artifacts include the console Rick Hall used to record Arthur Alexander's hit "You Better Move On," as well as the instruments of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Next, we saw a Recording Studio where visitors can select a music track and record a personal cassette or make a video recording right in the Museum.| In the Recording Studios from the Studio and the Gospel Showcase, artifacts included outfits, pictures, and awards from notables such as Jake Hess, Gold City, The Speer Family, and The Sullivan Family. |
The newest addition to the museum exhibits featured the songwriters of Alabama.
The Wurlitzer jukebox provides hundreds of chart-topping songs by Alabama songwriters. Billy Sherrill, composer of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man," anchors one end of the exhibit, while Curly Putman, who gave us "Green, Green Grass of Home" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today," anchors the other side.
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame is honoring the iconic singer William Lee Golden with a rare exhibition of his dynamic and powerful paintings.
The collection will be on display from September 3 to November 14, 2008.
A 19-piece body of work will be showcased, providing a glimpse of the legendary artist's vision of the world through the beauty of nature and the vivid language of color.
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| Pictures by William Golden |
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| Pictures by William Golden |
The exhibition will chronicle scenes and snapshots from his extraordinary travels and career, reflecting Golden's deep appreciation for our country's history and natural environment.
This exhibit will allow visitors and fans to explore, experience, and enjoy the expressive artwork of the Brewton native.
The piece was done in honor of former President George & first lady Barbara Bush, depicting the breathtaking garden at their Kennebunkport, Maine, estate. Mrs. Bush describes the artwork as a source of family joy and a treasure.
William Lee Golden is a 1997 Inductee into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Athens Veterans Museum is located at 100 West Pryor St., PO Box 15,00, Athens, AL 35612, (256) 771- 7578
The 100-year-old L&N freight depot is a 4,000-square-foot museum that houses an impressive display of artifacts from the Revolutionary War through today's conflicts.
The Museum includes uniforms, medals, weapons, and home-front artifacts, and highlights the incredible sacrifices made.
We were greeted at the door by a World War II Veteran; he told us about the different areas of the Museum. Museuming with the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies on the North American continent and ended in a global war between several European great powers.
He asks if we knew what he had in his hand: a block of tea. Now I understand what happened at the Boston Tea Party.
The Boston Tea Party was a direct-action protest by American colonists against the British Government, in which they destroyed many crates of tea belonging to the British East India Company on ships in Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on Thursday, December 16, 1773, is seen as helping spark the American Revolution and remains one of the era's most iconic events to this day.
The American Civil War (1861–1865), aWar known as theWarr Between the States, World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars) was a global war which took place primarily in Europe from 1914 to 1918, World War II, or the Second World War,1941-1945 (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all the great powers, making it theWarst widespreadWarr in history, the US beginning with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes, with major hostilities lasting from June 25, 1950, until the armistice signed on July 27, 1953. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975. The War was fought between communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and South Vietnam, supported by the United States and others
Exhibits
Local Veterans of WWII, Korea, & Vietnam will host visitors through the Museum and in some personal displays. The Victory Garden will be staffed to depict the home front in Alabama, 1942.
Today is a special one-day exhibit of rare collector military weapons.
We met Margaret, a German who lived in Kassel, Germany, during the bombing of the city.
Margaret (about age 8) is pictured with her mom, Gertru, before the bombing.
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| Margaret and her mother, Gertrude |
She said that her family stayed in a bomb shelter during the bombing, and when they came out of the shelter, the city was destroyed.
We thanked her for the information, and she and I discussed my journaling. I told her that I always wrote in a book about the places that I had been, and she said that was a wonderful thing to do.
She said her children weren't very impressed with her life until they were older. When other children found out she lived in Germany, they wanted to hear her story.
The pictures showed the city's destruction and the town rebuilt years later. The city of Kassel in Germany was severely bombed during World War II, and more than 10,000 civilians died during these raids. Kassel is in the northern part of the federal state of Hessen, between Frankfurt (190 km south) and Hannover (160 km north).
In the early 1940s, it was the capital of the Prussian Province of Kurhessen, the seat of a Regional Supreme Court (Oberlandesgericht), and headquarters of the authorities responsible for highway and railway construction for Central Germany.
The tour ended with a gun display featuring many different types of guns used in wartime.
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| Guns on display |
The guide had to show me the three paintings: two were in the men's restroom, and the other was in the women's restroom.
In 2002, Karen Middleton painted a picture of Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, and a couple kissing.
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| Ginger Rogers |
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| Rita Hayworth |
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| a couple kissing |
The story was that a soldier got off the boat and kissed the first girl he saw.
I will end my tour with Eleanor Roosevelt's wartime prayer.
A Wartime Prayer
Dear Lord, lest I continue in my complacent way, help me remember that somewhere, somehow out there, A man died for me today. As long as there is a war, I must then ask & answer: Am I worth dying for?
By Eleanor Roosevelt
Next, we rode to Huntsville.
US Space and Rocket Center, located at One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 35805, 256-837-3400.
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| US Space & Rocket Center |
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| US Space & Rocket Center |
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| US Space & Rocket Center |
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| US Space & Rocket Center |
I was amazed to find a new addition to the Space and Rocket Center: the Davidson Center, which houses the ticket counters.
We spent about an hour walking around the center, which was in the Davidson Center, where we saw a Saturn V hanging from the ceiling.
We went to the old building; nothing much had changed. We browsed for a few minutes, and I took some pictures.
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| US Space & Rocket Center |
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| US Space & Rocket Center |
At Bridge Street Center, my husband bought a carrying case for his iPhone, and we ate an ice cream treat at Maggie Moo's Ice Cream & Treatery.
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| Bridge Street Center |
We took a few pictures, then rode home.
