Visit Cheaha State Park in Alabama!

Check out the brand new video Cheaha State Park courtesy of www.twoegg.tv!

ALL Alabama State Parks remain open.

Cheaha State Park

I've been receiving quite a few questions about the status of Alabama State Parks as we approach the Fall leaf change.

ALL Alabama State Parks are open and ready for visitors!  This includes Cheaha State Park and DeSoto State Park, both of which adjoin Federal lands.  All state park roads, trails and amenities (lodges, cabins, restaurants, etc.) are open.

Federal lands in Alabama, however, have been closed due to the Government Shutdown.  Areas that are closed include:

• Gulf Islands National Seashore
• Horseshoe Bend National Military Park
• Little River Canyon National Preserve
• Natchez Trace National Parkway
• Russell Cave National Monument
• Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
• Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

Little River Falls

In addition, all offices, recreation areas and trails in the Talladega and Bankhead National Monument are closed due to the federal shutdown. Even the National Park Service website is shut down.

ALL Alabama state historic sites are open as usual. These include Fort Morgan, Fort Toulouse/Jackson, etc.

There is no plan to close state operated parks and historic sites and no definite reopening date for national park and forest areas in Alabama.

Since you can't visit national park areas, feel free to look at photos and read about them (as well as Alabama state parks and historic sites) at www.exploresouthernhistory.com.

Best Autumn Drives #4 - Cheaha State Park Loop, Alabama

View from Cheaha State Park Restaurant

Alabama's highest point is a spectacular destination year round, but the top of Cheaha Mountain (or Mt. Cheaha as it is commonly known) turns into a stunning wonderland of color during the annual fall leaf change.

Bunker Loop is a paved drive that takes visitors around the top of the mountain. Beginning at the park entrance on Highway 281 (Talladega Scenic Drive), it winds its way around the main plateau atop the mountain and offers beautiful scenery and numerous points of interest.

Bald Rock Overlook

Among the stops of note along the loop is Bunker Tower, a beautiful stone structure built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) back in the 1930s that rises high into the clear mountain air from the peak of Alabama's tallest point. From the top visitors can take in a remarkable 360 degree view of Cheaha and the surrounding Talladega National Forest.

Just up the loop from the tower is the parking area for the Doug Ghee Accessible Trail to Bald Rock. A very nice boardwalk is accessible for visitors of all abilities, the trail leads to an overlook atop Bald Rock on the edge of the mountain. The view is stunning and in the fall an array of color stretches for as far as the eye can see.

Also accessible off the loop is the trail to Pulpit Rock. A rugged walk through rock fields and down a steep slope, the trail ends at a stunning rock that juts out from the side of the mountain.

Cheaha State Park also offers a wide array of amenities, ranging from a hotel to cabins and campgrounds to a mountaintop restaurant with perhaps the best view of any place to eat in Alabama.

To learn more about the park, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/cheaha1.

Leaf Change turnining the Alabama Mountains Gold and Red

The staff at Cheaha Lodge at Cheaha State Park in Alabama reports that the drive up the mountain from Talladega is beginning to take on excellent color as the reds and golds start to move down the slopes of the state's highest point.

The park encompasses thousands of acres at Mt. Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama and a mountain rich in history and scenic beauty. Cheaha State Park, which features a very nice restaurant with possibly the best view of any dining establishment in the state, was established as a public works project during the Great Depression and preserves many original structures and trails first established by workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

The fall is a particularly beautiful time to visit the mountain, which offers beautiful scenic drives and overlooks where the stunning reds and golds of the leaves can be enjoyed. There is a fully accessible walkway leading to Bald Rock on one end of the mountain, where visitors of all abilities can take in the scenic view. The area also features waterfalls, hiking trails, cabins, a hotel, rock formations and adjoins the beautiful Talladega National Forest.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/cheaha1.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park - Homosassa Springs, Florida

The manatee of the Florida Gulf Coast have become a favorite attraction for visitors to the Sunshine State. They can be found from the Big Bend south to the Keys, but perhaps the best place to see them up close and personal without even getting your feet wet is Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

Located 60 miles north of Tampa and 90 miles northwest of Orlando on U.S. Highway 19, the spring has been a tourist attraction for so long that it holds a unique place in Florida history as a result. Beginning in around 1900, trains ran along what is now Fish Bowl Drive, a street that passes through the park. The trains would stop at Homosassa Springs to let passengers rest by the spring. Slowly it developed into a popular attraction.

