I lived on the edge of New York City's Washington Square Park just before I moved to Alabama in the mid 1970's, so the story this week about two burial vaults being discovered beneath the park caught my attention.
It got me thinking about what we walk above as we stroll around Montgomery. The Capital City is two centuries old, about the same age as the burial site in New York City, so its not unheard of for forgotten sites to be discovered during modern construction and renovation.
Think of the buildings that have been torn down (or that have fallen down!) and been replaced over the years, like the old Webber Theater/Department store building that fell apart during restoration in 2014.
The city plans to build a park on the site of the circa 1860 Webber Building after efforts to save it failed. The words to "Dixie" were written on a wall in the basement. After the 1875 Civil Rights Act was passed Congress, several black men bought tickets for the "whites only" section of the theater...they were ejected from the building and chased out of town, setting the stage for decades of Alabama pushback against Federal Civil Rights laws.
What was there before the building was built? Who knows what we are walking above in a two-century old city?
 |
| About a dozen coffins have been counted so far in the chamber found by utility workers replace water pipes. |
Think of the buildings that have been torn down (or that have fallen down!) and been replaced over the years, like the old Webber Theater/Department store building that fell apart during restoration in 2014.
 | |||||
| Attempts to save the building failed, it will be town down. What was there before it? |
What was there before the building was built? Who knows what we are walking above in a two-century old city?
No comments:
Post a Comment