Well, that's not quite what it said. Actually, the headline said,
"Montgomery wins USA Today Travel's 10 Best contest, named Best Historic City in America".
I can't say I agree with the decision, but Mayor Todd Strange, former Montgomery used car dealer, said, "This is great news for our city, a place with immense history and the setting for some of the most seminal moments in our nation’s history – from the Civil War to Civil Rights to civil aviation."
I think the cities that Montgomery allegedly "beat out" is more interesting. They were:
- Annapolis, Md.
- Williamsburg, Va.
- Savannah, Ga.
- Charleston, S.C.
- St. Augustine, Fla.
- Boston
- Santa Fe
- Philadelphia
- New Orleans
If you think that's weird, I'm with you.
We left Haughton, LA, and my sister's home on Monday morning, after a very pleasant Easter observance incorporating our grand niece's 5th birthday. We drove to Meridian, Mississippi. Meridian was a small village at
the start of the American Civil War in 1861. Its strategic position at the railroad
junction led to the construction of several military installations for the war. During the Battle of Meridian in 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman (That devil Sherman, according to my grandmother, Big Mama,) led troops into the city, destroying the railroads in
every direction, an arsenal, immense storehouses, and burning much of the area
to the ground. Sherman is reported to
have said afterwards, "Meridian, with its depots, store-houses, arsenal,
hospitals, offices, hotels, and cantonments no longer exists." Despite the
destruction, the railroad lines in the city were rapidly repaired, back in
operation 26 working days after the battle. Race
relations remained tense during the Reconstruction era, with the riot of 1871 following a fire that damaged many businesses. General Sherman is perhaps best know as the king of Yellowstone National Park. That's because one of the largest trees around is named for him.
We left Meridian Tuesday morning after an unremarkable night, driving to Montgomery, passing through Selma, Alabama, site of the civil rights protests of the '60s and the 50-year celebrations that happened just recently. Selma still looks like 40 miles of bad roads, even though it's an important place. Selma was an important place during the War of the Northern Aggression, too.
The short answer about the battle of Selma is that the Confederates lost. The slightly longer answer is that the commanding officer of the CSA (that's the Confederate States of America) at that fight was one Nathan Bedford Forrest.
He later became somewhat better knows as the founder of the KKK, the Ku Klux Klan, after the war was lost. You can learn more than you might want to know about the KKK at KKK.
As we continued through Selma, we drove over "the Bridge". Because "the Bridge" became so important in the civil rights movement, here's a picture of it.
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| The Bridge
The Edmund Pettus Bridge is a bridge that carries U.S. Route 80 across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1940, it is named for Edmund Winston Pettus, a formerConfederate brigadier general, Democratic Party U.S. Senator from Alabama and Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. The bridge is a steel through arch bridge with a central span of 250 feet (76 m). There are nine large concrete arches supporting the bridge and roadway on the east side.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge was the site of the conflict of Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965, when armed policemen attacked peaceful civil rights demonstrators with billy clubs and tear gas[2] who were attempting to march to the Alabama state capital of Montgomery.
The civil rights people had a tough time getting to Montgomery; we didn't. We rolled in about 1 PM, had a nice lunch with a dear friend, and went to visit with our rental management folks for a while. After that, we visited the local Costco operation where Kate purchased 24 jars (that's two cases) of Hearts of Palm, because we couldn't find it at our Costco. We bought a big jar of olives, too. Tomorrow, on to Chattanooga.
Here's our route since we left Texas:
Stay tuned for our next exciting adventure.............
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Surely you jest! Montgomery, Al - America's most historical city? Srsly? Has anyone been there recently? I know, I know, that's an inherent contradiction, but still. No way could I imagine that decision to be valid. If anywhere in Al qualified, I'd have guessed Selma. Oh, well, it IS Alabama. I suppose this sort of backward thinking is to be expected.
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