#65 Montgomery, AL 3-7-09

We visited the Montgomery, AL capitol building. The tour started at 11:00 a.m. and we waited and waited outside the door. Finally, we decided that because of the anniversary freedom march from Selma to Montgomery was happening this day, that the Capitol building was closed. So we went down to the sidewalk and headed back to catch the trolley. That's when we found out we were waiting at the wrong door!!!!!

We caught up with the tour as they were looking at the inside of the dome. It is beautiful.

The circular stairs go all the way to the 3rd floor. Everything is beautifully preserved

In the picture above we are looking down into the room where the congressmen meet. If you look just beyond the chandelier you will see one of the two fireplaces that originally heated the room. Look closely at the walls. Where you see the effect of recessed panels--they are just painted. The colors the artist used make it look like 3-D. This was original to the building and when the room was restored they found an artist that could recreate the look.

While we were waiting for the doors to open (on the wrong entrance) we met Paul and Joan. They are traveling in a motor home and their goal is to visit all the state capitols. Of course, they are strangers just waiting to be friends, so we ended up having lunch with them in Old Town Montgomery. This is a very cute little coffee shop and cafe right in the center of the old town. The day was warm and beautiful and we decided to eat outside on the porch. One of the first buildings in Old Town we visited was a Tavern. The sign above give you an accurate description of what a Tavern was during the Revolutionary times. This particular Tavern boasts the fact that Lafayette spent one night here. Maybe the bed above is where he slept?
I hope you can read the sign above. It tells what a dog trot is. We, on the west coast, would call it a breezeway! These were very popular before air conditioning was even thought of.

As you can see from the picture above, the building is really in two separate parts and the opening allows air to flow through and into the house.

This doctors office didn't have a waiting room!! Guess there was faster service in the 1800's.
As you can see the office is a very small building. Inside the walls were lined with shelves and held glass bottles of medicine.

The carriage house above housed the buggy below. It was all restored very nicely. Even this old log cabin was moved onto the property in Old Town and gave us an idea of how people lived in the 1800's. Below is the school house. I took this picture so you can see the water pump. No drinking fountain and the bathroom was an outhouse in the back! Inside the school room were desks of different sizes. This one room school taught all grades!

The teachers desk was pretty plain and the chalk board was small. The desks all had old reader books and ink wells on them.

Gidget was really happy to see us when we got back to the coach. She is a happy traveler!