Alabama Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

Looking for Alabama trivia? Try our list Alabama little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

A spectacular 1833 meteor shower that became part of Alabama folklore inspired the classic 1930s song, Stars Fell on Alabama.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

The first wave pool in America was built in 1970 at Point Mallard Park in Decatur (pop. 54,600).

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Alabama has operated under six constitutions—instituted in the years 1819, 1861, 1865,1868, 1875, and 1901 (its current). The first four were not actually ratified.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

A 60-ton statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, overlooks Birmingham as a monument to its iron industry. The 1904 statue is 56 feet tall.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

Martin Dam, in Alexander City, (pop. 14,917) supplies power for the city—s industries and also created Lake Martin on the Tallapoosa River.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

The Ave Maria Grotto near Cullman (pop. 13,367) features more than 125 miniatures of famous shrines and buildings. Miniature figures on the site include St. Peter’s Basilica, Noah’s Ark, the Roman Coliseum, and the city of Jerusalem.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

Baseball legend Willie Mays is a native of Westfield, a small town that once existed on the outskirts of Birmingham (and now is part of Birmingham). During his career, he scored 3,283 hits, 2,062 runs, and had 1,526 strikeouts for the New York Giants (later to be the San Francisco Giants).

first appeared: 11/19/2000

In 1907, W.B. Davis converted a hardware store into a sock factory in Fort Payne (pop. 12,480), and the city is now the sock capital of the world—producing more than 6 million pairs of socks a week. Factories in surrounding towns produce another 12 million pairs weekly.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

Horseshoe Bend Military Park near Daviston (pop. 262) commemorates Andrew Jackson’s victory against the Creek Indians on March 27, 1814. The fight was the final battle of the Creek War of 1813-14 and is considered part of the War of 1812. Large parts of Alabama and Georgia were opened to U.S. settlement as a result.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

Andrew Jackson Beard, a former slave, turned tragedy into triumph. He lost a leg while working on an Alabama railroad when he became pinned between two railroad cars but then created a device that hooked trains together automatically, thus saving others from the same injury. The linking device was patented in 1897, and Beard received $50,000 for his invention.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

One of the state’s nicknames is the “Yellowhammer State,” which came about during the Civil War. Troops from Huntsville wore new uniforms trimmed with bright yellow cloth on the sleeves, collars, and coattails. As they rode past other companies, someone called out, “Yellowhammer, yellowhammer, flicker, flicker,” referring to the bird. The term spread throughout the Confederate Army, and all Alabama troops were soon called “yellowhammers.”

first appeared: 10/8/2000

St. Stephens was Alabama’s territorial capital from 1817 to 1819. Cahaba served as the capital from 1820 to 1826, at which point Tuscaloosa took over. The present capital, Montgomery, was selected in 1846.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

At 2,407 feet above sea level, Cheaha Mountain in Lineville is the state’s highest point. The Creek Indians named the mountain Cheaha, which means “high place” in their language.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

David Farragut issued the command, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead," on Aug. 5, 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay while leading ships through a dangerous torpedo-mined area. In 1866, he became the first person in the Navy to be awarded the rank of admiral.

first appeared: 8/27/2000

Michael Kearney graduated from the University of South Alabama in 1994 at the age of 10, making him the youngest person ever to graduate from college. He received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology.

first appeared: 8/13/2000

George Washington Carver helped reinvigorate agriculture in the South by developing hundreds of useful products derived from peanuts, soybeans, sweet potatoes, and more while teaching at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, in Alabama from 1896 until his death in 1943.

first appeared: 7/30/2000

Cathedral Caverns in Grant has the world’s largest commercially maintained cave entrance and stalagmite. The entrance measures 128 by 25 feet. One stalagmite, appropriately named Goliath, is 243 feet wide and 45 feet tall, say park officials.

first appeared: 7/16/2000

ALABAMA'S STATE FLAG, A CRIMSON X on a white background, represents either the Scottish St. Andrew's Cross or the Irish St. Patrick's Cross, - or both. The state prefers St. Andrew, while others call it St. Patrick's Cross. Everyone calls it Alabama's state flag.

first appeared: 7/2/2000

Alabama often is referred to as the Heart of Dixie, but the name originally had nothing to do with Alabama. Before the Civil War, the Citizens Bank of Louisiana printed $10 notes with the French word dix (meaning ten), and the South was soon known as Dixieland. Alabama, home of the original Confederate capital, became known as the Heart of Dixie.

first appeared: 6/18/2000

In 1902, the first open heart surgery was performed by Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill in Montgomery, Ala. Dr. Hill sutured a stab wound in a young man’s heart.

first appeared: 5/21/2000

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