Historic Sites of Alabama
Historic Sites of Alabama offer a fascinating glimpse into the state's rich cultural and historical heritage. These sites encompass a variety of significant locations, reflecting the diverse narratives of American Indian history, European settlement, military conflict, and social reform. Key landmarks include Moundville Archaeological Park, home to ancient Mississippian culture, and Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, which highlights the struggle for education and accessibility for individuals with disabilities.
In addition, Fort Morgan played a crucial role during the Civil War, while the Saturn V Launch Vehicle symbolizes Alabama's contributions to space exploration. The Sloss Blast Furnaces represent the industrial growth of the post-Civil War South, showcasing Alabama's transition from agrarian roots to a more industrialized economy. Finally, Wilson Dam stands as a testament to the advancements in science and technology, serving vital functions for flood control and energy production. Collectively, these sites illustrate Alabama's complex history and its ongoing narrative of resilience and innovation.
Historic Sites of Alabama
Apalachicola Fort Site
Location: On the Chattachoochee River
Relevant issues: American Indian history, European settlement
Statement of significance: The northernmost Spanish outpost on the Chattachoochee River, the fort was completed in 1690 to prevent the English from gaining a foothold among the Lower Creek Indians, who had rejected Spanish missionaries and accepted English traders. Punative raids by the Spanish further alienated the Lower Creeks. In 1691, due to the threat from the British and their Native American allies, Fort Apalachicola was abandoned and destroyed by the Spanish, after being occupied for only a year.
Clayton House
Location: Clayton, Barbour County
Relevant issues: Business and industry, legal history
Statement of significance: From 1896 to 1929, this was the home of Henry D. Clayton, Jr. (1857-1929), author of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914), which was designed to enumerate and outlaw a number of unfair trade practices and interlocking arrangements that had been the chief tools of monopolists. In 1914, Clayton was appointed a federal district judge, and he became recognized as an advocate of judicial reform.
Fort Morgan
Location: Gasque, Baldwin County
Relevant issues: Civil War, military history
Statement of significance: This fort was significant in Admiral David G. Farragut’s 1864 naval battle that opened Mobile Bay to the Union Navy and sealed off the port of Mobile to Confederate shipping.
Ivy Green
Location: Tuscumbia, Colbert County
Relevant issues: Education, social reform
Statement of significance: This 10-acre site is associated with Helen Keller (1880-1968), author and lecturer. The property includes the cottage where Keller was born and the house where she spent her early childhood (1880-1888), and the water pump, site of the communication breakthrough for the blind and deaf Keller. With the aid of her teacher and constant companion, Anne Sullivan (Macy), Keller learned to communicate with the world outside of Ivy Green. This homestead was the location of the pivotal experiences which led to Keller’s emergence in the forefront of the effort to provide better methods and facilities to educate the handicapped. Although Keller and Sullivan eventually left the homestead and resided in various locations throughout their lives together, they continued to return to Ivy Green.
Moundville Site
Location: Moundville, Hale County
Relevant issues: American Indian history
Statement of significance: Settled first in the tenth century, Moundville is situated on a level area overlooking the Black Warrior River and consists of thirty-four mounds, the largest of which is over 58-feet high. The site represents a major period of Mississippian culture in the southern portion of its distribution and acted as the center for a southerly diffusion of this culture toward the Gulf Coast.
Saturn V Launch Vehicle
Location: Huntsville, Madison County
Relevant issues: Science and technology
Statement of significance: In July, 1969, a rocket of this type carried astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, and Michael Collins toward humankind’s first expedition to the surface of the moon. Developed by the United States for the purpose of landing a man on the moon, this vehicle was the first Saturn V constructed by the Marshall Space Flight Center under the direction of Dr. Werner von Braun (1912-1977) and served as the test vehicle for all the Saturn support facilities at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Sloss Blast Furnaces
Location: 1st Avenue and 32d Street, Birmingham, Jefferson County
Relevant issues: Business and industry
Web site: www.ci.bham.al/sloss/default.htm
Statement of significance: Erected in 1881-1882 by noted southern industrialist James Withers Sloss, this is the oldest remaining blast furnace in the area and represents Alabama’s early twentieth century preeminence in the production of pig iron and cast iron pipe. The complex, which remained in operation until 1970, is an outstanding symbol of the post-Civil War efforts to industrialize the South and of the intense economic competition that existed between the predominantly agrarian region and the already-industrialized North.
Wilson Dam
Location: Florence, Colbert County
Relevant issues: Science and technology
Statement of significance: Constructed between 1918 and 1925 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this 4,535-foot-long concrete structure spanning the Tennessee River became the first hydroelectric operation to come under the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1925. Today, Wilson Dam is one of thirty-three major TVA dams that provide flood control, regulate a 650-mile navigational channel, and provide over 100 billion kilowatt hours of electricity for the seven-state Tennessee Valley region.
"Historic Structures of Alabama." Encyclopedia of Alabama, 2024, encyclopediaofalabama.org/collection/historic-structures-of-alabama/. Accessed 25 May 2024.
Hughes, Delos. Historical Alabama Courthouses: A Century of Their Images and Stories. NewSouth Books, 2017.
Jones, Marilyn. "Sites Preserve, Interpret Black History in Alabama." Alabama Living, 29 Jan. 2019, alabamaliving.coop/articles/sites-preserve-interpret-black-history-in-alabama/. Accessed 25 May 2024.