Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of Alabama.



This is Hebe, goddess of youth and cup-bearer to the gods. She stands perched atop the Court Square Fountain downtown looking up towards the Capital building. She must be new to the job as she's spilling the water she's pouring into her cup all over the place.



Stained glass window inside Union Station in Montgomery, Alabama. The interior of the station is rather ornate, from the stained glass, to the woodwork, to the elaborate tilework on the floor. Union Station serves as Montgomery's welcome center, and there was a trolley leaving for a tour. There is also a gift shop, and more importantly, restrooms.



The main entrance to Union Station.



The faded remains of an old Wrigley's Spearmint mural on the side of a building. Why it was originally put there, I don't know.



Sign outside Riverwalk Stadium, which is home to the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball team. The cute little guy peaking out from the bottom left corner is the team's mascot, which is a biscuit with googly eyes and a pad of butter for a tongue. The name and mascot were selected from entries in a contest to name the team.



Drain pipe outside Riverwalk Stadium that's rusted to a pretty blue-green color.



In the 1970s Amtrak wanted to run a line through Montgomery. The only trouble was Union Station had long since closed to train traffic. The owner of a silo near the tracks turned it into a station, which served the Amtrak line until it was discontinued about nine years later.



"Decorations" on the top of the Steiner & Lobman building downtown. Folk lore says that a body is entombed in the casket-like structure. There is also a story that one of the original owners wanted to be buried in the "sarcophagus" so as to look over "beautiful" Montgomery in the afterlife.



A giant fishing lure from the "Hooked on the Alabama River - Festival of Fishing Lures" project sits outside the front entrance to the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Montgomery. Several lures like this one (all in differing themes) were created and displayed around Montgomery and nearby Prattville towards the end of summer, 2008. The lures' purpose was to get people interested in conservation of the Alabama River, which flows through the city of Montgomery. In November, 2008 several of the lures were auctioned to raise money for the Alabama River Clean Water Partnership. Other lures were paid-in-full by sponsors, such as this one, and they were able to keep them at the end of the project.



Looking at the back of a building from a parking lot across from Riverwalk Stadium.



Gravesite of Hank and Audrey Williams. The cowboy hat on Hank's tombstone is supposedly one of his actual hats that's been cast in concrete (not unlike casting a baby's first shoes in bronze).

An older man was there who was apparently well versed in Hank's life. He answered questions for a family that was visiting. The family listened to the man's answers as they relaxed on a bench, smoked their cigarettes and drank beer. If you're wondering why the grass around these graves is so green, it's because it's actually astro turf. Classy.



Carolyn Blount Theatre located in Blount Cultural Park, Montgomery. It is part of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and many of the playwright's plays are performed there.