22 May 2007

Sweet home Alabama

Ok, so after poking around Kolomoki, I headed west again towards my next objective in Alabama. Along the way I found the Coheelee creek covered bridge (above), mostly by chance. Below is the creek that runs beneath it.


The bridge is located in Fannie Askew Williams park.




Hilton United Methodist church, near the Coheelee bridge.
This dam is on the Chattahoochee river, dividing Georgia and Alabama.
Helicopter in Dothan, Alabama, just west of the border and just southeast of Fort Rucker.
These were found along the way between Dothan and Ozark.





Located in Ozark, Alabama, just north of Fort Rucker.
Helicopter at the entrance to Fort Rucker.



21 May 2007

Kolomoki Mounds

Ok, this where I spent the night, and the next day started out by seeing aroung the park. The Kolomoki mounds were built by Swift Creek and Weeden Island Indians between 250 and 980 AD. The largest of which, the temple mound, is shown above. On the far side, a modern set of stairs allows visitors to climb the massive mound. It is believed a primitive set of stairs had existed there when the Indians head priest lived in a hut atop the mound.
The park's museum covers part of an excavated mound, allowing a rare look inside one of the burial mounds. You can see the elaborate patterns of large rocks and how the bodies were arranged arround the central pit. The bones, however, are not real. They are recreations, placed exactly how the real bones were found. The original bones were respectfully reburied in one of the other mounds.
Some examples of the amazingly detailed pottery found in the mounds.

Near life size diorama of how archeologists believe a burial ceremony would have looked.

This was a ceremonial mound made of white clat over black loam.
This mound was never excavated because it was the family cemetary of the Mercier family, who previously owned the property. It is not known for certain if this is an Indian mound, or was created later.

This picture is a montage made of several pictures, showing the view from the top of the massive temple mound.
This is the second largest mound viewed from atop the temple mound. This mound was also a burial mound, but was also the most complexly constructed, using many logs in its construction.
The purpose of this unusual mound was never truly determined. Its construction lends to its being used for ceremonies involving the nearby temple mound.
This low, flat, mound was made of various colored clay and was full of potholes and other evidence that it was usedfor ritual activity, such as making pottery.
A thistle (it was pretty)



20 May 2007

That evening...

Ok, so after leaving Jimmy Carter NHS, it was getting late and time for me to head to my home for the night. I was camping that night at Kolomoki Mounds State Park, pictured above.
This was on a rural road just south of JC NHS, found by accident as my car went flying off the pavement onto a dirt road.




Terrell county court house in Dawson

WW2 monument






Below, monument to Congressman Griggs, from Dawson, GA, and WW1 monument
Above Blakeley city hall and water tower. I just liked the picture really... Below it, Early county courthouse in Blakeley.


Below:Early county's monument to... the peanut!
Only original Confederate flag pole in Georgia?
Confederate monument








Armed forces monument

Jimmy Carter

Ok, after leaving Andersonville, I arrived just in time in Plains, Georgia, hometown of President Jimmy Carter. The National Historic Site is headquartered in the former Plains High school, where Carter had attended. I arrived with just enough time to go through the museum in the school before it closed for the day. Left is the famous "smiling peanut", one of those strange roadside things that no one really knows why it is famous.
Plains High school, no longer a working school, now a visitor center for Jimmy Carter NHS.
Classroom in the former Plains High school, set up to look the way it would have when Carter attended.
The podium Carter used during his Presidential campaign.
Artifacts from Carter's political life, mostly his Presidential campaign.
A gift given to former President Carter by Yaser Arafat.
Carter's hammer used in Habitat for Humanity projects.




Plains, GA
Plains, GA train station, Carter's Presidential campaign headquarters.
Plains monument to Carter
Pictures of Carter's boyhood farm. Normally open to the public, I arrived after they had closed for the day. This house above was actually the home of the Carters’ farm superintendent Jack Clark and his wife Rachel Clark who was Jimmy Carter’s caregiver growing up.