2009 Official Alabama Vacation Guide - (Page 10) At DeSoto Caverns, near Childersburg, you will see the first recorded caves in the nation, where early inhabitants of Alabama’s Archaic Period lived from 8000-10,000 BC. Childersburg is also the oldest European settlement in the United States, predating St. Augustine, Florida by 25 years. Called “The Big Apple of the 14th Century” by National Geographic, Moundville Archaeological Park was once the largest city in North America. Today, the 320-acre park, consisting of 26 mounds, represents one of the most significant Native American archaeological sites in the nation. Other historic mounds include the Indian Mound in Florence, Oakville Indian Mounds in Lawrence County, and Shell Mound Park, located on the northern shore of Dauphin Island. Native American culture is only one aspect of the state’s remarkable history. Visitors can experience North America’s first known Mardi Gras celebration and learn about the French influence on the settling of Alabama’s oldest city in Mobile. In 1702, at what would become Mobile, brothers Iberville and Bienville Le Moyne established a French fort and settlement on a bluff 27 miles up the Mobile River from Mobile Bay. The settlement was relocated in 1711 to where a temporary wooden stockade fort was constructed. Named Fort Condé, this fort protected Mobile and its citizens from 1723 to 1820. Today it is Mobile’s official welcome center. At the other end of Mobile Bay is Dauphin Island, which became the headquarters for French colonization along the Gulf Coast in the 1700s. It consisted of a chapel, warehouses, private homes, and a fort, now known as Historic Fort Gaines. This fort would prove to be a critical site during the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay. In 1799, the U.S. Army took possession of Fort St. Stephens from the Spanish and the United States flag was raised for the first time on soil that would eventually belong to Alabama. The Creek Indian War was fought largely within the boundaries of present-day Alabama. Many bloody battles took place during this period, including the Battle of Burnt Corn (July 17, 1813) and the Fort Mims Massacre (August 30, 1813). However, it is the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, which took place on March 27, 1814, that is considered to be the decisive battle of the war. The Creek Nation was crushed by General Andrew Jackson and the course of Alabama history was changed forever. Today, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park and a reenactment of the historic battle each March serve as reminders of the bloody violence that took place here. 10 w w w. a l a b a m a . t r a v e l The Indian wars of the early 1800s pushed Native Americans out of the state. In 1830, following the passage of the “Indian Removal Act,” men, women, and children were taken from their homeland, put into provisional forts with minimal necessities, and forced to march a thousand miles to Oklahoma on what would eventually become known as the Trail of Tears. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, delegates from the seceding Southern states officially met at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. Within a few days, they had formed the Confederate States of America, drafted a constitution, and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as its leader. Visitors can stand in the spot where Davis took the oath of office at the Alabama State Capitol and tour the restored First White House of the Confederacy where he lived. Arlington, Birmingham’s only antebellum mansion, served as headquarters for Union troops planning the 1865 march on Tuscaloosa that led to the burning of the University of Alabama. Important Civil War battles were fought on Alabama soil, including the war’s final battle at Fort Blakeley (Mar. 27-Apr. 8, 1865). Along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, tour Fort Morgan and Historic Fort Gaines to learn of their roles in the crucial Battle of Mobile Bay, the most important naval battle of the war. In 1871, Alabama’s largest city, Birmingham, was founded. Through the middle of the 20th century, it was the primary industrial center of the Southeastern United States with major industries centered on iron and steel production. Visit Vulcan Park and you will see the giant statue that reigns over the city as a reminder of its iron and steel heritage. During the 1800s, cotton was agricultural royalty in Alabama, but cotton crops began to fall in the early 1900s. Boll weevils came to the Black Belt in 1910 and tore into the cotton crop. It was the invasion by these pesky creatures, however, that would persuade Alabama farmers to diversify their operations. They did so by cultivating peanuts and sweet potatoes. These crops, with help from scientist George Washington Carver of Tuskegee, became very important to the state’s agricultural base. Alabama’s agricultural heritage can be experienced at Old Alabama Town in Montgomery, Landmark Park in Dothan, the Pioneer Museum of Alabama in Troy, and the city of Enterprise, home of the Boll Weevil Monument. The 1900s in Alabama also marked the beginning of aviation in America. Follow the Alabama Aviation Trail that leads you to where the Wright brothers established the nation’s first flying school at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. Tour Enlisted Heritage Hall, also in Montgomery, and explore important aviation sites in Huntsville, Birmingham, Tuskegee, Fort Rucker, and Mobile. PHOTOS: ATD/JEFF GREENBERG, ATD/TOMMY CAUTHEN. ALABAMA BECAME A STATE ON DECEMBER 14, 1819, BUT ITS ROAD TO STATEHOOD WAS NOT A QUICK AND EASY JOURNEY. AS A SEPARATE TERRITORY SINCE 1817, ALABAMA HAS HAD FIVE CAPITALS, ALL OF WHICH HAVE THEIR OWN REMARKABLE STORY TO TELL OF THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE. Visit the sites that have been Alabama’s capital, including St. Stephens, where Governor William Wyatt Bibb presided over the first meeting of the Territorial Legislature; Huntsville, where the first Constitution Convention met in 1819; Old Cahaba, Alabama’s first permanent capital (1820-1826) located near Selma; Tuscaloosa, which served as the capital beginning in 1826, and Montgomery, where the State Capitol building has stood since 1846. A new chapter in the state’s history began during the Civil War. On January 11, 1861, the state adopted the ordinances of secession from the Union. From this date until February 18, 1861, Alabama was a free republic. http://www.alabama.travel
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