Wayne Wheelwright - 50 Quick Facts about Alabama

Title Page

50 QUICK FACTS ABOUT ALABAMA

By

Wayne Wheelwright

Publisher Information

50 Quick Facts about Alabama

Published in 2013 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Copyright 2013 Wayne Wheelwright

The right of Wayne Wheelwright to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Facts

1. The capital of the state of Alabama is the city of Montgomery. Montgomery sits on the Alabama River and is located south east of centre of the state. With its population of over 205,000 people it is the second largest city in Alabama and the 103 rd largest in the United States of America. In 1861 Montgomery was named as the first capital of the Confederate States of America.
2. Alabama is home to Maxwell Air Force Base which is officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base. The base was named in honor of Second Lieutenant Willam C. Maxwell who was a native of Atmore, Alabama. Maxwell Air Force Base is the HQ of Air University which is the United States Air Force main centre for military education.
3. Alabama is bordered by four other states. Tennessee to the North, Georgia to its east, Florida to the south and Mississippi to the west. On its most southern point Alabama meets the Gulf of Mexico.
4. The largest city in Alabama is Birmingham. Birmingham is also the county seat of Jefferson County. Birmingham has a population of over 212,000 people . Founded in 1871 Birmingham started as the merger of three farm towns and then continued to grow by incorporating smaller neighbour towns. It was named of the town of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
5. With an area of 52,419 square miles Alabama is the 30 th largest state by size and with an estimated population of just under 5 million people is the 23 rd most populous state.
6. Alabama is often known by the nickname the Yellowhammer State. The nickname comes form the state bird which is a name commonly used for the Northern Flicker which is a member of the woodpecker family.
7. The highest point in Alabama is Cheaha Mountain which is located just northwest of the town of Delta in Cheaha State Park. On the tallest peak of Cheaha Mountain there is a stone building which serves as an observation tower which is known as Bunker Tower. Bunker Tower is right next to an Alabama Public Television Tower which is helpful as a landmark amongst all the woodland.
8. The state of Alabama is named for its original inhabitants the Alabama people whose tribe lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallpoosa Rivers. They spoke Muskogee and in their language the word for an Alabama person was an Albaamo. The word Alabama is speculated to have come from the Choctaw language and was adopted by the Alabama people to serve as their tribes name.
9. In the 1500s the first Europeans to arrive in Alabama were the Spanish. The expedition of Hernando de Soto went through Alabama in 1540. The first European settlement in the region was in 1702 by the French at Old Mobile. The location of the city was moved in 1711 to what still stands as the current site of Mobile now.
10. Prior to the admission of Mississippi as a state the eastern half of the territory was split and renamed the Alabama territory by the United States Congress. Huntsville was named as the site of the first Constitutional Convention of Alabama after it was approved to become the 22 nd state.
11. The first permanent state capital of Alabama was Cahaba which is nowadays a ghost town. Cahaba served as Alabama states capital for 5 years from 1820 - 1825. Fromm 1826 - 1846 the state capital was changed to Tuscaloosa until on January 30 th , 1846 Montgomery was named as the new state capital and has remained so ever since.
12. Alabama declared its secession from the Union on January 11, 1861. A few days later is joined the Confederate States of America. The capital of the Confederacy was for a time the city of Montgomery. Although few battles of the American Civil War were fought in Alabama the state was heavily involved, contributing around 120,00 to the Confederate army.
13. A company of soldiers from Alabama that joined Nathan Bedford Forrests battalion in Kentucky wore uniforms with a yellow trim on the sleeves, collar and coat tails which led to them being greeted with the name Yellowhammer which was then applied to all the troops of Alabama in the Confederate army.
14. After the slaves were freed by the 13 th Amendment in 1865 Alabama was under military rule from the end of the American Civil War until 1868 on its restoration to the Union. As most white citizens were banned for being able to vote many African Americans emerged as political powers.
15. The governing document of Alabama is the Constitution of the State of Alabama. It was brought in during the year of 1901 and is the sixth constitution the state has had. The Constitution of the State of Alabama is a particularly long document at 340,136 words it is around 12 times as long as the average state constitution and about 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution.
16. Alabama is the state in which Horseshoe Bend National Military Park sits. Managed by the National Park Service, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park near Alexander City is the site of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend which is considered part of the War of 1812 where Major General Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks.
17. The state of Alabama contains four National Forests. Conecuh National Forest along the Alabama - Florida line covers 83,000 acres. Talladega National Forest which sits at the southern edge of the Appalachian Mountains which covers 392,567 acres. Tuskegee National Forest in Macon County which covers 11,252 acres. William B. Bankhead National Forest in northwest Alabama which covers 181,230 acres.
18. On the southwest edge of Winston County near the intersection of U.S. Highway 278 and Alabama Highway 13 sits the town of Natural Bridge. During the 2000 census the population of Natuaral Bridge was 28. The most notable thing about the town however the nearby rock arch also named Natural Bridge which is the longest natural bridge east of the Rocky Mountains spanning over 40 metres.
19. In Elmore County just north of Montgomery sits the only confirmed impact crater in Alabama, the Wetumpka crater. The crater has a diameter of just under 5 metres and is estimated to be around 83 million years old which would place it during the Cretaceous period.
20. The climate of Alabama varies from the North to South with the Appalachian mountains tending to be cooler whilst the region close to the Gulf of Mexico tends to be warmer. The average annual temperature is 64 degrees fahrenheit and receives an average of 56 inches of rainfall per year.
21. Southern Alabama around the Gulf of Mexico experiences frequent thunderstorms and an average of around 70-80 days a year happen with reported thunder. Along with kansas, Alabama has the most reported EF5 tornadoes in all the United States and this has contributed to Alabama having the most tornado related deaths in the whole country.
22. An American Religious Identification Survey found that 80% of the Alabama respondents were Christian, 6% were Catholic and 11% identified themselves as having no religion.
23. Alabama sits in the middle of the Bible Belt and is one of the most religious states in the whole of the United States. It is estimated that around 58% of the population of Alabama attend church regularly and in a survey taken in 2007 almost three quarters of people asked could name all four of the Christian Gospels.