Pilgrimage Arrives with Spring

Selma's 40th Historic Pilgrimage arrives with the first day of Spring today,

 and St. Andrew's Hall is among the tour venues. 

The hall at Queen of Peace Catholic Church is said to have been rebuilt 

from a Masonic building that was downriver at Cahaba, first capital of Alabama. 

For more Pilgrimage information, visit the Pilgrimage website,  and keep up 

with photos on Selma's Historic Pilgrimage Facebook page. 

Linking to City Daily Photo Blogs

The Battle of Selma Historic Trail

Several Battle of Selma historic markers have been installed around town

 in recent weeks, and more will be erected before April's 150th anniversary

 of one of the last battles of the War Between the States. 

This marker is located at the St. James Hotel and tells the story

 of its occupation by Union Gen. James H. Wilson. The hotel, known back then

 as The Gee House Hotel, was managed by Benjamin Sterling Turner,

 a slave who was freed after the battle and went on to become

 the first African American U.S. congressman from Alabama. 

Turner is buried in Old Live Oak Cemetery.

 The cemetery will open Saturday evening during Spring Pilgrimage

 for "ghost tours" as its residents tell their stories.

 Also, visitors can follow the battle trail via these signs. 

Linking to Signs, Signs

and City Daily Photo Blogs  

J is for The JEWELER'S House

 The walls of this 1837 home in Old Town have quite a story to tell!

During the War Between the States, its owner, S.F. Hobbs,

 owned a JEWELRY store in downtown Selma.

 A native of Maine, he became southern after he moved South

 and served in the Confederate Army in opposition to his six northern brothers.

 When Union troops moved toward Selma in the spring of 1865,

 his wife (a true Southern Belle) hid the jewelry store silver inside the walls

 of their home and sewed the fine JEWELRY into her petticoat. 

Then when the Yankees knocked on her door, she kindly offered them

 pieces of costume jewelry to take home to their sweethearts,

 thus saving the silver and the jewels. 

There is more to the story, and perhaps you will hear it 

at the Selma Pilgrimage's Evening Tour and Reception

 this Friday, March 20  from 6:30-8 p.m.

Linking to ABC Wednesday

where the Letter of the Week is J

and City Daily Photo Blogs

Banner Spring

It's a Banner Spring for Selma this year as the banner

 on the balcony at City Hall shows!

We hope the weather will stay at least partly cloudy like the skies above

 for this weekend's 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Marches

 and later in April for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War Battle of Selma. 

At left the sign proclaims Selma's Civil War to Civil Rights history, and at right,

 it proclaims the "I Was There" theme for the Civil Rights events. 

Selma's Historic Spring Pilgrimage March 20-21 will also reflect

 our Civil War to Civil Rights heritage, and we would love to have you here!

Linking to Skywatch Friday

and City Daily Photo Blogs