Pope's Tavern & Museum

Pope's Tavern & Museum

Pope's Tavern filled with heavy hearts during the Civil War. Andrew Jackson kicked the mud off his boots there. Homesick soldiers died in hospital beds there. Sweaty horses, stagecoaches, travelers who'd fought underbrush, pock-marked roads, and fear of assault pulled in for a night's rest there.
It was a time when all men ages 16 to 60 were ordered to volunteer for battle. The wealthy were wanting for bread, and salt was so rare that people boiled the dirt from smokehouse floors to get it. Union and Confederate hands wrenched the city from each other 40 times. Though Florence was hard-hit, scarred, and bruised by the Civil War, many historic places still stand, preserved for your tour-like Pope's Tavern & Museum filled with antiquities, relics, and stories.

One of the area's oldest buildings-once a stagecoach stop, tavern and inn, hospital and command center for both Northern and Southern armies-the museum houses a wealth of local and Civil War history. A rare Kennedy Long Rifle, a Confederate Colonel's uniform, a vertically strung piano-one of only four ever made.

Located: 203 Hermitage Drive, downtown Florence on Jackson's Military Road carved out by Andrew Jackson himself as a shortcut to move supply wagons and artillery from Nashville to New Orleans.
Phone: 256-760-6439.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-4 PM.
Admission Charged

Frontier Days - June 2-3, 2012

Frontier Days Celebration is held annually the first weekend of June on the grounds of Pope's Tavern. The event includes re-enactments and exhibits of the 1800's daily life such as blacksmiting, spinning, weaving, pottery making and period music. Admission is free.

Arts & Shopping

Southern Works Of Art

We're a small town with savvy. Galleries of cutting edge art collections-new ways of seeing the world in metal, stone, glass, watercolors, scorching colors. Or folk art paintings mixed from mud and wild turnip greens, storytellers, handmade quilts-generations stitched in swirls.
You'll hear strains of Tchaikovsky and the twang of dulcimers. New York fashion designers gone Southern-hand-tailored suits, high fashion on Alabama runways.
Over 135 festivals in a friendly downtown, boutiques and antiques, stomp dancers, cotton basket weavers, hand-thrown pottery of Alabama clay.
Over 50 celebrated artists-a little quirky and sassy, downhome and folksy, sleek and visionary-right here in the Shoals in the Year of Alabama Arts.
It's an art movement where you don't expect it; come for the inspiration, the wow, the surprise.

Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts

 A cultural center with ever-changing exhibits. Housed in two historic homes on the National Register of historic Places, the center features year-round workshops, juried shows, conferences, themed exhibits for all ages. On premise gift shop. Free admission.
Located: 217 E. Tuscaloosa Street, Florence, AL
256-760-6379. Hours Monday-Friday 9 AM-4 PM.
http://www.florenceal.org/Community_Arts/Art_Museums/index.html

Tennessee Valley Museum of Art

A visual and theater arts center with rotating exhibits, juried art competitions, workshops for all ages. Includes the Helen Keller Festival of the Arts, a competition of works by Alabama visually impaired, blind, and/or deaf children, a permanent installation of a 3,000-pound petroglyph found in Colbert Country with the images carved by northwest natives 800 to 1500 years ago, plus numerous other fine arts competitions throughout the year.

Located: 511 N. Water Street, Tuscumbia, AL.

Phone 256-383-0533 or visit. Hours Monday-Friday 9 AM-5 PM, Sunday 1 PM to 3 PM.

Admission Charged.

www.tvaa.net

First Fridays

Stroll through historic downtown Florence the first Friday evening of each month March through December 5 to 8 PM. Artists and live musicians line the streets in sidewalk exhibits and performances. Restaurants, cafes, and gift shops stay open late for leisurely dinners and browsing. Photography, paintings, ceramics, artisans, folklife art. And did we mention live music?
Located: Court Street - Historic Downtown Florence
Contact:First Fridays

1-877-290-8880

www.firstfridaysflorence.com

Internationally Recognized Clothing Designers

Billy Reid – 114 N. Court St. Florence 256-767-4692 or www.BillyReid.com

Alabama Chanin – 256-760-1090 or www.AlabamaChanin.com

Other Art Galleries

M.C.’s Hallelujah Hands 1809 N. Wood Ave. 256-766-4455

Tim Stevenson’s Fine Art Gallery – 458 N. Court St. 256-764-9922

McGraw’s Coffee House Artisans Gallery - 106 North Court Street (256) 765-7779

Route of Art - 218 A N. Court Street 404-368-4061

University of North Alabama Art Gallery 615 N. Pine St. 256-765-4384

Stained Glass Artistry - 116 W. Mobile St. 256-764-1500

Edith Newman Culver Memorial Museum

The historic home, located in western Lauderdale County, is now the site of a town museum that features Native American artifacts, Civil War relics and the unique heritage of Waterloo. One of Alabama's oldest incorporated towns Waterloo was a stop along the Trail of Tears. During the Civil War the town was burned, had a visit by U. S. General William Sherman, and was the site of the largest cavalry force ever amassed in the Western Hemisphere.

