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Bellingrath Gardens and Home, south of Mobile, is a beautifully "landscaped estate. Here the finest flowers, shrubs, and trees have been brought together in a setting of great natural beauty. The home is noted for its rich furnishings and priceless art objects.
Cathedral Caverns, north ofGuntersville, contains a large forest of stalagmites and one cavern 27 meters (90 feet) deep.
Ivy Green, in Tuscumbia, is Helen Keller's birthplace and childhood home.
Vulcan Statue, at the summit of Red Mountain, Birmingham, is a statue of the god of fire. It was made of iron from the local area and is said to be one of the largest statues in the world.
Annual Events
Many of Alabama's annual events center upon sports, the products of the state, and the interests and traditions of the people. From the early French settlers. Mobile inherited the celebration of Mardi Gras. Mobile's Mardi Gras festival is the oldest such celebration in the United States. It begins on the Friday before the first day of Lent and reaches its high point on the night of Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.
Mobile celebrates the azalea season from late February to early April, when thousands of visitors tour the Azalea Trail. The Deep-Sea Fishing Rodeo, at Mobile and Dauphin Island, climaxes the fishing season, usually late in July or early in August.
Other events include the state fair at Birmingham, in September, and the River Boat Regatta at Guntersville, in August.
CITIES
No one region claims all or most of the cities. Large cities are found in each part of the state—central, north and south.
Montgomery
Besides being the capital, Montgomery is a center of agricultural trade and the leading cattle market of southeastern United States. The large ranches and herds of cattle in the area remind one of Texas. Industries of the city include textile mills, meat-packing plants, and furniture factories.
Montgomery has several institutions of higher education, including Alabama State University, campuses of Troy State and Auburn universities, and Huntingdon College, a private senior college. The Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base is a national center for research and for education and training of U.S. Air Force personnel.
Birmingham
Alabama's largest city is located at the southern end of the Ridge and Valley Region. It is sometimes called the Magic City because of its rapid growth. Since it was founded in 1871 as the town of Ely ton, it has grown into a metropolitan area of about 850,000 people. It is the South's only major producer of iron and steel. The hundreds of other industries in the area manufacture such items as cast-iron pipe, heavy machinery, chemicals, textiles, and wood and paper products.
Birmingham is a leading educational and cultural center. It is also noted for mountain scenery and places of outdoor recreation.
Mobile
The second-largest city and only seaport is known as Alabama's Gateway to the World. It was founded by the French and was named for the Mobile Indians, who lived in the area. Today it is a busy industrial center with chemical plants, shipyards, and seafood industries. It is also a gracious and beautiful resort city, known for its flowers and ancient oak trees draped with Spanish moss.
Other Cities
The following are some of the other important cities:
Huntsville, now the Rocket City, was one of Alabama's first settlements. It remained a small farming community for more than 125 years. Its population was only 16,000 in 1950. About that time the Army began to develop a rocket and guided-missile center at the Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville. Thousands of scientists and other workers came to the area. So did dozens of new industries. Within 20 years Huntsville's population increased to more than 135,000. In 1960 a part of the arsenal was transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This part was named the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.
Реферат опубликован: 17/09/2007