Places to see at Tuscumbia, Alabama

Best Places to visit in Tuscumbia, Alabama - Best Things to do in Tuscumbia, AL
Place Name Distance (mi) Rating
Tuscumbia Historic District 0.08 7
Historic, Historical Places, Urban Environment, Gardens And Parks, Cultural, Interesting Places, Historic Districts

The Tuscumbia Historic District is a historic district in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The district contains 461 contributing properties and covers about 232 acres (94 ha) of the town's original area. The first white settlers in Tuscumbia built a village next to Big Spring, at the site of what is today Spring Park. Many settlers, many from Virginia and Maryland, began to emigrate to The Shoals in the 1820s and 1830s. The oldest houses in the district are Tidewater-type cottages, a style native to the Middle Atlantic. Also built during the town's early period are some of the oldest commercial buildings in Alabama, including the Morgan-Donilan Building (built 1825) and a seven-building block known as Commercial Row (built in the mid-1830s). The town's economy declined in the 1840s, when many farmers left seeking more fertile soil, through the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Recovery came in the 1880s and 1890s, driven by industrial development in neighboring Sheffield. The majority of commercial buildings date from the 1880s through the 1930s, while residential buildings of the period display styles such as Queen Anne, Folk Victorian, Bungalow, and Tudor Revival. Other notable buildings in the district include the Colbert County Courthouse, built in 1909; St. John's Episcopal Church, built in 1852 as one of the earliest Carpenter Gothic churches in Alabama; and Deshler Stadium, a Works Projects Administration project completed in 1941.

The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

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Colbert County Courthouse Square Historic District 0.2 7
Historic, Historical Places, Urban Environment, Gardens And Parks, Cultural, Interesting Places, Historic Districts

The Colbert County Courthouse Square Historic District is a historic district in Tuscumbia, Alabama. It contains 22 buildings and residences centered on the Colbert County Courthouse.

The courthouse was built in 1881. It was heavily damaged by fire in 1908. In the restoration, porticos were added to each side, each with four Ionic columns. The west and north porticoes have since been removed to make way for expansion wings. A clock tower was also added after the 1908 fire.

On the east side of the courthouse across Main Street are the First Methodist Church (built 1926), the Clark Building (built 1926), and the Abernathy House. Single houses, now all used as law offices, mixed with modern infill face the courthouse on its other sides; the Godley House to the north was built in 1839, the Womble House to the west was built in the 1890s, and the Dirago House to the south was built in 1912.

Away from the courthouse square, the most significant structures are a group of seven buildings on 5th Street known collectively as Commercial Row. The buildings were constructed in the 1840s, and have served as the commercial hub of Tuscumbia. One block west of Commercial Row is the Railway Depot. The Tuscumbia Railroad Company was chartered in 1830 and had extended their line to Decatur by 1834. The Victorian depot was built in 1888 to replace a former frame structure, and given to the city in 1948. Other buildings in the district include the First Presbyterian Church (built 1824), St. John's Episcopal Church (built 1852), First Baptist Church (built 1903), and the Julian House (built in Cherokee and moved to Tuscumbia in the 1850s).

The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

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John Daniel Rather House 0.21 7
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

The John Daniel Rather House (also known as Locust Hill) is a historic residence in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The house was built in 1823 by William H. and Catherine Winter, who came to The Shoals from Prince William County, Virginia. It was taken over by the Union Army during the Civil War and used as the headquarters of General Florence M. Cornyn. After the war, the house was purchased by John Taylor Rather, an early North Alabama settler who was deputy sheriff of Madison County, and a longtime member of the Alabama House of Representatives and later the Alabama Senate. His son, John Daniel Rather, also served in both houses of the state legislature, and was President of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

The house is built in Federal style, and is two stories with chimneys in each gable end. The white-painted brick is laid in Flemish bond on the west and south sides that face Cave and 7th Streets. All windows are two-over-two sashes, and the main entrance is a double leaf door with moulded trim and a transom. An Eastlake porch was later added to the front and north fa\u00e7ades. The porch features elaborate panels with floral designs, brackets with acorn pendants, and turned, spool-shaped posts. Two original mantels remain, one Adamesque and one Federal, while two replacement mantels are Classical Revival and Victorian.

