6-28-19 Montgomery, AL

There sure are a lot of bugs here.  There are more bugs than Baptist Churches and that’s sayin’ something.  Some are tiny fliers, too, and get right through the screens.  We bought bug killer at the hardware store, yesterday, “good for 50 different species of bugs.”  Huh?  So what was God thinking THAT day?!  In the evening, there are lightning bugs, though, which is cool.  We sat outside tonight and watched the river flow along and all the bugs were screeching their songs and those loud birds sing, “turbo, turbo, turbo,” “weezoo, weezoo,” “ready, ready, ready.”

Do you think our campsite is big enough?

We are camped in Gunter Hill Park, a really beautiful, spacious place on Catoma Creek.  It’s a state park but we have a full hook-up and are tucked in among a lot of tall trees and green grass on a great big site.  Spanish moss hangs from the branches of the trees and lichens grow all over the trunks so it is pretty wet here a lot of the time, it seems.  But we’ve been lucky with the weather, so far.  Green, green parks and blue skies, mostly.

Originally, two small towns, New Philadelphia and East Alabama existed side by side locally.  In 1819, the year Alabama became a state, the two towns were merged into Montgomery, named for a hero of the Revolutionary War, Gen. Richard Montgomery.  The first capitol was built in 1849 but it burned down.  The current capitol building was completed on the same site in 1851.  It is blindingly white and stands out from viewpoints around the city. 

AL capitol in Montgomery

Unlike many capitols we have visited, this building is not used anymore.  The Senate and House chambers are really small, relatively speaking.  The House is furnished with simple chairs and the Senate with small desks and chairs.  We were really surprised.  The capitol building is pretty much a museum and historic landmark, now.  On the walk outside the building is a brass star. 

Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as
President of the CSA on this spot

It marks the spot where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the President of the Confederate States of America in 1861.  There is an elegant cantilever staircase in the building designed and built by

Horace King's spiral staircase

Horace King.  King was a slave owned by an architect, John Godwin, who worked side-by-side with him on many projects.  In 1846, an act of the Legislature emancipated him, an effort driven by Godwin, and King continued to work with Godwin and became a renowned engineer and architect in his own right.

House chamber

Senate chamber

The "White House" of the CSA

The first capitol building of the Confederate States of America was moved to a corner near the state capitol building.  The CSA capitol was the home of Jefferson Davis before the capital was moved to Richmond, VA.  Almost all of the furnishings in the house were owned by the Davis family and the rooms include his “oval office” where Davis worked and met with dignitaries.  There was no kitchen in this building, like many others.  With the heat in this area, an indoor kitchen would have turned the entire house into an unbearable oven.  Many houses had outdoor kitchens, just as this one.  There are a lot of artifacts here, including uniforms and hats worn by Davis and the confederate flag which draped his coffin.

This is the flag that draped the coffin
of Jefferson Davis 

After our explorations, Rob found Wintzell’s Oyster House.  There were bar stools available framed by colorful Christmas lights and, my goodness, happy hour $1 oysters done any way you like them!  Eighteen raw oysters later, dinner was served, Cajun seafood pasta!  A great day!