H is for Hoop Skirts

It's ABC Wednesday, and the letter is H, so with the HISTORIC Selma Pilgrimage

 next weekend, HOOP skirts are in! 

These young ladies have been selected to serve as Pilgrimage Junior HOSTESSES

 and were leaving Sturdivant Hall after a photo session when my camera

 caught them in their HIP shoes beneath the HOOP skirts. 

Linking to ABC Wednesday and City Daily Photo Blogs

Scraping 'n Sanding

There was a lot of scraping, sanding, painting and roofing going on in Selma last week, thanks to good weather, well...except for several inches of rain in between! A worker prepares this house on Church Street for painting. The home is under renovation and will be a "work-in-progress"on Selma's Pilgrimage next weekend.  I've posted this photo at Weekend Reflections since a ladder just happened to be reflected in the window. 

March Theme Day (Passageway)

How many people have passed this way and trod these steps?

This early 1900's "Free Classic" Victorian home has been owned by several different families, including the Walter Ellwangers. Ellwanger arrived in Selma in 1945 with his wife and three sons. He came to minister to the African-American community and become president of the former Alabama Lutheran Academy and College (now Concordia.) During that time, the family supplemented its income by renting rooms at the top of the stairs to teachers at Albert G. Parrish High School (now Selma High.) Later, Ellwanger was asked by other local ministers to provide shelter for a young Episcopal seminarian, Jonathan Daniels. The rest of that story is included in civil rights history books.

The PEW House is among nine homes that will be on tour during Selma's 35th Historic Pilgrimage.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Sturdivant Hall at Night

It was a dark and misty night when I stopped by Sturdivant Hall last weekend. So I chanced taking a night shot without a tripod.

Sturdivant Hall is an antebellum mansion that now serves as a museum. It's always open for the Historic Selma Pilgrimage, and that event is now just weeks away!

Painting the Turret

Painter Ken Suthard, who lives in Selma's Old Town, paints the interior of the turret on the Pitts-Ellwanger-Weerts (PEW) House on Lauderdale Street. The homeowners built the octagonal structure to cover part of their wrap-a-round porch. The PEW House is one of nine that will be open for tours on Selma's Historic Pilgrimage March 18-21. You can find more information about this house at the Pilgrimage website HERE.
Check out the Pilgrimage Facebook page HERE.

Cast Iron Art

After an iron pour, scratch block molds (top photo) are placed on gravel to cool.

Below, you see several etched blocks as they appeared before the liquid iron was poured inside the squares. The chemically treated sand was etched by nail or dremel tool.

The iron pour was held by Alabama Art Casting, a nonprofit arts education group, at The Foundry during Selma's recent Historic Pilgrimage. The group is based at Tannehill Historic Ironworks Park and will have its next demonstration, Sparks at Dark, at Tannehill, May 25.

The art blocks can be used as shelf art, garden sculptures, trivets and even house numbers.

"Ghost" of Elodie Todd Dawson

The "ghosts" of famous Selmians returned to life Friday evening to tell their stories in Part 1 of the Old Live Oak Cemetery Ghost Tour.

Here, the "ghost" of Elodie Todd Dawson tells how her family was divided between North and South during the Civil War and how she spearheaded efforts to erect the cemetery's Confederate Monument after it was over. Mrs. Dawson was the half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, making her President Abraham Lincoln's sister-in-law.

To see the fine monument that her husband placed in her memory, click HERE.
Other Friday night ghosts included black educator R.B. Hudson, Alabama's first female State Representative, suffragette Harriet Wilkins, a Confederate soldier and more.

More "ghosts" will rise tonight at 6 p.m. for Part 2 of the Selma Pilgrimage cemetery tour. Pilgrimage celebrates Selma's heritage from its founding in 1820 to present-day history.

More Pilgrimage 2009 pictures can be seen at Selma NOW.

Night Before Pilgrimage (Skywatch Friday)

It's Skywatch Friday, and on the night before Pilgrimage, all was quiet at Sturdivant Hall where the sun set with a slight orange glow. The gates were locked but by 9 a.m., they will be wide open to welcome guests to the 34th annual Historic Selma Pilgrimage.

Come on down! It's a three-day event!

Check out the other Skywatch photos at www.skyley.blogspot.com.

Pilgrimage Antique Show

The Pilgrimage Antique Show & Sale has a new location this year at Southern Antiques on Dallas Avenue. Here's one of many displays in several rooms. I like how the china shows up so well against the red background, and the china cabinet is quite a keeper!

Vendors this year include Shannon Linden, The Silver lady, from Atlanta. An entire room will be devoted to her silver displays. The show and sale begin at 9 a.m. Friday, March 20 and continues through Sunday.