The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1978 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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Felix Grundy Norman House 0.29 7
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

The Felix Grundy Norman House is a historic residence in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The house was built in 1851 by Felix Grundy Norman, a lawyer who also served as mayor of Tuscumbia and in the Alabama Legislature from 1841 to 1845 and 1847\u201348. Norman's father-in-law was the land agent for the sale of the Chickasaw lands, and his brother-in-law, Armistead Barton, built Barton Hall in nearby Cherokee, Alabama.

The house sits on the corner of Main and Second Street, and has two identical fa\u00e7ades facing each street. Each face has a central pedimented portico supported by four Tuscan columns. Each portico is flanked by tri-part windows consisting of a nine-over-nine sash window bordered by narrow three-over-three sashes. The interior retains its Greek Revival woodwork and mantels.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

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William Winston House 0.5 7
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

The William Winston House is a historic residence in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Construction was begun in the early 1800s by merchant Clark T. Barton and finished in 1824 by planter William Winston. Winston's son, John A. Winston, was Governor of Alabama from 1854 until 1857; Winston's daughter married another Governor, Robert B. Lindsay. The house remained in the family until 1948, when it was sold to the city, which constructed a new campus for Deshler High School around the house.

The two-story brick house has a hipped roof with two chimneys on each side. The brick on all sides is laid in Flemish bond. The five-bay fa\u00e7ade features a single-height portico flanked by 2 non-original nine-over-nine windows on each floor. The portico is supported by four Tuscan columns, and covers a front door that is surrounded by a transom and sidelights. The deck above has a short balustrade, and the original French door has been replaced with a window with sidelights. The interior is laid out in a center-hall plan with two rooms on either side. A spiral staircase runs from the first floor all the way to the attic.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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Ivy Green 0.62 7
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

Ivy Green is a historic house museum at 300 West North Commons in Tuscumbia, Alabama, United States. Built in 1820, it was the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller (1880\u20131968), who became well-known after overcoming deaf-blind conditions to communicate; she became an author and public speaker. Designated as a National Historic Landmark, it is now operated as a museum honoring and interpreting Keller's life.

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Johnson's Woods 0.84 7
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

Johnson's Woods (also known as the G. W. Carroll House) is a historic plantation house in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The house was built in 1837 on land purchased by George W. Carroll in 1828. A settler from Maryland, Carroll became the county's wealthiest planter by 1850. Between 1855 and 1860, he moved to Arkansas, selling his plantation to William Mhoon. Upon Mhoon's death in 1869, the plantation passed to William A. Johnson, a former Tennessee River steamboat operator and Confederate Army soldier. In addition to farming, Johnson also revived his steamboat business, traded cotton in Memphis, and opened a mercantile business in Tuscumbia. After his death in 1891 and his wife's in 1905, the land passed to his son, John W. Johnson.

The Neoclassical house is L-shaped, and has a five-bay front fa\u00e7ade. The double-height entry portico is supported by four narrow columns, with pilasters from the original, two-tiered portico which was removed in 1983. The portico is flanked by two sash windows on either side, two-over-two on the first floor and twelve-over-eight on the second. The double-paned door is surround by sidelights and a transom with diamond-shaped panes. The entry hall contains a staircase, and is flanked by a living room on one side and a dining room on the other. A side entry hall behind the dining room leads to the kitchen. A parlor was added behind the living room circa 1889, and a gabled room was added behind the kitchen circa 1904. Contributing outbuildings and structures include a smokehouse, plantation office, cotton shed, barn, corn crib, carriage house, commissary, animal shelter, and the cedar-lined entrance lane to the property.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

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John and Archibald Christian House 0.91 7
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

The John and Archibald Christian House (also known as the Lindsay House) is a historic residence near Tuscumbia, Alabama. The house was built in the 1830s by brothers John and Archibald Christian, who were among a group of settlers from the Piedmont region of Virginia who came to Tuscumbia in the 1820s and 1830s. The family had left the house by the 1860s, and in the late 19th century, it was the home of Governor Robert B. Lindsay. In the 1900s, the house was the center of a dairy farm, before it and the surrounding 50 acres (20 ha) were acquired by the Tennessee Valley Country Club in 1923. The country club uses the house as a social meeting area and caretaker's quarters.

