From early Indian water navigation in canoes, to settlers traveling downriver in flatboats that carried their supplies, river transportation saw improvements as needs changed. Watercraft on the Tennessee River continuously improved up to the invention of steamboats, which opened up…
Thousands of people in Florence cross Cypress Creek every day. Its name appears on road signs, maps, businesses and neighborhoods throughout the city. If you’re from Florence, you’ve heard of it, but more than two centuries ago, the creek was…
John A. Pruitt John A. Pruitt began a fascination with moving pictures during his time with the Woodmen of the World insurance fraternity. He bought the local Florence chapter a stereopticon, or what was often called a “magic lantern”. It…
The beginning of Shoals area photographers in the 19th century coincided with a period of immense change and growth. In the Shoals community, a diverse group of individuals embraced this novel technology, capturing the faces, landscapes, and events that shaped our local history. This comprehensive list…
Studying an 1837 map of Florence, Alabama we noticed, along what is now West Irvine, a large plot of land owned by an unknown person named C.S. Tarpley, Esq. Unknown, because it isn’t a name that we recognized from that…
Helen Keller, born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1880, is one of the most inspirational figures in American history. Despite being rendered blind and deaf at just 19 months old, Keller overcame these immense obstacles and became a renowned author, political…
By 1829, the Cherokee Nation in the Southeast was under enormous pressure. Georgia was pushing to extend its authority over Cherokee lands, white settlers were moving into disputed territory, and the federal government was moving steadily toward a policy of…
The Larimore Home, a magnificent Victorian-era mansion nestled in the heart of Mars Hill, Alabama was built in 1870 by Theophilus Brown “TB” Larimore and his wife, Julia Esther Gresham, the home was a stunning example of architectural craftsmanship. The…
Just south of where the Natchez Trace bridge spans the Tennessee River lies Koger Island, a landscape rich with history, both ancient and antebellum. The island is named after William and Martha Koger, prominent figures in the region’s history, whose…
Gravelly Springs, Alabama near Waterloo is the spot where the largest cavalry force in the Western Hemisphere was ever assembled! Major General James Harrison Wilson brought together 22,000 people and camped between this spot and Waterloo during the spring of…