View the slideshow from the 2008 Pilgrimage.

Mabry-Jones House

If you remember U.S. Civil War history, then the naval battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac might come to mind. Capt. Catesby ap Roger Jones, commander of the Merrimac (C.S.S. Virginia), lived in this circa 1850 Greek Revival home, and its doors will be open to the public during Selma's Pilgrimage March 20-22.

Jones, who later served as commander of Selma's Naval Ordnance Works, commanded the first Confederate ironclad against the Union ironclad after Admiral Franklin Buchanan was wounded. The first-of-its-kind battle between ironclads at Hampton Road, Va, ended in a draw.

Recently renovated, this house tour will feature much more intriguing history, many antiques, art and portraits. It is still owned by the Jones family, including the fifth Catesby ap Roger Jones.

Tannehill Comes to Selma

Alabama Art Casting, headquartered at Tannehill State Ironworks Park near Birmingham, will host an arts education event and pour iron for keepsakes during Pilgrimage Weekend March 20-22.

Visitors can come to The Foundry, an 1860's structure, and for $20,etch their own scratch block mold for a unique gift or memento. Using a nail or dremel, sculptors can carve whatever they wish into the chemically bonded sand. Some people like to carve their house numbers, others their handprints or flowers, insects and most popular...a team mascot. Scouts typically etch their troop numbers. The iron plaques can be used as trivets, garden sculptures, shelf art, door stops and more.

There's an historic connection between Tannehill and Selma. The Tannehill Ironworks once shipped its raw iron to Selma where the Naval Foundry manufactured cannons, other weapons and iron-clad ships during the War Between the States. Wilson's Raiders of the Union Army burned most of Tannehill and much of Selma in the spring of 1865.

Today, the "Tannehill iron" used by the sculptors is scrap iron that is re-melted in a batch furnace and recycled into new uses, among them: cast-iron art blocks like the one above.

Alabama Art Casting is a nonprofit organization, and half the proceeds from this event will be donated toward preservation of The Foundry.

Pilgrimage Presents Gillman Hall

Selma is about to open its Historic Treasure Chest for the 34th year in a row!

Pilgrimage is just a month away, and among the homes on tour this year is Gillman Hall, a Greek Revival Italianate built in 1860.

Constructed with brick, the exterior is finished with stucco, and the front porch posts are made of iron.

The home was purchased by Emile Gillman in 1874, and his family owned it until 1939 when it was purchased by Dr. Sam Moseley Sr. The Gillman family also owned Sturdivant Hall for 60 years.

This house was purchased again in 2008 and has been beautifully restored, and visitors will enjoy seeing its many period antiques.

For more Pilgrimage information, go to the Historic Preservation Pilgrimage website. You can also download a brochure here.

Pilgrimage Bouquet

Part of the allure of Historic Pilgrimage is seeing the many colorful flower arrangements. This one graces the dining table in Sturdivant Hall. Notice the orchids. They were grown by a Selma physician in his greenhouse.

Marshall's Grove

Marshall's Grove, an 1840's Greek Revival house, is among homes on tour during this weekend's Historic Selma Pilgrimage. The home was built by one of the town's first doctors, and after all these years remains in the same family. During the 1865 Battle of Selma, Union Gen. J.H. Wilson used the house for a headquarters. Then, as the troops started to burn it, changed their mind when they noticed a Masonic chart on the wall.

Selma's "Papa Joe"

This portrait of one of Selma's best-loved pastors won rave reviews at Friday's Arts Revive juried art show during Pilgrimage weekend. "Papa Joe" is the Rev. Joe Knight, associate pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The artist is Vicki Stoudenmire. She didn't win an award for this, but it has my vote for People's Choice.

McKinnon-Riggs Doctor's Office

The McKinnon-Riggs Doctor's Office is another of the 1800's buildings at Heritage Village. A museum in miniature, it features medical equipment and furniture from the days when it served Dr. Kenneth McKinnon (1852-1871), Dr. S.W. Riggs (1905-1945) and Dr. William Staggers, 1950s. The Greek Revival structure with Doric columns was moved here from Pleasant Hill in 1981. The building will be on tour next weekend during the Historic Selma Pilgrimage.

Down by the Old Mill Stream

The roof of Kenan's Mill is reflected in Valley Creek just beneath the swinging bridge. This photo was taken last spring after blooms had fallen. The mill, the bridge, charcoal kiln and mill house will open for tours come mid-March as part of Selma's annual Historic Pilgrimage. Kenan's Mill is a restoration project of the Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation Society.