Old Alabama Town

It's been a while since my traveling companions and I have been anywhere. I haven't been in a mood to travel great distances the past couple of months: part burn out and part saving up for some upcoming spring trips.

But today was a beautiful January day to walk a few blocks back in time with my children in our state's capital with a visit to Old Alabama Town.

For anyone that's read this blog before, you know I often forget my camera at important moments. Today was no exception. I left it sitting in our kitchen. All photos posted today are courtesy of always-trusty Google images.

The drive to Montgomery is about an hour for us, so we headed out the door early and were back home before the postal carrier's afternoon drop-off.

Jack was pleased to see a playground immediately upon arrival.

It took us about 2 hours to take the actual walking tour. It probably would have been quicker, but we stopped and let Mattie play in the rocks multiple times. There are tour guides available to walk you through the entire experience, but it's easier for us to move at our own pace.

My favorite was the print shop. I once worked at a newspaper, so I enjoyed the timeline about Alabama's oldest newspapers. According to the list on the print shop wall, Alabama's first newspaper, the Centinel, began printing in 1811 in Mobile.

Jack liked the cotton gin. For more than 100 years, cotton WAS the Alabama economy. One of the signs in the gin did point out that this was both good and evil.

This man greeted us in one of the homes and gave us a quick history lesson. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to keep Mattie from climbing on things to pay much attention.

We also toured a tavern that was constructed between 1818-1821. That's almost 200 years. Now that is some amazing history!

I must admit I'm more of a U.S. history buff than a fan of state history. In fact, I remember hating Alabama history class in both the fourth and eighth grades. I would have to say that what I read and saw today was probably my favorite Alabama history lesson.

It cost us only $10 to take the tour. Children 5 and under are free, so I was the only one that had to pay.

After the tour, we ate a delicious cafeteria-style lunch at The Farmer's Market Cafe. This place alone was worth the trip. Fried chicken, potatoes and gravy and the cherry cobbler were some good Southern treats, not to mention the nice folks that carried my tray and were so helpful to a momma toting a toddler.