Tennessee Trip, Part 2

As I started to edit this post, I realized the date, September 11, which always makes me hear in my mind President Roosevelt’s voice, speaking of the Pearl Harbor bombing, saying, “A day that will live in infamy.” I would say that 9/11 qualifies for the same. From the vantage point of my years and knowledge of history now, I realize that we, as humanity, have had many, many days that live in infamy, the painful and heartbreaking results lingering generations after.

The entire American Civil War was one of those.

I had seen the sign for the Alabama Confederate Memorial Park a number of times on trips north and wanted to stop. This time on my return trip, I’m glad I didn’t miss it.

The park is something of a surprise, tucked back into the southeast corner of Chilton County. As I drove along the narrow state highway, up and down pastoral rolling hills, I began to wonder if the Apple Maps lady was about to get me lost, again, as she has been known to do. When I was directed to turn onto a patchy, rough county road, I actually stopped, wondering if I should start figuring out how to turn around.

Since there was nowhere for me to turn around with towing the camper, I inched on, and then there was a sign and arrow, confirming that I was indeed approaching the correct place. A bit further and a great arch proclaiming State of Alabama Confederate Memorial Park rose up in front of me. I drove beneath it and entered one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen. Meticulously cared for rolling hills and enormous live oaks and black-topped roads and walkways.

The park was once Alabama’s Confederate Soldiers’ Home. It operated from 1902 to 1939. An entire community, with 22 buildings, complete with water and sewer and gas works, it gave a home to aging indigent and disabled veterans of the Civil War, as well as their wives and later widows. The park now stands as ‘silent witness’ to a long-ago turbulent struggle to live.

“A land without monuments is a land without heroes. And, gentlemen, this is the monument that has been raised to the Confederate soldiers of Alabama.”

— Jefferson Manly Falkner, Founder of the Alabama Confederate Soldiers’ Home

There is a gem of a museum, that tells not only the story of the building of the veterans’ home but brings to life the war stories of particular soldiers of that community.

There are two cemeteries, although I chose only to visit the second–it was a sweltering day. The cemetery was on an eastern-facing gentle slope, with a majestic view of rolling hills and sky. I was touched to see that each grave had not only the original upright marble slab headstone, but had been given a flat granite ground marker. So often the upright slab will crack and fall. The flat ground marker will give testimony into eternity of the hero who fought for his country and what he believed in.

The entire park is a tribute to life and kindness, and to every-day heroes with the human spirit to carry on. It is a tribute to honor and dignity.

It is for me, too, a reminder of the need for leaders of our country, for all countries of the world, who will truly work for peace, not make excuses for entering wars and keeping them going. If this is to happen, the people will have to work and pray to make it so. The more we know of history, the more we will understand how the wars have come about–follow the money–and we can stand up and say no.

Blessings,