Family Adventures
Whether your family prefers to stroll through the park, take in an afternoon matinee, enjoy an indoor skating rink or spend their time in an arcade, the array of activities in Lauderdale County is sure to deep your crew busy for hours.
Coon Dog Cemetery
Many a time, solemn men in black coats and hip boots, carbide lamps on their heads, stood beside fresh dug holes in this thick wilderness to bury their faithful coon dogs. Almost 200 headstones-or sheet metal with scratched inscriptions-memorialize best friends like Bean Blossom Bomma, Night Ranger, Patches, Preacher, and Straight Talk'n Tex. Whether it's a cold nose, hot nose, loose mouth, squallin', grand nite champion, or pressure tree dog, the epitaphs say it all-He was a joy to hunt with . . .He wasn't the best, but he was the best I ever had . . .
Only blue-blood coon dogs lie in rest here. We have stipulations on this thing, says the caretaker of the Coon Dog Cemetery. A dog can't run no deer, possum-nothing like that. He's got to be a straight coon dog, and he's got to be full hound. Couldn't be a mixed up breed dog, a house dog. And, according to Key Underwood who started the whole thing in 1937 when he buried his buddy, Troop, you must not know much about coon hunters and their dogs, if you think we would contaminate this burial place with poodles and lap dogs.
Directions: From Tuscumbia travel west on U.S. Highway Alt. 72 for seven miles. Turn left on Alabama Hwy 247 (There is a convenience store on the corner) travel for approximately twelve miles, turn right and follow the signs. Open daily during daylight hours. Free.
Eulogy to a coon dog: What is the woods without you there? I promise I will be with you soon . . .so we can chase them coon. The Coon Dog Cemetery honors 185 beloved coon dogs, several world champs.
Florence Skate Park
Test your nerve and balance, rippin' and slalomin' on marble-smooth concrete. Rails, concrete pads, and ramps for novice and skilled rollerbladers and skateboarders. In Cox Creek Sports Complex, open daylight hours.
Located: 2500 Chisholm Road - Florence, AL Phone 256-760-6416.
http://florenceal.org/City_Departments/Parks_Recreation/index.html
Spring Park
Water and lights dance to music, the world's largest man-made waterfall gushes in the downtown public park in Tuscumbia. An old-time carousel, train ride, and family-sized roller coaster-the perfect settings for family photo albums and scrapbooks. Park hours and fountain shows vary by season. Rides open Thursday-Sunday evenings most weekends. For ride hours, phone 256-389-1357.
Deibert Park
Have lunch in this family park, then walk it off on trails winding over gentle hills and around ponds lush with native flowers and greenery. Gazebos, pavilion, super playground.
Open daylight hours. Located: 2801 Hermitage Drive - Florence, AL
Call 256-740-6314.
http://florenceal.org/City_Departments/Parks_Recreation/index.html
Veteran's Memorial - Located at Veterans Park
A fitting salute to all men and women who served in the US armed forces for the last 200 years. Monuments and memorials, a flag-circled amphitheatre, 58-foot Cobra helicopter, 75mm field gun, T-3 tank gun, Hawk missile, and memorabilia from wars of the twentieth century.
Open weekends 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Pearl Harbor Day. For additional information an special tours contact Randy Chapin 256-764-4245 or 256-762-1971.
BRIEF HISTORY OF VETERANS MEMORIAL
Anson Cooper had a dream, which after seven or eight years of hard work, turned into reality. Cooper's dream was to build a memorial to honor and pay tribute to the men and women of Lauderdale County who fought and died for their country. He took his dream to Rev. Rowe Wren, who was an engineer-design associate at T.V.A. Rev. Wren worked many hours in completing a sketch of the memorial that now stands at Veteran Memorial Park. The sketch was then given to Ebbe E. Kindahl, a native of Sweden, who was a design engineer. Kindahl gladly consented to draw the blueprints and prepare the specifications. Cooper enlisted the aid of others to help. bring the project to reality, and after two years of preliminaries, the fund raising started in June, 1971. From the beginning, fund raising went very slowly, and the cost of the memorial increased about as fast as the money was raised due to inflation. The initial cost was estimated to be $52,000.00 and now was well over $60,000.00. However, each time the committee seemed to bog down and get discouraged, something or someone came along to give new enthusiasm and inspiration; however, the committee's purpose for the memorial never changed. It was intended only to pay tribute to the men and women who fought and died for this country and to perpetuate their names for history and posterity. It was also the hope that those who follow after will see it as a symbol of the patriotism of the people of Lauderdale County, Alabama, and of their love of God and Country. The memorial, which is believed to be unique in Alabama and perhaps the nation, was dedicated on May 30, 1977. The cornerstone truly tells the whole story of the memorial, which was built by "those who care".
Some of the exhibits include:
T-3 (T-78) experimental anti-tank gun. It fired a 76mm round of ammunition. Being a towed weapon meant it could only be used defensively, and due to a lack of mobility, it could be easily outflanked. Towed anti-tank artillery disappeared from the U.S. Army's active inventory in 1952. This gun is one of few of its kind in existence.
75mm Field Gun is a modification of a French gun. First designed in 1917, the 75mm was the most effective light field gun in WWI. It was used against infantry, tanks, and other armored targets during WWII. This gun is 17'3" long and weighs 3400 lbs. The 75mm's range is 13870 yards and fired at 6 rounds per minute. The 75mm shell weighed 19 lbs. There were fixed, high explosive, chemical, smoke and armor-piercing shells produced for this weapon. The 105mm has now replaced the 75mm gun as the light artillery weapon.
Hamilton-Standard 23E50-505 hydromatic propeller. The propeller came from a C-47 Gooney Bird. The C-47's were put into operation in the European and Pacific theaters of WWII as troop and cargo transports. The C-47 also initiated the Berlin Airlift. The C-47's were manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Over 10,000 of these aircraft were produced for military service.
Anchor used on the U.S.S. Balao SS-285, a fleet submarine. The Balao was commissioned in Feb. 1943. She received 9 battle stars for sinking 7 Japanese ships during her WWII service. The U.S.S. Balao was decommissioned in June 1963. She was used as a target and sunk in Sept. 1963. Her conning tower, which is now on display at the Washington Naval Yard, and this anchor are all that remains of the U.S.S. Balao.
Hawk Missile. This was the first mobile medium range guided anti-aircraft missile deployed by the U.S. Army in August of 1959. The Hawk is a surface to air missle powered by a solid propellant rocket motor and controlled in flight by its large tail fins. The Hawk is 16'-8" long, weighs 1400 lbs. And has a speed of mach 2.5. The Hawk has a ceiling of 58,000' and carries a 163 lb. blast fragmentation warhead. The Hawk was deactivated by the U.S. Army in 1994 and was replaced by the Patriot Missile.
M50 Honest John Surface to Surface Rocket. This was the Army's first nuclear-armed surface to surface rocket. The Honest John was an unguided 762mm artillery rocket, powered by an M6 solid-fuel rocket engine. The Honest John was developed at Redstone Arsenal in 1950 and first fired at White Sands Missile Range in 1951. Later versions carried a high explosive warhead instead of the atomic payload. The Honest John weighed in at 5,800 lbs. and had a range of 25 miles. Production ended at Douglas Aircraft in
1965, after more than 7,000 rockets had been built. The Honest John was replaced by the MGM-52 Lance in 1973.