Tim's "Gotta See in BHM" List...

Birmingham has many, many names.  Murder City to the Homeys, Smoke City to the Truckers, Bombingham to the bleeding hearts, The Magic City to many, The Tragic City to others.  To me, it's best known simply as Home.  Be it what it may to others, it will always be home to me.  And although we have indeed made some progressive steps forward, they have been few, and very, very, far between.  Being a native son gives me the right, to speak my mind about the good and the bad that this city embraces.  I won't talk racial issues, we all know what they are and where they come from.  I won't talk money, they take, we give, and get damn little in return.  What I will talk about, here, is what makes Birmingham unique.

If your lucky enough to be born here, then you probably know of all of these little secret places, the hidden wonders of "The Ham".  My recent stay at St. Vincents gave me an opportunity to make friends with a recent transplant from Arkansas.  She and her husband were somewhat lost in trying to understand the In's and Outs of our little city of 1 Million here.  She really had a hard time grasping where she and here husband should/should not go based on neighborhood demographics.  So, here's my list of "things you gotta see in BHM" along with a little blurb on each.  Some of these sites are still here, some are just empty lots now, but unique to BHM they were.

Still Here (as of Jan 2011):

SLOSS FURNACE:  Civil War era blast furnace.  Historic site and Museum.  Home to Sloss Fright Furnace, one of the nations top 10 "Halloween Haunted Houses", featured on the SciFi's hit series Ghost Hunters, this "officially haunted" site has been investigated by the boys and girls of  T.A.P.S.    On the Professional BBQ Competition circuit, Sloss is the site of the annual "Stokin The Fire" BBQ Competition in August.  Also home to the annual Red Bull "Writers Block" Graffiti Competition.  Of the two years I had anything to do with it, the first year Norfolk Southern Railroad brought in 25 boxcars that were decorated by the competitors and then sent on a Grand Tour around the country while attached to a train and the second year someone donated new shipping containers that were used as the "canvas" by the competitors and then put back into service to travel the world yet again.  Both neat ideas.

Since the idiots that run this city decided to bulldoze the Fairpark Fairgrounds, the 1917 Vintage Steam Locomotive that was there a has new home at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark! This unique treasure has been on display at Birmingham's Fair Park since 1952. After more than 55 years, the locomotive will call Sloss Furnaces home.

Sloss also has daily self guided tours, an enclosed performing stage (think barley enclosed), that has hosted the presence of the likes of Train, Government Mule, The White Stripes, She + Him, and many others.  Joy and I have been to Train concerts at both Sloss and The Wharf in Orange Beach and the concert at Sloss opened with an Amtrak train whizzing by the stage at 70mph blowing the horn from a mile away and a mile after they passed.

Sloss is also home base for a wonderful metal arts class and business.  They do both kids and adult classes and pours.
http://www.slossfurnaces.com/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6026912/ghost_hunters_visit_sloss_furnace_in.html

http://www.frightfurnace.com/

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1801093/stokin-the-fire-2010-bbq-competition-and-music-festival-at-sloss-furnaces-birmingham-al

http://www.slossfurnaces.com/metal-arts.html





VULCAN - GOD OF FIRE:  The Largest Cast Iron Statue IN THE WORLD!  56 Freakin Feet Tall atop a 123 foot tall pedestal makes it the seventh-tallest free-standing statue in the United States.  "Ole Iron Butt" even has his own locally produced wine named in its honor, Morgan Creek Vineyards' Vulcan Red.  Created in 1903. displayed at the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair.  The molds were made by Giuseppe Moretti in 1903 and sculpted a clay master model in an unfinished church in Passaic, New Jersey, but the entire iron castings were made in Birmingham entirely from locally-produced iron.  Originally placed at the Alabama State Fairgrounds at Fairpark, Vulcan was moved to it's current location in 1936 and has been continually mooning the suburb of Homewood ever since.  In 1904, when erected at FairPark after the trip from Saint Louis, they put his arms on incorrectly AND had lost his spear in the move.  With nothing in his hands, local advertisers took advantage of his novelty and rented "advertising space" and Vulcan - The God of Fire was soon holding an ice cream cone.  Over the coming years he would also hold a Pepsi Cola bottle and a Heinz Pickle.

http://www.visitvulcan.com/





BOMBINGHAM - 16TH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH:  Deep in the bowels of the early Civil Rights movement, there was evil.  Sunday, September 15, 1963. The explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church, which killed four girls, marked a turning point in the U.S. civil rights movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing







BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE:  Right across the street from the site of the 16th Street Baptist Church is now the home to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.  Their mission is to promote civil and human rights worldwide through education.

http://www.bcri.org/index.html





ROLLERDERBY... Y'ALL:  Everybody likes to see cute girls in shorts and skates... RIGHT?  Well we here in Dixie are no different than the likes of  San Francisco and Los Angeles (Bay City Bombers with Joan Weston and The Los Angeles Thunderbirds ).  Hell even Jim Croce fell in love with a Roller Derby Queen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwhxXjdMPd8 And after you see the cuties that skate for TCR,  I'm sure you'll fall in love with them too.  VooDoo Lilly is a Godess!
 

http://tragiccityrollers.com/



REDNECK RACING AT IT'S BEST - SAYRE SPEEDWAY:  Birmingham used to be a racing Mecca, then we (y'all, not me), elected idiots and poof... the oldest racetrack in the United States (built in 1906), was gone.  So when it comes to round track asphalt racing, the closest thing to a racetrack is Sayre Speedway.  If the drivers don't make you laugh up your hotdogs, the spectators in the stands will.  http://www.sayre-speedway.com/

TOP SECRET BIRMINGHAM ATTRACTIONS TO COME...

BAYVIEW CEMETERY/LAKE & HAUNTED BRIDGE

THE CAVES OF SOUTHSIDE

LAKE PURDY

LAKE PURDY CAVES

JONES VALLEY URBAN FARM

HAUNTED HOUSES OF BIRMINGHAM

THE BRIGHTSTAR RESTAURANT (BESSEMER)

TANNEHILL HISTORIC STATE PARK

BRIERFIELD IRON WORKS AND FURNACE

IRONDALE FURNACE