Florence Inspiration!

 Starting our day at the Florence Visitor Center, we noticed Helen Keller's Birthplace was listed first as a "must see."  Second on the list (and before the third, which is FAME Studios...one of the music studios that recorded many, many music icons mentioned in the earlier blog) is Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard.  Hmmmm, we wondered....why is this a "must see"?  Is Coon Dog a town?  An Alabama County?  Is Coon Dog an association?  Who is buried there?

 What a surprise for us to find that The Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard is a cemetery for actual coon dogs.  No poodles.  No labs.  No boxers.  Only UKC-registered coon dogs are allowed to be buried in the Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, and about 300 coon dogs from all over the United States are now resting in peace there, buried by their grieving owners!

The weather is back to the 50-degree range these days, perfect for site-seeing.  We checked out the marina's courtesy car (a 6-passenger VW van--nice!) for the day (usually limited to 2-hours, but Harbormaster Kyle says "nobody else is here to use it") to tour Helen Keller's birthplace, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, the exclusive cemetery mentioned above (What can I say?  We had the time and the means to drive there!), and then to "Swampers" to begin our evening with music performed by Country singer and song writer Matt Plater.  Our day was completed at the FAME studio to participate as members of the studio audience for an 8 pm live "Maggie Rose and the Family Band" concert for radio and PBS broadcasting. (Maggie Rose has a super-cute sassy haircut, doesn't look old enough to have been "Nashvillin'" for more than 17 years, and blew us away with her singing performance!)

Perhaps the message of today is:  If one needs inspiration, come to Florence, Alabama!   Perhaps the deeper lessons learned are:  (1) Be lifted as you learn how a deaf and blind wild child was transformed to become a college graduate, an author of multiple books published in multiple languages, and an international spokesperson on behalf of members of the blind and deaf community.  (2) Allow the words and sounds and exchange among artists that create new and heartfelt music take you to an emotionally better place.   And (3), should sadness from a deep loss of a steadfast and true friend cut into your soul, acknowledge your loss and honor your friend's memory in your own unique way.

Helen Keller, named "America's First Lady of Courage," was born at this 1820 residence owned by her grandparents, David and Mary Keller.  Born a completely healthy child, at 19 months of age Helen developed a high fever that lasted for days.  As a result, she lost both her sight and her hearing.

This was once a main floor bedroom.  It now displays the many photos, books, and other artifacts of her life.

This was the livingroom.  Roughtly 80% of the furnishings in the house are authentic and were part of the Keller home.

This was Helen Keller's bed, located on the second floor.  Helen shared a bedroom with her teacher, Ann Sullivan.

This is a signed photo of Ann Keller (the one in the foreground looking to the left), her teacher Ann Sullivan, and her assistant Polly Thomson.

The well where 7-year-old Helen Keller comes to understand that Annie Sullivan's symbolic spelling of W-A-T-E-R represents the wet, cool substance flowing over her hand still remains...in the same location.

Here's a photo of the backyard of the Keller home.  They've done a wonderful job of maintaining the original house AND outbuildings.

This is the hall of fame that included paintings of people such as Tammy Wynette, Hank Williams, Lionel Ritchie and others we recognized...and many more that we didn't.  Each honored recipient was from Alabama.

A casting of the musical group "Alabama" in the hall of fame.

A nice display and biography of Alabamian and Hall of Famer Nat King Cole.

This was a huge display and entrance into another area of the hall of fame.  Something we appreciated at this Hall of Fame was how the ENTIRE music industry was represented...singers, songwriters, producers...the many talents it takes to get music recorded and distributed to listeners.

In 1937, Key Underwood sadly buried his coon dog, Troop, at a popular hunting camp.  His intention was not to establish a coon dog graveyard, bu to do something special for a special coon dog.

Behind this monument are many, many markers of buried coon dogs--more than 300!

The cemetery even has a picnic shelter!  This is nice when every Labor Day, a festive event is held at the cemetery that includes old-time bluegrass music, a liar's contest, and local barbeque by a local barbeque joint!

Below are examples of markers for some of the coon hounds buried in the cemetary:

This is the marker for Troop, Key Underwood's champion coon hound that died in 1937.

No more needs to be said about this sign.

Not far from Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, AL was the First Presbyterian Church, Alabama's oldest house of continuous worship (and the church in which Helen Keller was baptized and attended church).   As noted in the above placard, the original slave gallery is contained on the grounds.

We had a front row table at the Marriotte Shoal's "Swampers" lounge to enjoy the musical talent of Matt Plater.  We got a chance to visit with Matt after the show.  He lives just 30 minutes from Florence.  Works in construction and as a performer.

Also listening to Matt's performance was a bass player by the name of Terry Richardson.  We recognized him as the bass player of the "Honky Tonk Lite Band" that played the previous night at the cancer fundraising event.  We enjoyed visiting with Terry as well and he gave us suggestions of where we might like to go tomorrow evening for fine entertainment!
P.S.  Terry's photo is included on the wall of musical artists in "Swampers."  Unlike most of the others in the "Honky Tonk Lite Band" who earn their living doing other things, Terry is a professional musician.

This evening at the FAME studio, a live event was being filmed/broadcast for PBS and radio.  We were part of the studio audience.  It was fun to watch the camera people at work!

There were only about 4 rows for the studio audience.  We were in the second row and 2 of maybe 20 people watching "Maggie Rose and the Family  Band" entertain.

Maggie Rose gave a wonderful performance; She was fun to watch and easy to listen to...and so were her band members!