Even though I'm kind of old, I still have a dream of maybe one day being a travel photographer\blogger. The only real problem I have at the moment is that I don't have enough money to actually travel anywhere. So, I figured the only thing I can do right now is show you all around my hometown of Huntsville, AL. There's actually a lot of history and interesting things here that I thought maybe a few people would enjoy seeing.
With that in mind, I headed downtown this past weekend and spent about 5 hours walking around, shooting over 600 photos of the downtown area. Obviously, I don't think it would be a great idea to cover that much in just one post, so I'm going to break things down into a few parts. This is still going to be a pretty image heavy post, so if you have a slow internet connection, I'm sorry! Hopefully you'll find these images worth the wait!
In this post, I'm going to be showing you one of the newest additions to the downtown area, The Huntsville Madison County Veterans Memorial, also known as Huntsville Veterans Park.
The Huntsville Madison County Veterans Memorial was officially dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 2011. It's not at all surprising that such a memorial would be erected here because Huntsville is home to Redstone Arsenal which is a nearly 8 square mile military base established in 1941. The military has always been a large part of the culture here in Huntsville.
The memorial is in the open and is never really "closed", although the official "open" hours are 7 days a week, from sunrise to sundown. This first image is what you see when you approach the area from across the street.
One of the first things you may notice as you approach the outer circle is the brick inlays on the walkway. These can be purchased by anyone dedicated to anyone you please. Most have used them as dedications to family members who have died in service.
You can also dedicate a bench at the memorial.
There are two beautiful sculptures, one on each side, of the memorial. Apparently there are plans to add a third at some point in the near future.
As you move into the inner circle walkway, you'll notice inlays about every 10 feet or so around the entire walkway that are inscribed with various quotes.
Here are some close up shots of a few of them.
The inner wall consists of a fountain wall with a historical timeline of conflicts engraved around it. There are eight large granite makers positioned around the wall.
At the center of the back wall there is a tribute to all of the medal of honor recipients from here in Madison County.
The primary fountains in the center of the memorial.
As you walk behind the main fountains, you will find this smaller memorial symbolizing the markers at Arlington National Cemetery.
Behind the center wall are two features. The first is the extremely tall American Flag.
At the base of the flag, a time capsule was buried in 2012. There's a beautiful engraving of the entire memorial site on the time capsule marker. It is intended to be opened on Veteran's Day, 2062. If I'm still around, I'll be 85 years old when it's opened.
A bit to the left of the flag and time capsule, there is a large structure, about 12 ft high, with an eternal flame burning.
As you exit the back of the memorial, there is a path leading further into a small park area. The first thing you will come to is the Battlefield Memorial Sculpture.
There are a series of markers along the pathway leading up to the sculpture.
As you walk further back, there is a path with quite a few informational signs about past conflicts.
Here are some close ups of some of them.
About half way down the path on the left, there is a marker dedicated to Purple Hearth recipients.
A little further down on the right of the path way, you come to the Aviator Memorial.
At the very end of the trail, near the exit of the park that leads to the old railroad depot, you come to the final monument. This 8 ft tall, 3 ton monument was originally in front of the Madison County courthouse. It was dedicated in 1939 to honor all Revolutionary War soldiers who are known to be buried in Madison County. It was moved to Veterans Park in 2016.
As you exit the park, you enter the historical railroad depot, which I'll show you more of in part two. There are two large mosaics on the walls of one of the buildings.
Alright! That concludes our tour!
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please let me know with an upvote! Comments and resteems are always welcomed as well.
Be sure to give me a follow if you'd like to make sure you catch part two, where we'll be taking a look at some of the historical buildings and sites in the downtown area.
Until then, have a great day, everyone!