By Dixie Norwood MSNHA graduate assistant Did you know that the “Father of the Blues” was born and raised right in the heart of the Shoals area? William Christopher Handy was born in 1873 in Florence. As a young child, he seemed to have a talent for music, but his family and his church disapproved of this […]
By Dixie Norwood MSNHA graduate assistant Did you know that a Civil War fort became the site of the first accredited high school for African Americans? In 1862, while Union forces occupied Athens, it was determined that a fort was needed in Limestone County. The fort, designed to be a five-sided fortification, was completed by the 110th U.S. Colored […]
By Dixie Norwood MSNHA graduate assistant Did you know that an Olympic winner was born here in northwest Alabama? That future Olympic athlete and winner, named Jesse Owens, was born Sept. 12, 1913, in Oakville, to Henry and Emma Owens. As a small child, Jesse suffered from bronchial issues that caused him to be sick for much of his childhood. […]
By Julia McGee M.A. in public history from the University of North Alabama, December, 2019 Former MSNHA graduate assistant (Text from “Women of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area”) The history of U.S. women has been one of struggle, opportunity & success. Here in the MSNHA women have contributed in many ways to the development […]
By Debbie Wilson Executive director, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio What a year! Everything slowed down or came to a standstill all over the world. But not the music. Music continued to be created, listened to and loved. COVID-19 did not take away our love for music or the desire to pour our hearts out in […]
By Greg Gresham North Alabama Civil War Round Table Often, while researching period documents of the Civil War, one finds names of towns, creeks, landmarks, etc. that don’t match their current names. Roads used during that time become abandoned, perhaps forgotten, and trying to retrace old events becomes difficult and sometimes impossible. […]
By Greg Gresham North Alabama Civil War Round Table A few weeks ago, I wrote about the skirmish that pitted Union Cavalry, under Gen. Datus Coon against generals Frank Armstrong & Abraham Buford’s Confederate cavalry in the Butler Creek Valley, at its junction with Shoal Creek. This skirmish took place shortly before the Confederate Army […]
By Brian Corrigan MSNHA music-preservation consultant Muscle Shoals music marked another tragic milestone last week with the passing of Swampers drummer Roger Hawkins. Born in Indiana, in 1945, Hawkins moved to the Shoals with his parents as a child and got his start in the music business playing drums on the regional fraternity circuit. As […]
By Greg Gresham North Alabama Civil War Round Table MSNHA note: This post includes contemporary Civil War accounts using language we consider offensive today. We have many Civil War stories about the challenges of crossing the swift Tennessee River in the Shoals area–stories that remind us of once strong & powerful shoals. In one instance, […]
By Dixie Norwood MSNHA graduate assistant Did you know that Florence is home to one of the 60 Usonian structures designed by innovative 20th-century architect Frank Lloyd Wright? The Rosenbaum House, located on Riverview Drive overlooking the Tennessee River, has been noted to be the best example of Usonian architecture. It is the only Wright-designed […]
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