Vulcan Park and Museum

The 56' tall statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, was created for the St Louis 1904 World's Fair. After it served it's purpose of showcasing Birmingham's booming iron industry it was returned to the city where it welcomed visitors to the Alabama State Fairgrounds until 1935. The Kiwanis Club, wanting a more spectacular setting, raised money to build a park and move the statue to Red Mountain, the highest point in Birmingham.

The statue is mounted on a 125' pedestal with stairs or an elevator to get to the observation deck. There's also a little museum with exhibits on the the making of the statue, the World's Fair, civil rights, and the many soft drink companies that operated in the city. The park has a large patio with interpretive signs and a great view of the city. The park itself is free however there's a fee for the museum and the observation deck. The observation deck is made of metal grid so the ground (very far down!) is visible through the grid. I couldn't stay out on it long enough to take a picture. :D

Everything is accessible but the walkway to the statue and the museum is long and uphill. The parking lot is sloped so that's an uphill trip too.

RVs will fit if parked across the spaces. Park  33.49088, -86.79488

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark

James Withers Sloss chose Birmingham, Alabama for the location of his furnace company because all of the ingredients needed to make pig iron -  deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone - were nearby. Twenty years later, in the early 1900s, three more large iron and steel companies built in close proximity to the city and Birmingham's rapid growth earned it the nickname The Magic City. But by the 1970s the large mills were shutting down because stringent air-quality requirements, foreign competition, and aging infrastructure made operations economically unfeasible. 

Sloss Furnaces shut down in 1970 so the fact that it is still in intact and open to visitors is remarkable. It operated for 91 years and underwent an extensive renovation between 1927 and 1931. Most of the buildings and machinery are from this time period and have been stabilized for safety. All visitors must stay on the paths and behind the yellow handrails. Even with these restrictions, it still feels like you have free run of the area - a cool place to visit! The only building off limits is No. 2 Cast Shed which houses the Sloss Metal Art Program. A self-guided tour map is available at the visitor center. A small exhibit about the iron and steel industry is located in the visitor center. 

Sloss Furnaces is partly accessible.The paths are a combination of concrete, gravel, and iron grid. The are several sets of stairs so we did miss some stuff. Following the map was a little confusing because we couldn't go up or down the stairs as shown. Steep ramps and the uneven meeting of the different surfaces could make navigating difficult without assistance.

RVs will fit in the lot if parked across the spaces. Furance  33.5191, -86.79418

 

U.S. Space & Rocket Center

Huntsville, Alabama has been known as The Rocket City since the early 1960s when NASA established the Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal, south of the city.  German rocket expert Wernher von Braun, NASA's first director, had been developing missiles for the Nazis during WWII but surrendered to US forces in 1945 and was brought to Fort Bliss,Texas where he worked training Americans in rocket science. In 1950 he was transferred to Redstone Arsenal to work on guided missiles then in 1957, after the Soviet Sputnik I made it into the Earth's orbit, to develop methods of launching satellites into space.

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center was a pet project of von Braun who wanted to share his love of rocketry while also educating and drawing tourists to Huntsville. The center covers the history of the space program with detailed displays featuring rockets. training modules, and space memorabilia. The newest exhibit gallery has information about the Artemis program and the experiments being conducted to make space travel past the distance of resupply missions possible. An authentic Saturn V rocket is located in the main gallery. Displays outside are lackluster - mainly old army equipment. Space Shuttle Park was closed for refurbishment when we visited. Tickets are pricey. Our  ASTC Passport covered general admission however there are at least four activities and four movies that require additional purchases. We did not do any of the extra activity or movies.

The center is accessible with a long uphill walk from the parking lot to the entrance. The extra activities such as flight simulators are not accessible. The Airstream trailer, used to quarantine the astronauts after the Apollo 11, 12, and 14 missions due to fear of unknown lunar micro-organisms, is not accessible. The supplied map is essential for finding your way around.

RVs will fit in the lot if parked across the spaces.  Center  34.7119, -86.65238

 

Huntsville Museum of Art

Permanent and changing exhibits featuring a wide variety of 19th and 20th century art fill fourteen galleries of this museum. When we visited multiple galleries featured a large collection of intricate paintings by Donato Giancola who specializes in science fiction and fantasy drawings and paintings. Other exhibits featured folk art, glass art, and some incredibly detailed works in silver. "A Walk Through Time" is an interesting look at how art had changed through the ages.

Follow the  sidewalk from the parking lot to get to the accessible entrance. The museum is accessible.

The parking lot is too small for RVs. We found an accessible space in the small lot on the Williams Ave side of the museum where our small RV fit. You must registrar for free parking. Large RVs can be parked on the street by paying for two spaces. Museum  34.72667, -86.58677

Pennyroyal Area Museum

Located in the old 1915 post office, this museum is one large room with nicely done exhibits that cover a wide range of subjects. Displays include: tobacco growing and curing, pioneer household items, African American history, conflicts in the early 1900s because tobacco monopolies were forcing prices for cured tobacco so low that people could not make a living, the life of Edgar Cayce who supposedly could diagnose illness by giving physic readings, and even the story of a family who had visitors from outer space!

The accessible entrance is on Liberty Street. There's a buzzer to push for access but it may not work so bring your phone to call. The museum is accessible.

We parked in the museum lot which is rather small. Large RVs can be parked on 9th Street, across from the main entrance. Museum  36.86452, -87.48765

Angel Mounds State Historic Site

Angel Mounds is a Native American village site inhabited from AD 1100 to AD 1450. It was a political, cultural, and economic center with thirteen earthen mounds, hundreds of homes, and up to 1,000 inhabitants. A prolonged drought, over hunting, and depletion of the forest may have contributed to it being abandoned.

An excellent interpretive center on the site details the excavations conducted from 1939 to 1964 which uncovered 2.3 million archaeological items. The findings of the archeologists provided information about daily life and special ceremonies. More than four miles of trails loop around the main village site.

The museum is accessible. The concrete walkway to a view of the village site is accessible. All of the trails are rough, mown grass which is difficult to push through. The walkway has a drop off to the paths.

Any size RV will fit in the lot if parked across the spaces. Angel Mounds  37.94589, -87.45172