01_mea_P6090815_pan_2800 The view from Pulpit Rock, Cheaha Mountain State Park
03_coosa_P6080699_1600 Coosa River above Neely Henry Dam
04_Janney_P6090038_1200 Janney Furnace in Ohatchee AL. This is the remnant of furnace works built to produce pig iron during the Civil War. The Confederacy was desperately short of pig iron and steel for military purposes, and the location was chosen due to the abundance of iron-containing ore (hematite), limestone and coal in the area. On July 14, 1864, a Union cavalry raiding force attacked the furnace works having learned of the works during a general movement to destroy railroads between Montgomery AL and West Point GA. The buildings and chimney of the furnace were destroyed after a much smaller Confederate cavalry force engaged Union cavalry at the Battle of “Ten Islands” on the Coosa River ¼ mile above the current site of the Neely Henry Dam.
05_janney_P6090053_1600 The Calhoun County Confederate Memorial at Janney Furnace Park lists county residents who died in the Civil War.
06_janney_P6090041_1600 Memorial detail
07_janney_P6090044_1600 Calhoun County Confederate Memorial detail with modified photograph of John Pelham taken during his attendance at West Point Military Academy in 1858. Pelham is the most famous of the Calhoun County Civil War veterans. He left West Point in 1861 just weeks before graduation to join the Alabama militia. He was transferred to Virginia and helped develop horse artillery under J.E.B. Stuart. He distinguished himself as an artillery officer at the First Battle of Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. He was killed by shrapnel from Union artillery after participating in a cavalry charge at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford and died on March 17, 1863.
08_janney_P6090045_1400 Outside of Janney Furnace Civil War and Native American Museum.
09_janney_P6090046_1600 Inside Janney Museum with an eclectic collection of knives (large numbers and styles throughout American and European collections), civil war weapons, uniforms, publications and sentimental/romantic paintings of Confederate military leaders. Artifacts of Indigenous peoples (native Americans) include grinders and projectile points.
10_janney_P6090049_DxO Projectile points (mostly chert) collected in Alabama. Indigenous populations trace back 10,000 years before European fortune hunters and colonialists penetrated what is now Alabama. Beginning in the early 1800’s, cultural groups designated as Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, Alabama-Coushattas, and Yuchis came under pressure from U.S./European settlers in the form of warfare, other assaults on land, and spread of non-native diseases. In the 1830’s, the majority of Native Americans were forced from their land to make way for cotton plantations and other European American expansion.
11_janney_P6090051_1400 One of the Civil War era weapons.
12_janney_P6090052_1200 1864 Confederate States Almanac
13_ruff_trail_P6100885_1400 Nature trail at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center in Birmingham AL
14_ruff_donor_P6100886_1600 Donor recognition sign at the Ruffner Mountain Pavillion
15_ruff_signage_1500 Restroom signage designates plumbing available in each of two rooms, rather than designation of sex or gender. Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, Birmingham AL. This is not your grandfather’s Alabama.
16_hef_P6110968 hauntedchicken_2800 Surprisingly weird roadside display for Haunted Chicken House. You won’t miss the turnoff for this attraction. A local farmer in the Heflin area runs a Fall haunted house and foul fowl program thematically focused on Halloween. Proceeds go to support the local volunteer fire and rescue department.
17_hef_P6110975_1600 Haunted Chicken House roadside monument detail.
18_hef_P6110974_1400 Haunted Chicken House signage.
19_homesweethome_1400 Base of operations and home-sweet-home during my Alabama adventure.