In the 1930s it was home to a hunting lodge owned by baseball legend Dazzy Vance. In the 1960s a company that trained animals for use in Hollywood movies and television shows located there. Visitors could even meet Buck the Bear, who doubled for "Gentle Ben" in the popular tv show of that name.

Today Homosassa Springs is a state park, noted for its pristine beauty and crystal clear water. Six manatee call the spring home and can be seen there 365 days a year. The park also cares for other manatee that are recuperating from injuries or illness until they can be returned to the wild. Visitors can watch them swimming in the spring or even walk down a stairway into an underwater observation room to see them from a fish eye view.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is also home to Lu the Hippo. He holds the distinction of being the only hippopotamus who has been declared an official resident of the State of Florida. To learn his story and more, please visit www.exploresouthernhsitory.com./homosassa.

Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park - Brierfield, Alabama

On March 31, 1865, Union troops destroyed one of the most important industrial facilities in the South. General James H. Wilson's raid was then sweeping south through Alabama and the Bibb Naval Furnaces at Brierfield were one of his primary targets.

A major source of iron for the production of Confederate cannon and ironclad warships, the Bibb Furnaces were defended by a regiment of Confederate cavalry from the command of Brigadier General Phillip D. Roddey. In addition to two furnaces, the complex also included a rolling mill and other facilities necessary for the mass production of iron. The complex supplied the major Southern manufacturing facilities at Selma and Brierfield iron was considered excellent for the casting of heavy Brooke cannon.

As Wilson pushed south through the Alabama iron country, he targeted much of the region's industrial capacity. After taking Montevallo, an important community south of today's Birmingham, he ordered Colonel Frederick Benteen and the 10th Missouri Cavalry to destroy the Bibb complex at Brierfield.

Benteen attacked the Confederate troops defending the furnaces on March 31, 1865, driving them back in a brief but sharp encounter that is remembered today as the Skirmish or Battle of Brierfield Ironworks. Then, as the Southern troops watched from a distance, the Union soldiers destroyed the massive complex.

The ruins of the Bibb Naval Furnaces are now preserved at Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park, an absolutely beautiful facility that also offers cabins, a lodge, camping, picnicking, walking trails, a variety of preserved historic structures and a wide range of other recreational opportunities. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/brierfieldironworks.

Summer Escapes #2 - Cheaha State Park, Alabama

Located high atop the tallest point in Alabama, Cheaha State Park is a jewel among Southern state parks.

Mt. Cheaha rises to 2,407 feet above sea level and can be seen for miles. The elevation keeps the summit much cooler than the land below. Creek Indians, impressed by the massive mountain, gave it a name that white settlers later interpreted as "cheaha." It means, roughly, "high place."

The park area was once part of the Creek Nation. Following the nearby Battle of Talladega in 1813, Red Stick Creek warriors retreated to safety in the mountains of the Cheaha area after they were defeated by Andrew Jackson and his Tennnesseans.

By the early 20th century, the forests around the mountain had been been largely cut over. The state and Federal governments, however, both saw potential in the thousands and thousands of acres of mountain land surrounding Mt. Cheaha. The state began work on Cheaha State Park in 1933 and President Franklin Roosevelt issued a proclamation establishing the Talladega National Forest in 1936. Both were Depression-era works projects and many structures built by Civilian Conservation Corps workers can still be seen at the park.

Today, Cheaha State Park is a major gateway to the beautiful scenery of the Talladega National Forest and also features a hotel, restaurant, cabins, chalets, campgrounds, picnic areas, overlooks and more. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/cheaha1.