Situated on a hill overlooking Tuscumbia, the house has a double-height portico flanked by six-over-six sash windows on each floor. Twin entrance doors lead into separate front rooms that were a portion of the house as originally built. Each room has an Adamesque mantel. A transverse rear hall was added around 1923, joining the main block with a detached kitchen. The main stairway to the second floor was moved to this hall, replacing separate stairhalls in the front rooms.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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Village Number 1 1.06 7
Historic, Historical Places, Interesting Places, Historic Settlements

Village Number 1, also known as The Village and Nitrate Plant Number 1 Reservation Subdivision, is an unincorporated community in Colbert County, Alabama, in the United States.

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Tuscumbia Landing Site 1.78 6
Historic Architecture, Architecture, Interesting Places, Other Buildings And Structures

The Tuscumbia Landing Site is a historic port site near Sheffield, Alabama. The landing was established in 1824 at the mouth of Spring Creek on the Tennessee River. As large craft could not navigate Spring Creek to reach Tuscumbia, the landing was built to transfer goods to and from the town. The New Orleans and Tuscumbia Steamboat Company was created in 1825, and connected The Shoals with towns on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Wagons were used to haul goods between the landing and the town until a horse-drawn railroad, the first railroad west of the Appalachian Mountains, was built from 1831 to 1832. The line was later extended to Decatur in 1834, bypassing the treacherous shoals on the Tennessee River, and was renamed the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad. The landing was also a stop for many Muscogee and Cherokee along the Trail of Tears.

During the Civil War, the landing was heavily damaged in April 1862 by Colonel John Basil Turchin's troops; it was completely destroyed by General Grenville M. Dodge in April 1863, in the lead-up to Streight's Raid. Following the war, Florence became the port of choice in the Shoals, as the warehouses at Tuscumbia were never rebuilt. The site contains six limestone foundations of the main depot along the river, as well as foundation walls of a terminal at the top of a bluff and the remnants of a wagon road. The depot was built in 1832, and was three stories tall. A floating wharf was connected to the uppermost floor of the building, while the two lower floors were used for storage.

The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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Alabama Music Hall of Fame 1.3 2
Cultural, Museums, Interesting Places, Other Museums

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, first conceived by the Muscle Shoals Music Association in the early 1980s, was created by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board, which then saw to its Phase One construction of a 12,500\u00a0sq\u00a0ft (1,160\u00a0m2) facility after a statewide referendum in 1987. It currently stands in the town of Tuscumbia, Alabama.

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Church of Christ 0.1 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Strand Theatre 0.1 1
Architecture, Historic Architecture, Cinemas, Cultural, Theatres And Entertainments, Interesting Places, Destroyed Objects

Strand Theatre or Strand Theater may refer to:

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First Presbyterian Church 0.17 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

First Baptist Church 0.17 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

First Methodist Church 0.21 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Saint Johns Episcopal Church 0.23 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

High Street Church of Christ 0.34 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church 0.36 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Lesley Christian Methodist Episcopal Temple 0.38 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

First Baptist Church 0.45 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Tennessee Valley Museum of Art 0.47 1
Cultural, Museums, Interesting Places, Other Museums

Calvary Baptist Church 0.48 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Tuscumbian Theatre 0.51 1
Cinemas, Cultural, Theatres And Entertainments, Interesting Places

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West Side Baptist Church 0.52 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Full Gospel Tabernacle 0.71 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Church of God 0.76 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Oakwood Cemetery 0.9 1
Cemeteries, Historic, Burial Places, Interesting Places

Our Lady of Shoals Catholic Church 0.95 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Park Terrace Cumberland Presbyterian Church 1.01 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Hook Street Baptist Church 1.07 1
Religion, Churches, Interesting Places, Other Churches

Westside Church of Christ 1.1 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Southwest Church of the Nazarene 1.16 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Valdosta Baptist Church 1.26 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Southside Baptist Church 1.32 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Everdale Missionary Baptist Church 1.34 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses 1.39 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Nitrate Village Number 1 Historic District 1.41 1
Gardens And Parks, Cultural, Urban Environment, Interesting Places

Church of Christ 1.47 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Brown Christian Methodist Episcopal Temple 1.52 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Valdosta Church of Christ 1.57 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Calvary Baptist Church 1.61 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Healing Fountain Church of God 1.62 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

First Missionary Baptist Church 1.63 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places

Gaston Chapel Primitive Baptist Church 1.7 1
Religion, Other Temples, Interesting Places