This Southern city invites visitors to step back in time, enjoy a host of modern attractions, and reach for the stars.
By Kathleen Walls, F522187
January 2023
Huntsville, Alabama, is a place RVers may not think about when considering potential destinations. They should. Its variety of attractions can keep visitors occupied, no matter their interests.
For one thing, the city is home to Monte Sano State Park, a unique place with a campground that can accommodate large RVs. Plus, how many parks have a planetarium, museum, and Japanese garden on site? This one does.
Presentations at the park’s Wernher von Braun Planetarium range from technical topics such as the composition of black holes and the structure of stars to Harry Potter-themed shows. The Civilian Conservation Corps Museum honors the groups of young men who built many cabins and public works projects at state parks throughout the United States during the Great Depression, including at Monte Sano. The North Alabama Japanese Garden is filled with Japanese maples and native azaleas and is a prime spot for photography and bird-watching. During the year, the garden hosts two festivals: the Japanese Spring Festival on the first Sunday in May, and the Autumn Celebration on the first Sunday of October.
The park sits atop Monte Sano Mountain and offers a great view of Huntsville, just a 15-minute drive away. Accommodations include 14 cabins and 90 improved campsites. Sites with water and electricity (30-amp and 50-amp) start at $32 per night with a $5 reservation fee. Full-hookup sites start at $35 per night. The rate is even better Sunday through Thursday for adults 62 and older, 100 percent disabled individuals, and veterans and active military personnel, all of whom receive a 10 percent discount.
Monte Sano State Park makes a great base camp from which to explore area sites.
In Huntsville, you can foresee the future at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. You can tour the museum’s artifacts, ranging from the Apollo and Challenger missions to the present day. Many of the bigger rockets can be viewed outside on the grounds. You also can experience a simulated space voyage aboard the Discovery space shuttle, where you “launch” from Kennedy Space Center, go into orbit, and land back at Kennedy.
The authenticity at this Smithsonian-affiliate museum is amazing. In the Davidson Center for Space Exploration: Saturn V Hall, you’ll see a prototype of a Saturn V rocket. Another artifact is “Casper,” the Apollo 16 Command Module that — powered by a Saturn V rocket — took John Young, Thomas Mattingly, and Charles Duke to the moon in 1972 and brought the happy astronauts back with a load of 731 rock and soil samples.
You can sip a cocktail as you watch the universe unfold above you in the Intuitive Planetarium on Friday nights or discover more about the future of space travel here. If you want to dive deeper, you can attend Space Camp (www.spacecamp.com) for a week and learn to be an astronaut. Aviation Challenge can teach you what it’s like to be a fighter pilot, and Space Camp Robotics digs into the use of robots in space exploration.
You could spend days touring the Space Center and planetarium, but if you don’t go out and explore further, you will miss the history of one of Alabama’s oldest cities.
Alabama Constitution Hall Park features a re-created village.
Alabama’s first constitutional convention took place in 1819 and was held in a simple two-story cabinet shop, because it was the only building in town large enough to seat the 44 delegates. The state later rebuilt the structure on the same location, just as it would have been when it was Alabama’s Constitution Hall. The site is now known as Alabama Constitution Hall Park.
A massive stone fireplace heats the main part of the hall, although in July and August when the delegates met, there would have been no use for a fire. The woodworking tools that are part of the shop are amazing. One of the saws is powered by a rope tied to a tree branch suspended overhead as a worker presses a foot pedal up and down.
Alabama Constitution Hall Park has three other main buildings. The Clay Building, a red-brick two-story structure, was the law office of Clement Comer Clay, who served in Alabama’s territorial legislature, had a seat in the constitutional convention, and chaired the committee that wrote the first draft of the state constitution. He was the first chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and later served as Alabama’s governor and a U.S. senator. The Clay Building was also the Huntsville Post Office and the office of the federal land surveyor’s team. The post office window and mail slots are still there, as are furnishings from the law office. Upstairs, you can see the surveying equipment used by John Coffee, surveyor general for the Northern Mississippi and Alabama territories, and his men.
The other main buildings are Boardman Complex, where the Alabama Republican, one of the earliest newspapers in the Alabama Territory, was printed, and a two-story frame house that was the residence of Madison County’s first sheriff, Stephen Neal.
You can step back to 1819 and take a 90-minute tour through the historic buildings, which provide glimpses of Huntsville as it moved from territory to statehood. At times, live demonstrations take place in the buildings and on the grounds.
At press time, the park was closed because of staffing short-ages and was scheduled to reopen in 2023. Before visiting, check online at www.earlyworks.com.
Harrison Brothers Hardware flourishes with historic charm and an array of gift items.
If you’re traveling with youngsters, EarlyWorks Children’s Museum, designed mainly for ages 2 to 9, is right next door. They can hear stories from the talking tree or experience what it was like to travel down the river on an authentic keelboat.
