My month in Alabama

My take on Alabama

where I went this month

As you can see, I made a valiant effort to see the state, but I missed huge chunks of it.  I've never thought of Alabama as being a particularly large state - it's ranked 30th among the 50 states for size, after all.  And if all I did was drive around, I could have covered it.  But of course I wanted to see things, too, and then write about them so I'd have something to jog my memory when I forgot them.  And anyway, I'm finding I need to stop and rest now and then.  All in all, I did the best I could.  At least unlike last December in New Jersey, I wasn't held up by the weather this December.

Alabama's Land
This was my biggest surprise about the state: the hills.  Almost the only driving I'd ever done in Alabama was along I-10, going to and from Florida, so I'd always thought the whole state was as flat as that area is.  But it is definitely not.

Except for this area in the extreme south of Alabama near the Gulf of Mexico, the rest of the state is hills.  And these hills all rise to meet the Appalachians in the far northeast corner where they stream down from Tennessee.

This is an attractive state, largely because of its mostly rural character and many wooded areas and rivers/streams.

Alabama's cities look just like cities, of course, though the farther south I got the more Southern they appeared.  Mobile looks a lot like parts of New Orleans, and has the street names to match, probably because the Spanish and French moved into both areas at the same times and left their marks.

Alabama's People
For the most part, I found very pleasant folks throughout the state.  I think my reception in all the states has a lot to do with me being a white female senior citizen who's willing to smile and chat with people, and I especially think so here.

There're still very strong remnants of the Old South in this state, increasingly strong the farther south into the state I went, based on the increasing numbers of Confederate Battle Flags I saw flying in people's front yards.

I think in general Alabamans are trying to pull themselves out of the 19th century and into the 21st, with some doing a better job of it than others.  And those who are not at either end of the spectrum may find themselves confused more than conflicted.

Alabama is now only about 67% white.  Not only is it 26% black, but it's also nearly 10% Hispanic, Asian, Native and other minorities.  The percentage of whites in Alabama has decreased notably over the last few decades.  At the beginning of the Civil War, almost half the population was black, but that figure wouldn't have worried the whites because of the dominance of the master-slave relationship.  During the Jim Crow era, large numbers of blacks moved to other parts of the US to find a safer place to live, and gradually the percentage of whites increased to about 3/4 of the population.  That percentage has been gradually trending downward for some years now, due especially to increasing numbers of Asians and other minorities moving in.

But for those who came from white superiority (if not white supremacy) backgrounds, these demographic changes may seem threatening.

As so often happens, city residents are confronting and dealing with the racism of both past and present by ensuring that accurate history is being taught, rather than the myths still prevalent when I was growing up.  Likely this too is threatening to some, who see it as denigration of their great-grandfathers, of their family histories.

Some, as seems to still be the case in Scottsboro, want to ignore the past entirely, thinking that the way to heal is to declare a new day to have dawned and that's the end of it.  But others know that pain can't be erased by wishing it so, that it has to be addressed directly before it will stop hurting.  I get the sense Alabama is in the midst of that process.

But for many young people, who haven't realized yet that the past is prologue, Alabama means a place to live.  Many told me they liked it where they were living because it was quiet, because they were close to things to do but still living in a quiet area.  I especially enjoyed the young woman who told me what she liked best was the weather: she'd moved to Mobile from Michigan.  (Her equally young co-worker asked her if it's warmer or colder in Michigan than Mobile right now, so who knows what they're being taught in school.)

Alabama's Drivers
They're a lot like Texas drivers - fast and pushy, but relatively polite when they stop to think about it.  For all the people who wouldn't let me merge, there were others who changed lanes to let me on the highway.  They speed, but they don't tailgate.  Like that.

Alabama's roads are mostly pretty good, but there were plenty of areas - mostly in cities - that needed a lot of work.

Alabama seems to have a casual idea about putting up signs to say names of roads.  In some places, I was ready to applaud; in others, I thought about tearing my hair out from the frustration of trying to figure out where I was.

What I Didn't See That I Wanted To See
Not much, actually.  I managed to get to most of the places I wanted to go.  Still, there were some things I missed that I mentioned in my daily posts.  And here are a few others.

* There's a Coon Dog Cemetery up in the Florence area that I could have gone to visit if I'd known it was there.  Next time, for sure.  This cemetery is shown in the movie Sweet Home Alabama, in case you're curious.

* In the northeastern part of the state, besides the Scottsboro Boys Museum that I missed, there are some areas of special scenic beauty, I'm told.  The Little River Canyon is a National Preserve, and there are waterfalls throughout the area.  The music group Alabama, which has lasted 50 years, was formed up there in Ft. Payne.  And there are a number of caves in that area.

* I'm sorry I missed the Freedom Riders National Monument in Anniston and the Freedom Rides Museum in Birmingham.  I'd like to honor the bravery of those people.

* Another time with other dogs I'd like to visit the Natural Bridge in northcentral Alabama.  It's the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies, I was told, and is 200 million years old.

* I'd like to go back to the Tuskegee Airmen site, as well as the nearby George Washington Carver Museum.

* I'm not usually interested in antebellum houses because I don't like their histories.  But the Buena Vista Mansion in Prattville has a 24' circular staircase that I'd like to see.

* I missed the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, along with several other Civil Rights museums.

This list may look extensive, but I saw a lot of places so feel like I made a serious effort to see what Alabama has to offer.

My Conclusion About Alabama
In general, I liked it here.  The people and the accents are definitely Southern, and I missed that up north.  But I'm not sure whether I'd ever consider living here - the year-round ants, if for no other reason.  The bugs in the summer must be fierce.

But I think this state has a lot of potential and is doing its best to live up to that potential.  And I always admire that.