Discover the Charm: Top 7 Fun Facts About Montgomery, Alabama You Didn't Know

1. Southern Shakespeare Showdown

In the land of sweet tea and Southern drawls where Shakespeare might have said, "Y’all, to be or not to be, that is the darn question": Montgomery, Alabama hosts the Alabama Shakespeare Festival at the Carolyn Blount Theatre since 1985. The ASF is among the world's ten largest Shakespeare festivals, offering 6-9 productions each year, including three of the Bard's plays, and over 400 annual performances enjoyed by more than 300,000 visitors hailing from across the United States and beyond, reaching over 60 countries. Y'all come on over now and join the Southern Writers Project, where new plays swaying to the tunes of Southern themes get their chance to dance in the sun!
Source => en.wikipedia.org

2. Honky-tonks & History

Where the honky-tonks meet the history books: Montgomery, Alabama not only gifted the world with toe-tapping tunes from Hank Williams, but also played the part of capital during the Confederacy's tumultuous Civil War days. These days, you can retrace the musical genius's footsteps at the Hank Williams Museum or pay tribute to Civil Rights Movement heroes at the Civil Rights Memorial Center.
Source => thehankwilliamsmuseum.net

Discover Georgia's rich religious history beyond peaches and sweet tea, featuring some of America's oldest Black Baptist churches, Jewish congregations, and Catholic influences dating back to the 1500s. 🍑✝️✡️🕌

=> Fun Facts about Georgia

3. Zelda's Lost Painting

Picture this: a legendary Jazz Age couple paints the town red – and white – in Montgomery, Alabama: The Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery houses one of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald's "lost" oil paintings from the 1930s, titled "White Roses," now revealed and showcased for public admiration from April 12 to July 2023.
Source => thefitzgeraldmuseum.org

4. Electrifying Transportation

In a shocking turn of events, it seems Montgomery, Alabama had quite the electrifying public transport history: the city was home to America's first city-wide electric trolley system, the "Lightning Route," which operated from 1886 to 1936 and helped pioneer suburban development by depopulating central residential areas.
Source => hawkinsrails.net

5. The Fountain Without a Courthouse

In a twist as unexpected as Monica and Chandler's secret love affair in Friends, Montgomery's Court Square Fountain isn't surrounded by a courthouse after all: The historic centerpiece, built in 1885 atop an artesian well, showcases statues inspired by Greek mythology, played a role in Montgomery's slave trade, and even found itself immortalized in painter Anne Goldthwaite's Bringing Cotton Bails to Market, but remains unattached to any courthouse despite its name.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

6. Montgomery's Tallest Tower

Montgomery's skyline has a crown jewel that would make even Rapunzel jealous, with a tower so tall it could give her a serious workout in hair-climbing: The RSA Tower, standing at a whopping 375 feet, is Montgomery's tallest building and a stunning architectural wonder, with the RSA Tower Complex boasting over 1,900 parking spaces, efficient floor plans, and the potential for single or multiple tenant occupancy.
Source => rsa-al.gov

7. MLK's March on Montgomery

When Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights squad put their best foot forward – for 54 miles: Montgomery, Alabama saw thousands of nonviolent demonstrators march from Selma to the capitol's steps in 1965, led by MLK himself. This iconic march aimed to campaign for voting rights, as the local African American community faced outrageous injustices, with only 2% on voting rolls despite numerous registration attempts. This event, coupled with the horrifying "Bloody Sunday" attack on peaceful protesters, propelled national attention and ultimately led to the introduction and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Source => kinginstitute.stanford.edu