George Washington Carver Museum, and Booker T. Washington's home. The
museum includes displays of African art and George Washington Carver's
agricultural experiments.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception,
at Mobile, stands on land that the first settlers used as a burying ground.
The State Capitol, Montgomery, is a stately building, similar in
appearance to the National Capitol. For the first few months of the Civil
War, it served as the capitol of the Confederacy.
Jefferson Davis' Home, in Montgomery, is known as the first White House of
the Confederacy because it was here that President Davis lived when
Montgomery was the Confederate capital.
Parks and Forests
Alabama has four national forests. The Talladega National Forest has two
sections, one in the central part of the state and the other in the east.
The William B. Bankhead National Forest, formerly the Black Warrior
National Forest, is in the northwest. The Tuskegee, smallest of the
national forests, is in the east, and the Conecuh is in the south.
State parks and forests total about 30. They are planned to conserve the
natural beauty of the state and to provide places where people may go for
outdoor recreation—picnicking, camping, hiking and nature study, fishing
and other water sports.
Other Attractions
The following are among other places that attract visitors from all over
the nation and the world:
Ave Maria Grotto, at St. Bernard, near Cull-man, displays more than 100
small reproductions of famous religious buildings of the world.
The Azalea Trail, in Mobile, is a 55-kilometer (35-mile) trail of flowers
that leads through residential parts of the city, past historic homes and
buildings.
Bellingrath Gardens and Home, south of Mobile, is a beautifully
"landscaped estate. Here the finest flowers, shrubs, and trees have been
brought together in a setting of great natural beauty. The home is noted
for its rich furnishings and priceless art objects.
Cathedral Caverns, north ofGuntersville, contains a large forest of
stalagmites and one cavern 27 meters (90 feet) deep.
Ivy Green, in Tuscumbia, is Helen Keller's birthplace and childhood home.
Vulcan Statue, at the summit of Red Mountain, Birmingham, is a statue of
the god of fire. It was made of iron from the local area and is said to be
one of the largest statues in the world.
Annual Events
Many of Alabama's annual events center upon sports, the products of the
state, and the interests and traditions of the people. From the early
French settlers. Mobile inherited the celebration of Mardi Gras. Mobile's
Mardi Gras festival is the oldest such celebration in the United States. It
begins on the Friday before the first day of Lent and reaches its high
point on the night of Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.
Mobile celebrates the azalea season from late February to early April,
when thousands of visitors tour the Azalea Trail. The Deep-Sea Fishing
Rodeo, at Mobile and Dauphin Island, climaxes the fishing season, usually
late in July or early in August.
Other events include the state fair at Birmingham, in September, and the
River Boat Regatta at Guntersville, in August.
CITIES
No one region claims all or most of the cities. Large cities are found in
each part of the state—central, north and south.
Montgomery
Besides being the capital, Montgomery is a center of agricultural trade
and the leading cattle market of southeastern United States. The large
ranches and herds of cattle in the area remind one of Texas. Industries of
the city include textile mills, meat-packing plants, and furniture
factories.
Montgomery has several institutions of higher education, including
Alabama State University, campuses of Troy State and Auburn universities,
and Huntingdon College, a private senior college. The Air University at
Maxwell Air Force Base is a national center for research and for education
and training of U.S. Air Force personnel.
Birmingham
Alabama's largest city is located at the southern end of the Ridge and
Valley Region. It is sometimes called the Magic City because of its rapid
growth. Since it was founded in 1871 as the town of Ely ton, it has grown
into a metropolitan area of about 850,000 people. It is the South's only
major producer of iron and steel. The hundreds of other industries in the
area manufacture such items as cast-iron pipe, heavy machinery, chemicals,
textiles, and wood and paper products.
Birmingham is a leading educational and cultural center. It is also noted
for mountain scenery and places of outdoor recreation.
Mobile
The second-largest city and only seaport is known as Alabama's Gateway to
the World. It was founded by the French and was named for the Mobile
Indians, who lived in the area. Today it is a busy industrial center with
chemical plants, shipyards, and seafood industries. It is also a gracious
and beautiful resort city, known for its flowers and ancient oak trees
draped with Spanish moss.
Other Cities
The following are some of the other important cities:
Huntsville, now the Rocket City, was one of Alabama's first settlements.
It remained a small farming community for more than 125 years. Its
population was only 16,000 in 1950. About that time the Army began to
develop a rocket and guided-missile center at the Redstone Arsenal at
Huntsville. Thousands of scientists and other workers came to the area. So
did dozens of new industries. Within 20 years Huntsville's population
increased to more than 135,000. In 1960 a part of the arsenal was
transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This part
was named the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.
Tuscaloosa, the home of the University of Alabama, is located on the
Black Warrior River at the edge of the Appalachian Plateau. Its name comes
from the Indian words tuska, meaning "black," and lusa, meaning "warrior."
The city's many industries include a large paper mill, a rubber-tire plant,
textile mills, oil refineries, and plants that make metal products.
Gailstleii, northeast of Birmingham, is an important iron and steel
center, as well as a distribution point for livestock and grain produced in
the surrounding area.
Duthan, leading city of southeastern Alabama, is located in a rich
farming area. The main crop is peanuts. Industries in the city manufacture
such products as peanut oil, hosiery, and cigars.
GOVERNMENT
The legislative department of the state government is made up of the
Senate and the House of Representatives. The members of both bodies serve 4-
year terms. An amendment to the state constitution, adopted in 1975,
provided for annual legislative sessions, beginning in 1976. Before that,
regular sessions had been held every other year.
The chief executive is the governor, who is elected by the people. The
people also elect a lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney
general, treasurer, auditor, and commissioner of agriculture and industry,
as well as the members of the state board of education.
The highest state court is the supreme court. It consists of a chief
justice and eight associate justices elected statewide for 6-year terms.
The court of appeals is divided into two courts, one to hear civil appeals
and one to hear criminal appeals. The major trial courts in Alabama are its
numerous circuit courts.
GOVERNMENT
Capital—Montgomery. Number of counties—67. Representation in Congress—U.S.
senators, 2; U.S. representatives, 7. State Legislature—Senate, 35
members; House of Representatives, 105 members;
all 4-year terms. Governor—4-year term. Elections— Primary elections to
select candidates, first Tuesday in May; general and state elections,
Tuesday after first Monday in November
The state is divided into 67 counties. Each county is governed by a board
of commissioners, known as the county commission.
FAMOUS PEOPLE
Alabama claims many persons who did important work in government,
education, the law, military affairs, business, and the arts. The following
are some of the honored names:
William Wyatt Bibb (1781-1820) was Alabama's only territorial governor
and the first governor of the state. He was born in Georgia.
Josiah Gorgas (1818-83), born in Pennsylvania, was a teacher and an army
officer. He became an Alabamian after his marriage to Amelia Gayle,
daughter of John Gayle, governor of Alabama from 1831 to 1835. During the
Civil War, Josiah Gorgas was chief of military supplies, and eventually a
brigadier general, in the Confederate Army. Later he served for a year as
president of the University of Alabama. His son, William C. Gorgas (1854-
1920), who was born near Mobile, is world famous as the U.S. Army surgeon
and sanitation expert who stamped out yellow fever in the Canal Zone and
made possible the building of the Panama Canal.
Julia Strudwick Tufwiler (1841-1916) was born in Greene County. She
established several girls' vocational schools and secured admission of
women to the University of Alabama. She was also active in prison reform.
She wrote the words of "Alabama," the state song.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) is known throughout the world as the
founder of Tuskegec Institute and as an educator, author, and lecturer. He
was born in Virginia and was educated at Hampton Institute. His biography