Next, head out into the historic section of Huntsville and visit Harrison Brothers Hardware at 124 Southside Square. This store started as a family-owned business and remained in the Harrison family until the death of John Harrison in 1983. The Historic Huntsville Foundation bought it and preserved the traditions, right down to the 1907 National Cash Register that will ring up your purchase. The store stocks pottery, housewares, toys, arts and crafts, and other items. It’s a great place to find a unique souvenir. Many of the original fixtures and features can be viewed, including family pictures and history.
A “Star Trek” table is one of the whimsical touches at Sam & Greg’s Pizzeria.
If you get hungry and want to stay in the historical mode, Sam & Greg’s Pizzeria next door to the hardware store is a local restaurant with many unique kinds of pizza (including some with unconventional ingredients such as crawfish and mango), plus homemade gelato and sorbet for dessert. It is housed in a restored 19th-century building that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Note that the tables upstairs are all decorated with TV or comics characters.
The Weeden House Museum at 300 Gates Ave. offers another trip into the past you don’t want to miss. It’s in the Twickenham Historic Preservation District and was built in 1819. During the Civil War, and the occupation of Huntsville, federal officers used it as their headquarters. Gina, the house museum director, told the story of the former inhabitants of the home as she showed us the magnificent turn-of-the-century furnishings.
One of the most interesting residents was a woman named Marie Howard Weeden. She was born in the house in 1846, shortly after her father’s death, so her mother gave her his name. She became a renowned painter and poet and signed her work “Howard Weeden.” She is best known for the intimate portraits she created of African American freedmen and freedwomen in Huntsville, many of which are displayed in the home.
The Weeden House Museum in the Twickenham Historic Preservation District displays works by Marie Howard Weeden.
If you don’t visit the Weeden House Museum for the history, the architecture is enough to draw anyone in. The two-story Federal-style brick home features a cantilevered staircase, and the woodwork detail in the house is amazing.
Burritt on the Mountain, located at 3101 Burritt Drive S.E., was the home of Dr. William Henry Burritt, who believed in being green long before it grew to be popular. Born in Huntsville in 1869, he became a homeopathic physician, like his father and grandfather before him. When his first wife, Pearl, died, he married a wealthy tobacco heiress, Josephine Drummond. After Josephine’s death, Burritt moved back to Huntsville and built his retirement home on Round Top Mountain.
Historic Huntsville Depot was an active passenger station until 1968.
Construction workers must have thought the good doctor was a few straws short of a bale when he ordered them to stuff straw inside the walls and ceiling for insulation. He built the house in the shape of a Maltese cross to create cross ventilation and great mountaintop views. To top that off, rich as he was, he used recycled materials whenever possible. He had only a cold shower in the basement, believing hot showers were not healthful. It proves that sometimes old ways just get recycled and become new again.
Unfortunately, Burritt’s ideas weren’t a “wife magnet,” as his third wife, a much younger woman, left him, saying he was trying to kill her. Maybe that cold shower down steep steps?
Burritt on the Mountain was Huntsville’s first museum and is still one of its most popular attractions. The 167-acre site also includes Historic Park, a collection of restored farm buildings showcasing 19th-century rural life in Alabama. One of the most interesting is the Joel Eddins House. This two-story log home, built between 1808 and 1810, is believed to be the oldest in the state. It was constructed in Ardmore, a town in Limestone County, and moved to Burritt on the Mountain to protect it. In addition, the museum encompasses five other houses, including a “dogtrot” and a “saddleback” house; a barn; a church; and an old school. Historical interpreters demonstrate normal 19th-century farm activities. The farm also has animals that would have been kept by the farmers during that period.
The Stovehouse is popular in Huntsville for live entertainment, dining, and shopping.
You can step back further in time at the Historic Huntsville Depot, located at 320 Church St. N.W., where visitors experience life on the railroad in the 1860s. A model train exhibit shows how it would have looked during the Civil War, including some graffiti left by Confederate soldiers held prisoner there. Ride the mini-train and view the beautifully restored trains, automobiles, and a fire engine. (At press time, the facility was closed; visit www.earlyworks.com for reopening information.)
If you want to stay in a historic mood for dinner, try The Stovehouse. It’s located at 3414 Governors Drive S.W., in the recycled Martin Stamping and Stove Factory, which dates back to 1928 and now serves as a multi-venue dining, shopping, and entertainment spot. Gas Light Alley is the spot to find the musicians playing and singing. Bark & Barrel is one of the many restaurants there; their barbecue will satisfy the big appetite you worked up while seeing Huntsville’s most fun places.
Huntsville is where you can visit the past and future, all in one city.
Further Info
Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.huntsville.org
(800) 843-0468