This is Talladega

Camping on Lake Logan Martin in Riverside, Alabama

We chose this campground, on a small lake off of the Coosa River, because it was between Birmingham and Anniston, two places where we wanted to visit National Park sites. And being on the water, we thought it would be nice for just hanging out, too. It was. Here you can see our view from Lizzy.

On our way to visit Anniston, we discovered that we were less than 15 minutes from Talladega Superspeedway and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. We visited both yesterday, our last day here. We got a nice tour of the Talladega Speedway and explored the Hall of Fame. Our tour included a drive around the track, like we did at the Indianapolis Speedway, and Mark got to sit in another “cool car”, this one from Talladega Nights! (Fun Fact. Only a week of filming was done at Talladega. The rest was done at various sites in North Carolina.)

Visits to the 2 new National Park Sites:

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument (#239), about the history of the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham (one of the most segregated cities in the United States in the 1960s). In 1963, snarling police dogs were unleashed against non-violent protesters, children were sprayed with high-pressure fire hoses, and the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four girls. A new National Park, it is still being developed. We visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (& temporary Visitor Center), and did some of the history walks, mostly in Kelly Ingram Park, across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church.
Freedom Riders National Monument (#240), in Anniston, Alabama. In 1961, a small interracial band of “Freedom Riders” challenged discriminatory laws requiring separation of the races in interstate travel. The riders of the first 2 buses of were attacked by white segregationists in Anniston, who then firebombed one of the busses just outside of town. Another new park, we visited the temporary VC, the 2 Bus Station sites, and the bus burning site.

Memorial to the Four Little Girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, in Kelly Ingram Park, across the street from the church.
Greyhound Bus Station in Anniston, Alabama, where the first Freedom Riders were attacked by White Supremacists

Birmingham, the Pittsburgh of the South

Iron ore, coal, and limestone defined Birmingham when it was founded in 1871, to make iron. From its founding through the end of the 1960s, it was a primary industrial center of the South and the pace of it’s growth from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City and the Pittsburgh of the South. So we had to visit…

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, once the largest manufacturer of pig iron in the world, Sloss Furnaces operated from 1882-1970, making it the longest continually running blast furnace in Birmingham’s history.
Vulcan Park and Museum, where Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, watches over Birmingham. The 56-foot (17 m) tall Vulcan statue is the largest cast iron statue in the world. It was created as Birmingham’s entry for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.