Located on Main Street, Waterloo, AL 35677
Call For Hours, 256-767-6081.
Admission Charged
Visit www.waterlooalabama.com

EDITH NEWMAN CULVER MUSEUM 1872-1995:

The Newman House was restored in 1995 and presented to the citizens of Waterloo by Ezra Lee Culver. Built in 1872 by Hiriam L. and Julia Ann Young Richardson, this house was purchased in 1918 by Joseph Newman, a native of Ohio and U.S. veteran of the Civil War. His son, Clark Lytle Newman with his wife, Eunice Lindsey Newman, became the next owners. Their daughter, Edith, was reared here from her childhood until her marriage.

Waterloo Heritage Days - May 2009

Heritage celebration sponsored by the Edith Newman Culver Memorial Museum & North Alabama Wagon & featuring: Wagon Trail Ride, Music, Mule Log Demonstrations, Antique Wagons, Cars, Trucksand Tractors on Display and Wagon Parade.
Contact: 256-766-3150 or 256-766-0947

Frank Lloyd Wright/Architecture

Architectural beauties wait around every corner in Florence. Like the only Frank Lloyd Wright home in Alabama, white-columned Greek Revivals and antebellum mansions that once headquartered Civil War Generals, the massive Wilson Dam and striking Renaissance Tower—history, genius, and postcard-perfect design within a short walk or drive around the block.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House

A genuine work of art—from the floors to the furnishings to the faucets—the Rosenbaum House grows naturally from its surroundings, cascading down a 2-acre lot facing the Tennessee River. It is one of the purest examples of Usonian design (named for the USA) with open floor plans and rooms that naturally flow from one to another. Built in 1939, the same year Wright delivered his treatise on organic architecture, this significant structure is cypress, glass, and brick and still has original hardware and furnishings designed by Wright.
Frank Lloyd Wright freed Americans from Victorian "boxes" and revolutionized art and architecture. He was born just two years after the Civil War and died two years after the launching of the satellite Sputnik and is considered to be America’s greatest architect. Originally built for $12,000 as an affordable, middle-class home, the house is the only Wright design open to the public in the southeastern United States.
 

Located: 601 Riverview Drive,
Florence, AL 35630
Phone 256-740-8899 or visit www.wrightinalabama.com
Admission charged.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-4 PM.
Sunday 1 PM - 4 PM

The Renaissance Tower

This impressive 1991 structure towers 30 stories over Wilson Dam, Pickwick Lake, and the glistening Tennessee River. It’s a monument to modern construction with 3500 cubic feet of concrete, 500 tons of steel, and 175 miles of wiring—that’s enough to stretch across North Alabama twice (320 Miles)!

The Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Visitor Center is located at the base of the Tower. The Marriott's 6,000 sq ft. spa and additional meeting rooms are located on the first and mezzinine levels.

Enjoy the breathtaking view and top-of-the-world fine dining in the revolving 360° Grille atop the tallest attraction in Alabama. The restaurant is open Monday - Saturday from beginning at 4:00 PM with the last seating at 9:30 PM.

Located: One Hightower Place, Florence, AL
Open Monday – Saturday 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Call 256-246-3600 or visit www.marriottshoals.com

Historic Wilson Dam

Colossal Roman and Greek style arches and columns span the Tennessee River at Wilson Reservoir and Dam. Built originally to harness waters for electricity to power WWI explosives plants, the dam stands today as the only neoclassical structure in the TVA system.

Its 100-foot locking facility was the highest single lock in the world when construction began in 1918 and is still one of the largest lift locks ever built. In contrast to the bold structure, small creeks trickle through the woods surrounding the dam, providing beautiful settings for hiking and walking paths plus lush ferns, active wildlife, and some of the best smallmouth bass fishing around.

Due to security reasons, the Wilson Dam is no longer open for tours, however, visitors can view the dam while dining at the 360 Grill or from the TVA Rock Pile Boat Ramp & Recreation Area.